Forced Motion of Cylindrical Shells

An exact, formal solution is presented for the dynamic response of a circular cylindrical shell of finite length subjected to time-dependent, arbitrarily distributed surface loading. The solution accounts for the effects of shear deformation and rotatory inertia as well as membrane, bending and translational inertia effects. The theory is applied to the case of a freely supported shell subjected to a moving shock, pressure discontinuity. The shock moves with constant speed in a direction which is normal with respect to the shock front, and the angle between the shell axis and the shock front, plane, is arbitrary. The solution so obtained is compared to the corresponding solution within the framework of Flügge shell theory, and significant differences are noted for shells of moderate thickness.