Linear Theory of Orthotropic Cylindrical Shells

Flugge's precise formulation for the linear theory of orthotropic cylindrical shell is represented together with the simplified formulations suggested by Donnell, Vlasov, and Schorer. The roots of the characteristic equation obtained for each of the simplified formulations are compared with those obtained from Flugge's formulation. This defines the ratio of length to radius of the shell for which the different approximation can be used without considerable error in the roots. The internal force components are also calculated showing that the accuracies of the approximate formulations are very limited for the case of shells supported along their four edges while better results are usually obtained in the case of shells with free longitudinal edges. The aforementioned study leads to alternative simplified formulation which improves the accuracy of the results without increasing the difficulty in obtaining a solution. Reliable analysis can be obtained using this proposed formulation.