Experiments on the deflection and buckling behavior of ring-stiffened cylindrical shells under wind pressure

Buckling behavior of thin circular cylindrical shells stiffened by one or two rings has been studied in a wind tunnel. Both the prebuckling deflection and the buckling load were measured with a variety of a specimens in a smooth flow, and the effects of the stiffeners on them were examined. For comparison purposes, the buckling load of each specimen under hydrostatic pressure was also measured. The results indicate that the prebuckling deflection and ovalling oscillation can be significantly suppressed by relatively light stiffeners. As the flexural rigidity, E_sI_s, of the ring increases, the axial buckling mode changes from a symmetric one accompanied by ring deflection to another one with the rings acting as nodes, at a critical value of E_sI_s. This critical value was found to be nearly equal to that for the hydrostatic pressure. On the other hand, contrary to the hydrostatic pressure case, the buckling load gradually increases with an increase in E_sI_s, even for values of E_sI_s greater than the critical value.