Vibrations of circular cylindrical shells: Theory and experiments

In the present paper, a method for analysing linear and nonlinear vibrations of circular cylindrical shells having different boundary conditions is presented; the method is based on the Sanders–Koiter theory. Displacement fields are expanded in a mixed double series based on harmonic functions and Chebyshev polynomials. Simply supported and clamped–clamped boundary conditions are analysed, as well as connections with rigid bodies; in the latter case experiments are carried out. Comparisons with experiments and finite-element analyses show that the technique is computationally efficient and accurate in modelling linear vibrations of shells with different boundary conditions. An application to large amplitude of vibration shows that the technique is effective also in the case of nonlinear vibration: comparisons with the literature confirm the accuracy of the approach. The method proposed is a general framework suitable for analysing vibration of circular cylindrical shells both in the case of linear and nonlinear vibrations.