Influence of edge conditions on the stability of axially compressed cylindrical shells.

Abstract : Recent investigations by Stein and by Fischer on the influence of edge conditions on the critical load of cylindrical shells are here extended to cover six additional combinations of boundary conditions. The results show that drastic reductions of the critical load for cylinders with lateral support of the edges are obtained only if the edges are free in the tangential direction. For other boundary conditions, this reduction is never more than about 20 percent. Consequently, the results of this investigation alone cannot explain the well-known discrepancy between theory and test data. However, the importance of the choice of boundary conditions for practical analysis is clearly demonstrated.