Dynamic Buckling of Shallow Arches

When a shallow arch is subjected to a symmetric dynamic load, this load becomes critical if a slight increase in the load magnitude leads to a sudden snap-through. Another form of instability occurs when a slight antisymmetric component in the load produces a sharply increasing antisymmetric response. Both forms of instability are investigated by means of a numerical procedure which introduces a finite element technique into an integro-differential equation formulation. Where applicable the results generally confirm previous results obtained elsewhere, but cover a broader range of problems and are believed to be more accurate.