Thermal postbuckling analysis of imperfect stiffened laminated cylindrical shells

A thermal postbuckling analysis is presented for a stiffened laminated cylindrical shell of finite length subjected to a uniform or non-uniform parabolic temperature distribution varying in the circumferential or axial direction. The formulations are based on a boundary layer theory of shell buckling which includes the effects of non-linear prebuckling deformations,non-linear large deflections in the postbuckling range; and initial geometrical imperfections of the shell. The ''smeared stiffener'' approach is adopted for the stiffeners; The analysis uses a singular perturbation technique to determine thermal buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths. Numerical examples are presented that relate to the performances of perfect and imperfect, stiffened and unstiffened cross-ply laminated cylindrical shells. Typical results are presented in dimensionless graphical form and exhibit two different types of thermal postbuckling response. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.