Nonlinear vibrations of fluid-filled clamped circular cylindrical shells

In this study, the nonlinear vibrations are investigated of circular cylindrical shells, empty or fluid-filled, clamped at both ends and subjected to a radial harmonic force excitation. Two different theoretical models are developed. In the first model, the standard form of the Donnell's nonlinear shallow-shell equations is used; in the second, the equations of motion are derived by a variational approach which permits the inclusion of constraining springs at the shell extremities and taking in-plane inertial terms into account. In both cases, the solution includes both driven and companion modes, thus allowing for a travelling wave in the circumferential direction; they also include axisymmetric modes to capture the nonlinear inward shell contraction and the correct type (softening) nonlinear behaviour observed in experiments. In the first model, the clamped beam eigenfunctions are used to describe the axial variations of the shell deformation, automatically satisfying the boundary conditions, leading to a 7 degree-of-freedom (dof) expansion for the solution. In the second model, rotational springs are used at the ends of the shell, which when large enough reproduce a clamped end; the solution involves a sine series for axial variations of the shell deformation, leading to a 54 dof expansion for the solution. In both cases the modal expansions satisfy the boundary conditions and the circumferential continuity condition exactly. The Galerkin method is used to discretize the equations of motion, and AUTO to integrate the discretized equations numerically. When the shells are fluid-filled, the fluid is assumed to be incompressible and inviscid, and the fluid-structure interaction is described by linear potential flow theory. The results from the two theoretical models are compared with existing experimental data, and in all cases good qualitative and quantitative agreement is observed. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.