This paper presents an extensive numerical investigation on the buckling characteristics of curved panels, such as cylindrical, spherical and hyperbolic panels, under linearly varying in-plane load with respect to various types of loading, curvature, aspect ratio, Poisson's ratio and boundary condition using the finite element method. Three types of linearly varying in-plane loads, i.e. triangular, rectangular and trapezoidal in-plane loads are considered. The aspect ratio of the curved panels varies from 0.5 to 3.0. Six boundary conditions commonly used in the construction are considered. The above parametric study reveals that the critical buckling loads of curved panels are greatly influenced by the various parameters considered in the present investigation. In addition, a comparative study is made to find the influences of the various in-plane loads, such as triangular, parabolic, patch and concentrated in-plane loads, on the critical buckling load of cylindrical, spherical and hyperbolic panels. Finally, typical design charts in non-dimensional forms are also developed to obtain the critical buckling loads of various commonly used clamped spherical panels in construction. These design charts will be immensely helpful for the designers to find out the critical buckling load for clamped spherical panels of any dimension, any type of linearly varying in-plane load and any isotropic material directly from the chart at the time of preliminary design without the use of any commercially available finite element software, which is very complex and time taking. This novelty for the preparation of designed charts for clamped spherical curved panel can also be applied to other curved panels and boundary conditions. © 2021, The Institution of Engineers (India).
