Ultimate strength and collapse behavior of ring-stiffened cylindrical shells under external pressure with shell buckling or stiffener torsional buckling

A series of ultimate strength analyses of ring-stiffened cylindrical shells with various dimensions and scantlings is carried out applying the nonlinear finite element method. The detailed buckling/plastic collapse behavior including the influence of initial deflection applied in the ultimate strength analyses is investigated. In most past studies, detailed classification of collapse modes and investigation of the influence of the initial deflection mode have not been sufficiently conducted. In this study, firstly the ultimate strength analyses of 288 cases varying the dimensions of the ring-stiffened cylindrical shell and the attachment direction of the stiffeners, inside or outside, are performed. From the results, the collapse modes are classified into five modes, which are stiffener-torsional buckling collapse (localized deformation mode and mode to keep strength after the ultimate strength), shell buckling collapse (localized deformation mode and mode with kinking lines), and combined collapse of the buckling modes. A slenderness ratio is proposed using elastic buckling strength and pressure when the circumferential stress reaches the yield stress, and the possibility of estimating the ultimate strength is indicated.