An investigation of the complete post-buckling behavior of axisymmetric spherical shells

• DOI: 10.1007/bf00944895
• Publication Date: 2005-01-07T02:12:40Z
• Authors: M. Gräff; R. Scheidl; H. Troger; E. Weinmüller
• Keywords: Dimple; Spherical shell

The post-buckling behavior of an elastic spherical shell is studied for large axisymmetric deformations. The complete post-buckling path is given for the experimentally confirmed single dimple solution in a load-deformation diagram, making use of the methods of local bifurcation theory, singular perturbation analysis and numerical analysis. From the specific form of the post-buckling path with its predominating unstable part follows the strong imperfection sensitivity of the shell structure.