Experiments on corrugated thin cylindrical shells under uniform external pressure

Abstract The widespread application of thin cylindrical shells has motivated many researchers to investigate the buckling behavior of such thin-walled structures. Cylindrical shells strengthened by additional external stiffeners, which are also referred to as stiffened cylindrical shells, have been extensively investigated by researchers. However, shell structures stiffened through corrugation, herein referred to as corrugated shell structures, have remained almost untouched as quite a few experimental studies have been reported in this regard. It is important to note that stiffening of thin-walled shell structures through corrugation may result in considerable conservation of material and favorable performance, and hence further studies are required to investigate the buckling stability as well as performance of corrugated shell structures. This paper presents an experimental study on such corrugated thin-walled structures under uniform peripheral pressure. Test results are compared with theoretical predictions and accordingly satisfactory results are obtained. Moreover, different buckling/failure modes are identified and investigated in the current experimental study.