Dynamic plastic buckling of rings and cylindrical shells

A theoretical analysis is developed to predict the dynamic plastic buckling of a long, impulsively loaded cylindrical shell. This theoretical work is used to examine various features of plastic buckling and to assess the importance of several approximations which previous authors have introduced in dynamic plastic buckling studies. In particular, the influence of a time-dependent circumferential membrane force, the sharpness of the peaks in the displacement and velocity amplification functions, the restrictions which are implicit when employing the Prandtl-Reuss equations in this class of problems, and the limitations due to elastic unloading are examined in some detail. (Auth.)