Buckling of Barreled Shells Subjected to External Hydrostatic Pressure

The paper considers barreling of a mild steel cylindrical shell as a way of improving its load carrying capacity when subjected to static external pressure. Numerical results show that the load carrying capacity can be increased from 1.4 to 40 times above the load capacity of mass equivalent cylinders. The effect of end boundary conditions on the ultimate load is examined together with sensitivity of buckling loads to initial geometric imperfections.