Postbuckling of symmetrically laminated, moderately thick, axisymmetric shallow spherical shells

The paper deals with the buckling and postbuckling behaviour of cylindrically orthotropic, axisymmetric laminated, moderately thick shallow spherical shells under uniformly distributed normal loading. Considering the effects of transverse shear, the governing equations of equilibrium for the shells are derived and expressed in terms of normal deflection W̄, slope \̄qf and stress function \̄gy. An iterative Chebyshev series solution technique is employed for the buckling and postbuckling analyses. Critical loads are estimated and the effects of boundary conditions, material properties, shell parameter, base radius to thickness ratio and number of layers on the postbuckling behaviour are shown.