Buckling of Axially Loaded Open Shells

This paper describes an experimental investigation of the buckling behavior of axially-loaded thin open cylindrical shells. The results of experiments with 36 aluminum shell specimens are compared with predictions of buckling made by means of two separate theoretical approaches. Discrepancies between measured and predicted values of buckling load are treated in detail. Generally speaking, the experiments revealed a satisfactory agreement between measured buckling loads and predicted values especially in instances where the slenderness ratio exceeds 1.5.