On The Instability of Orthotropic Cylinders

Preliminary results from experimental investigations on the buckling strength of rlng-and-strlnger stiffened aluminum cylinders and filament-wound glass-epoxy cylinders are compared with instability calculations based on small-deflection orthotropic cylinder theory. Correlation
between experiment and calculation was reasonably good for the glass-epoxy cylinders; however, correlation for the ring-and-stringer stiffened cylinders cam be achieved only when some of the basic wall stlffnesses for stiffened cylinders with buckled skin can be better defined. In particular, the wall shear stiffness and the wall bending stiffness in the circumferential direction need better definition.