ON THE INFLUENCE OF NON-SYMMETRICAL MODES ON THE BUCKLING OF SHALLOW SPHERICAL SHELLS UNDER UNIFORM PRESSURE

In view of the wide discrepancy between theoretical and experimental results that still exists, the problem of buckling of shallow spherical shells under uniform external pressure is reexamined with the introduction of non-symmetrical deflection modes. The basic idea is that, for a symmetrical shell under gradually increasing symmetrical loading, the deformation will be symmetrical up to and after buckling, but it is feasible that a non-symmetrical mode participates in the snap-through process. Including this possibility in the governing equations may lower the theoretical buckling load. Some analytical results are presented and compared with experiment.