Linear Buckling Analysis of Shear Deformable Shallow Shells by the Boundary Domain Element Method

In this paper the linear buckling problem of elastic shallow shells by a shear deformable shell theory is presented. The boundary domain integral equations are obtained by coupling two dimensional plane stress elasticity with boundary element formulation of Reissner plate bending. The buckling problem is formulated as a standard eigenvalue problem, in order to obtain directly critical loads and buckling modes as part of the solution. The boundary is discretised into quadratic isoparametric elements while in the domain quadratic quadrilateral cells are used. Several examples of cylindrical shallow shells (curved plates) with different dimensions and boundary conditions are analysed. The results are compared with finite element solutions, and very good agreement is obtained.