Dynamic Stability of a Composite Circular Cylindrical Shell Subjected to Combined Axial and Torsional Loading

Abstract

The dynamic stability of thin, clamped, composite circular cylindrical shells is studied for combined axial and torsional loading. Each load is taken to be har monically varying; the frequencies of the two loads differ, in general. For the case in which the frequencies are commensurate, the applied load function is periodic. The equa tions of motion for the shell are reduced to a system of Hill equations by means of Fourier series expansions. Instability regions of principal and combination parametric resonance are determined by use of the monodromy matrix. Numerical results are generated for boron-epoxy layered shells for various cases of pure axial, pure torsional, and combined loading. The width of the principal instability region is presented as a function of fiber ori entation for a laminate case. Stability diagrams are presented covering about 6 times the lowest natural frequency for various ratios of the applied axial and torsional frequencies.