Buckling and Post-Buckling of Spherical Caps

The results of a numerical study of the buckling and initial post-buckling behavior of clamped shallow spherical shells under axisymmetric band type loads are presented. This behavior is studied, first, for a cap with fixed geometry when the radial location of a band load of constant width is allowed to vary; second, for a cap with fixed geometry under a uniform pressure distributed over the outer region of the cap; and third, for a band load of constant width and radial location when the shell geometry is allowed to vary. It is found in each of these studies that, for a significant range of the geometric shell parameter, λ, the spherical cap under axisymmetric band load is imperfection-sensitive.