Influence of Initial Imperfections on PMMA Spherical Shell

This paper focused on the influence of initial imperfection on the critical load of PMMA pressure spherical shell by introducing buckling modes as the initial defect. Four types of pressure spherical shells including complete spherical shell, spherical shell with single penetration, spherical shell with double penetrations, and hyperspherical shell were studied. The distribution of initial imperfections was given through the modal configuration of linear eigenvalue analysis, and then the buckling critical load of the spherical shell was analyzed by using the consistent modal defect method and N-order modal defect method. Results confirmed that: Initial imperfections have a great different influence on pressure spherical shells with varying penetration. It has the greatest influence on the critical load of a spherical shell with double penetration at a 5 mm defect. With the increase of defect amplitude, the critical load of the spherical shell decreases. The analysis results also show that the first-order mode is usually not the worst geometric defect configuration of PMMA pressure spherical shell. And the worst mode may appear in higher-order mode due to the influence of penetration, initial defect amplitude, and different thickness-diameter ratio.