Collected Works of H. S. Tsien (1938-1956)

A Theory for the Buckling of Thin Shells

Hsue-shen Tsien*

(California Institute of Technology)

Summary

In a series of papers written by the present author in collaboration with Th. von Kármán and Louis G. Dunn, the effect of curvature of a structure on its buckling characteristics was investigated. The purpose of these investigations was to find an explanation for the discrepancy between the “classic” theory and the experiments. For the case of a thin spherical shell under external pressure and for the case of a thin cylindric shell under axial compression, equilibrium states involving large deflections are discovered which can be maintained by loads far less than the so-called buckling load calculated by the classic theory of infinitesimal ...