Analysis of simply-supported orthotropic cylindrical shells subject to lateral impact loads

An analytic solution is given for the problem of simply-supported orthotropic cylindrical shells subject to impact loading. The closed-form solution has not been obtained previously. The analysis is based on an expansion of the loads, displacements, and rotations in a double Fourier series which satisfies the end boundary conditions of simple support. Each expansion is assumed to be separable into a function of time and a function of position. By neglecting in-plane and rotary inertia the problem becomes a second-order ordinary differntial equation in time for the Fourier coefficients of the radial deflection. For a given loading impulse the solution can be found by invoking the convolution integral. The results show that for impact by a heavy mass, the solution is equivalent to that obtained by an approximate procedure of neglecting the mass of the shell, which leads to a simple simple-degree-of-freedom analysis.