Assessment of Collapse Pressure of Laminated Composite Subsea Shells Subjected to Hydrostatic Follower Force

A doubly curved composite shear deformable shell element has been developed for the buckling analysis of composite subsea shells which takes into consideration the effect of hydrostatic follower force. This element is based on first-order shear deformation theory considering the nonlinear curvature terms of the strain–displacement relations in order to simulate the realistic structural behaviour of thin composite shells. It has been employed for the prediction of collapse pressure, including the follower force effect of thin composite cylindrical and shallow shell panels, which form a part of subsea structures. © 2018, The Institution of Engineers (India).