Probabilistic and deterministic lower-bound design benchmarks for cylindrical shells under axial compression

This article contains examples to demonstrate the use of different design concepts for cylindrical shells under axial compression. The examples are based on shells which were manufactured according to electroplating, machining, welding (isotropic cylinders) and prepreg hand layup on a mandrel (composite cylinders). Three of the four shell series are characterized by pure elastic buckling and one shell series buckled in the elastic-plastic region. All relevant data for the numerical analysis are described in the article and summarized in the Elsevier repository of this article (geometry, material, measured imperfection data and Python-ABAQUS scripts). The design concepts are based on the geometric imperfection signatures, probabilistic and deterministic lower-bound methods. The design concepts are representative for the development of design approaches for imperfection sensitive shells from the early 1980 to the late 2010 and are validated with experimental data. Recently developed design lower-bound curves for axially loaded cylinders are presented and compared with currently used design criteria like the Eurocode EN 1993-1-6 and the NASA SP-8007. The results of this article show that the design of imperfection sensitive cylinders has been significantly improved in the last 30 years.