The effect of geometric imperfections on the vibrations of anisotropic cylindrical shells

Analytical–numerical models to analyse the flexural vibration behaviour of anisotropic cylindrical shells are presented. The two models (denoted as Level-1 and Level-2 Analysis) have different levels of complexity and can be used to study the influence of important parameters, such as geometric imperfections, static loading, and boundary conditions. A specific anisotropic shell is used in the calculations in this paper. The influence of the imperfection shape and amplitude on the natural frequency is investigated for this shell via both the Level-1 and the Level-2 Analysis. Imperfections with the shape of the “lowest vibration mode” give a decrease of the natural frequency with increasing imperfection amplitude. The results of the Level-2 Analysis for the effect of imperfections on the natural frequency are in reasonable agreement with Finite Element calculations.