Numerical Evaluation of Plastic Buckling of Short Cylinders Under Combined Loading

The so-called “plastic buckling paradox” originates from the fact that the Prandtl–Reuss’ flow theory of plasticity overestimates the plastic buckling load of plates and shells, whereas Hencky’s deformation theory of plasticity provides results that are more accurate. However, it has been shown that this problem can be overcome by introducing certain initial imperfection in accurate finite element (FE) simulations based on the flow theory of plasticity.^1–4The present study goes deeper into the problem and reveals that in the case of short cylinders under combined loading, which have long been the object of extensive research in the elastic range,⁵a different modeling of the material behavior can also trigger a mode jumping from the initial imperfection, which may even reverse the reported predictions by the flow and deformation theories of plasticity. This fact must be taken in maximum consideration when performing nonlinear FE analyses for estimating the plastic buckling of thin and moderately thin short cylindrical shells.