Closed-End Cylindrical Shell Under Line Load Along a Generator

This paper presents a numerical technique for elastic analysis of a thin circular cylindrical shell with end plates under uniform line load along a generator. This technique is based upon the discrete element method. An accurate set of the governing differential equations due to Vlasov is used. The derivatives with respect to the circumferential coordinate are replaced by finite difference relationships. The end plate is analyzed as a free body under unit concentrated edge loads and the resulting coefficients are used to satisfy continuity conditions at the shell-plate junction. A computer program to implement this technique is developed and results are compared with those published in the literature. A number of new results are presented.