Critical circumferential wavelength of elastic buckling of longitudinal compressed thin-walled cylindrical shells

The classical theory of elastic critical buckling stress works well for slender columns and thin flat plates under compression; however, the situation is different for longitudinally compressed thin-walled circular cylindrical shells, and the issue has plagued us despite considerable efforts over the last 100 years. We noticed that all such buckling analyses thus far, both linear and nonlinear, in terms of the main philosophy, inherited and were confined to Euler’s pioneering solution for the slender column model that focuses on the longitudinal buckling deformation mode and should be classified as the ‘longitudinal open-loop’ eigenmode because the deformations of the two longitudinal ends are physically independent of each other. In view of this, for an ideal linear-elastic buckling model of a thin-walled perfectly circular cylindrical shell under uniform longitudinal compression on the foundation of the longitudinal open-loop eigenmode solution, it is also necessary to consider a ‘circumferential closed-loop’ eigenmode simultaneously to physically avoid violating the reality of its ideal periodic deformation on the entire perimeter and to mathematically redefine the biunique and precise relationship for each distinct eigenmode by the critical circumferential wavelength. Originating from such a case study, the mathematical uniqueness issue hidden in the general solution of the Donnell equation is further discussed. The authenticity of the competing eigenmode characterized by the Koiter circle is also discussed. Furthermore, a preliminary attempt was conducted to interpret the discrepancy between theoretical and experimental buckling loads, mainly initiated by the characteristic type of longitudinally generated circumferential local inward displacement in initial geometric imperfections, using the insights herein.