Abstract
The behavior of axially loaded cylindrical shells is studied using a general purpose non-linear shell element. The well-known nine-node degenerated shell element was selected among the variety of shell finite elements proposed and developed in the past by several researchers, because it satisfies all the compatibility conditions between adjacent elements directly and gives accurate results. The behavior of axially loaded cylindrical shells are observed through computations of some fabricated pipes which were tested in Nagoya University. The measured initial imperfections are included in the calculations. The effects of initial imperfections on the cylinder strength are also discussed.
