Longitudinal impact of cylindrical shells with discontinuous cross-sectional area

The reflections and transmissions of longitudinal strain pulses in cylindrical shells having cross-sectional area discontinuities are studied both analytically and experimentally. Three different theories were used to analyze this problem: the first, termed “bending” theory, includes the transverse shear, radial inertia, and rotary inertia effects; the second is based on a modified “membrane” theory; the last is derived from the “uniaxial” theory. Solutions were obtained by solving each of the three systems of governing equations by the method of characteristics. The longitudinal and circumferential incident, reflected, and transmitted strain pulses calculated from the bending and membrane theories are shown to be in good agreement with the experimental results, whereas the uniaxial comparisons are poor. In addition, the calciduted reflected and transmitted stress ratios are in good agreement with the experimental results; the ratios obtained from the uniaxial theory are shown to be generally inadequate.