Nonlinear Buckling Interaction for Spherical Shells Subject to Pressure and Probing Forces

Elastic spherical shells loaded under uniform pressure are subject to equal and opposite compressive probing forces at their poles to trigger and explore buckling. When the shells support external pressure, buckling is usually axisymmetric; the maximum probing force and the energy barrier the probe must overcome are determined. Applications of the probing forces under two different loading conditions, constant pressure or constant volume, are qualitatively different from one another and fully characterized. The effects of probe forces on both perfect shells and shells with axisymmetric dimple imperfections are studied. When the shells are subject to internal pressure, buckling occurs as a nonaxisymmetric bifurcation from the axisymmetric state in the shape of a mode with multiple circumferential waves concentrated in the vicinity of the probe. Exciting new experiments by others are briefly described.