Uncertainty quantification for post-buckling analysis of cylindrical shells with experimental comparisons

Abstract : The present work concerns the experimental identification of an uncertain nonlinear computational model in the context of the post-buckling analysis of a cylindrical shell. Theproposed methodology is adapted to the analysis of large static deformations of geometrically nonlinear structural systems in the presence of both system parameters uncertainties and model uncertainties. The available experimental data is made up of the nonlinear static deflection of a cylindrical shell. The deterministic nonlinear computational model is constructed using the finite element method and the corresponding nonlinear response is used as a reference deterministic solution for which a reduced-order basis is deduced using the POD analysis. The mean reduced-order nonlinear computational model is then explicitly constructed. The nonparametric probabilistic methodology for constructing the uncertain nonlinear reduced-order computational model is used. Finally, the experimental identification of the uncertain nonlinear computational model is carried out in order to validate the proposed methodology.