Stationary and Transient Response of Cylindrical Shells Under Random Excitation

This paper presents the random vibration analysis of a simply supported cylindrical shell under a ring load which is uniform around the circumference. The time history of the excitation is assumed to be a stationary wide-band random process. The finite element method and the condition of symmetry along the length of the cylinder are used to calculate the natural frequencies and associated mode shapes. Maximum values of the mean square displacements and velocities occur at the point of application of the load. It is seen that the transient response of the shell under wide band stationary excitation is nonstationary in the initial stages and approaches the stationary solution for large value of time.