Buckling of prolate egg-shaped domes under hydrostatic external pressure

This study investigated the buckling of nontypical prolate domes subject to hydrostatic external pressure. The domes were shells of revolution with an egg-shaped configuration, with a base diameter and height of approximately 160 and 121 mm, respectively. Four laboratory-scale egg-shaped domes, cold-pressed from a 1-mm 304 steel sheet, were measured for geometry, tested to collapse, and analysed numerically. The experimental results and numerical evaluations were well consistent. Furthermore, the buckling behaviours of a perfect egg-shaped dome, a capacity-equivalent hemisphere, and a mass-equivalent hemisphere were numerically studied. The results indicate that the prolate egg-shaped dome has a relatively large load-carrying capacity that is not highly sensitive to material plasticity and geometrical imperfections.