Longitudinally stiffened corrugated cylindrical shells under uniform external pressure

•No additional material was used to strengthen these specimens.•Corrugation enhanced structural stability of the present specimens.•Corrugation was applied to the present specimens after fabrication.•SDF.5 showed a capacity growth of around 50%.•Corrugated shells can be designed with less thickness than the plain specimens.

Thin-walled cylindrical shells are widely used as industrial structural members. Owing to low transverse strength, these structures are highly susceptible to the buckling phenomenon when they are exposed to external pressure. Many strengthening methods have been utilized in order to increase the buckling capacity of such structures among which is employing stiffeners in different forms connected to the surface of these structures. This study is aimed at a new approach for strengthening in which vertical corrugations were introduced on 11 cylindrical shell specimens under uniform external pressure. The results showed a considerable increase in the buckling capacity of such structures.