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April 2013 www.sname.org/sname/mt Pressure Vessels: External Pressure Technology By Carl T. F. Ross PUBLISHED BY WOODHEAD PUBLISHING LIMITED REVIEWED BY GABRIELA WOLFORD This book provides a reference for structural engineers who seek to determine collapse predictions for stiened circular cylinders, conical sections, and domes, and to investigate their vibration responses via numerical analyses. To take full advantage of the information pre- sented in the book, the reader must possess an extensive knowledge of finite element theory and a strong mechanics background. A succinct presentation of well-known analytical formulations for the prebuckling axisymmetric behavior of stiened circular cylinders is supplemented with a more gen- eral formulation developed by the author for cylinders with non-uniform spacing and stiener sizes. Several nite element formulations to represent conical shells and domes are given to describe their axi- symmetric behavior. Extensive correlation between results obtained with the dierent formulations, existing analytical solutions, and experiments are provided. Although some read- ers may nd it somewhat dicult to assimilate the theoretical details and consequently implement the dierent analyti- cal and numerical approaches, the author provided a series of computer programs in appendices, such as the computer program for the calculation of axisymmetric stresses in circu- lar cylinders stiened by unequal strength ring frames, which certainly have a direct practical application. Lobar buckling and general instability using analyti- cal and numerical calculations are described for circular cylinders, conical shells, and domes. By combining those theoretical calculations and experimental data, the author presents a simple method of accounting for the eects of geometric imperfections and material nonlinearities. He provides easy-to-read design charts to determine a plastic reduction factor? based on a calculated design geometric parameter. Buckling of cylinders and cones made of com- posite materials is also treated. Free vibration of pressure vessels and the eects of external pressure on the vibration response are investigated extensively, mainly via numerical analysis, and correlated to experimen- tal models. Although the main objective of the book appears to be the demonstration of the suitability of nite elements for the analysis of pressure vessels, design concepts are emphasized throughout. For example, a chapter is dedicated to design con- siderations of two novel pressure hulls, namely corrugated (the authors invention) and tube-stiened circular cylinders. e author carefully describes the design advantages of these over a traditional design. Another chapter evaluates a conventional pressure hull design using dierent design methods. A useful feature of the book is the large number of schemat- ics and descriptions of numerous experimental test setups; this is particularly useful to engineers and scientists interested in the subject but whose backgrounds may be mainly theoretical rather than experimental. Overall, the book can be described as a compilation of many years of quality research work carried out by the author and others, with the added benet of having a highly- regarded expert put it into the context of practical design applications. MTGabriela Wolford is a mechanical engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Cen- ter, Carderock Division. She also is a PhD candidate with a dissertation topic related to improvements to pressure-hull collapse predictions. Lobar buckling and general instability using analytical and numerical calculations are described for circular cylinders, conical shells, and domes.