Under contract from Wright-Patterson AFB (WPAFB), ATA Engineering, Inc., (ATA) has performed a study of “snap-through buckling” of a panel on a hypersonic vehicle under the influence of fluctuating pressures. Snap-through occurs when the elastic stiffness of the structure is cancelled by the effects of compressive stress within the structure. If this effect causes the structure to suddenly displace a large amount in a direction normal to the load direction then it is classical bifurcation buckling. If there is a sudden large movement in the direction of the loading it is snap-through buckling.
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