Design Analysis for Buckling of Tanks and Silos
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 1
Abstract
When subject to combinations of internal pressure and axial compression, experience shows that the often thin cylindrical shell walls of tanks and silos are prone to a local form of buckling failure that is essentially axisymmetric and is strongly influenced by the nature of the end or intermediate support conditions. This paper will outline the basis of an analytical solution to the inherently nonlinear elastic–plastic buckling into axisymmetric modes, in which end constraints and arbitrary radial pressure loading are modeled as essentially loading imperfections on an otherwise linear, classical, critical buckling formulation. Closed form analytical expressions for the imperfect behavior, including geometric imperfections, are then used to predict either first surface or full section plasticity, allowing buckling failure to be summarized in a form that is closely analogous to the Ayrton–Perry formula for the buckling of columns. It is suggested that a suitably simplified form of this general approach to axisymmetric buckling, when combined with similarly simple methods for the buckling into nonaxisymmetric modes, could provide an important alternative to the current procedures for the buckling design of thin-walled, cylindrical, tanks and silos.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Andronicou, A. (1983). “Buckling of ring stiffened shells subject to pressure and axial loading.” PhD thesis, Univ. of London, London.
Batista, R. C. (1979). “Lower bound estimates for shell buckling loads.” PhD thesis, Univ. of London, London.
Batista, R. C., and Croll, J. G. A. (1979). “A design approach for unstiffened cylindrical shells under pressure loading.” Proc. Int. Conf. on Thin Walled Structures, 299–319.
Croll, J. G. A. (1981). “Lower bound elastic-plastic buckling of cylinders.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., 71(2), 235–261.
Croll, J. G. A. (1982). “Elastic-plastic buckling of pressure and axially loaded cylinders.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., 73(2), 633–652.
Croll, J. G. A. (1983). “Axisymmetric collapse of cylinders including deformations of ring stiffeners.” Behaviour of thin walled structures, Rhodes J. and Spence J., eds., Applied Science, 211–233.
Croll, J. G. A. (1984). “Axisymmetric elastic–plastic buckling of axial and pressure loaded cylinders.” Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., Part C: Mech. Eng. Sci., 198, 243–259.
Dowling, P. J., and Harding, J. E. (1979). “Current research into the strength of cylindrical shells used in steel jacket construction.” Proc. 2nd BOSS Conf., Vol. 2, 327–340.
Ellinas, C. P. (1982). “Axisymmetric buckling of axial and pressure loaded ring stiffened cylinders.” SS Rep., London Centre for Marine Technology, London.
Ellinas, C. P., and Croll, J. G. A. (1982). “Design loads for elastic plastic, buckling of cylinders under combined axial and pressure loading.” Proc., 3 BOSS’82 Conf., MIT, Boston.
Ellinas, C. P., and Croll, J. G. A. (1985). “A design formulation for axisymmetric collapse of stiffened and unstiffened cylinders.” J. Energy Resources Tech., 107, 350–35x.
Ellinas, C. P., and Croll, J. G. A. (1986). “Elastic-plastic buckling design of cylindrical shells subject to combined axial compression and pressure loading.” Int. J. Solids Struct., 22, 1007–1017.
Harding, J. E. (1981). “Ring-stiffened cylinders under axial and external pressure loading.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., 71, 863–878.
Harding, J. E., and Estefen, S. F. (1983). “Ring stiffened behaviour and its interaction with cylindrical panel buckling.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., 75(2), 243–264.
Shridharan, S., Walker, A. C., and Andronicou, A. (1981). “Local plastic collapse of ring stiffened cylinders.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., 71(2), 341–367.
Yamada, S., and Croll, J. G. A. (1993). “Buckling and post-buckling characteristics of pressure loaded cylinders.” J. Appl. Mech., 60, 290–299.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 9, 2004
Accepted: Feb 28, 2005
Published online: Jan 1, 2006
Published in print: Jan 2006
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Marc I. Hoit
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.