Längenabhängigkeit des Beulwiderstandes umfangsdruckbeanspruchter stählerner Kreiszylinderschalen

Influence of the length-to-radius ratio on the buckling resistance of cylindrical steel shells subject to hoop compression.

The failure of silos and tanks is often caused by differences between outer and inner pressure. Although the load case hoop compression is a basic buckling case of cylindrical shells, there are still some problems that have to be tackled. For long cylinders, discrepancies arise when comparing the buckling resistances calculated from the experimentally based stress design of current design rules with the resistances derived from numerical buckling strength verifications using equivalent geometric imperfections. In the contribution, the experimental results of a German-Polish research project, concerning that problem, are presented. The evaluation of the results reveals that the buckling resistance of thin-walled cylindrical steel shells subject to hoop compression also depends on the geometrical slenderness. This fact is neglected in current design rules. Therefore, long cylinders are designed more conservatively than short cylinders.