Necessary Height of the Vertical Stiffeners in Steel Silos on Discrete Supports with Accounting of Imperfections

To ensure unloading of the whole amount of stored product by gravity, the steel silos are often placed on supporting frame structure. The values of stresses in the joints between the thin shell and supporting frame elements are extremely high. It can cause local loss of stability in the shell. To prevent it, many designers place stiffening elements above the supports. Here the question is how high should be the stiffening elements? The appropriate solution is that they should rise to that level till which the values of meridional normal stresses above the supports and in the middle between them are equalized. But where is this level? Many researchers worked on values and ways of distribution of normal meridional stresses above the supports of the cylindrical shells. As a result of their efforts are determined critical height H_crof the shell and the ideal position H_Iof intermediate stiffening ring. But these heights are considerably different between each other. To which of them our vertical stiffening elements should achieve? Considering the nonlinear behaviour of the steel, the effects of changes in geometry during loading and imperfections caused by welding works, the author tried to obtain an answer to this question.