Flexural Buckling Resistance of Stiffeners Reinforcing Wall of a Steel Silo

Stiffeners reinforcing silo’s wall made from corrugated sheets are main structural elements sustaining meridional forces evoked by shear forces, source of which is friction of the material stored inside silo. Buckling resistance of stiffeners can be assessed by the method recommended in PN-EN 1993-4-1:2009/A1-2017-08E and in the draft of the Eurocode prEN 1993-4-1:2022. This method consists in determination of stiffener’s resistance treated as a column resting on elastic substrate which is the susceptible wall of the silo. It means that it was assumed that the stiffness of the sheeting resists buckling displacements normal to the silo wall. The procedure recommended in mentioned Eurocodes requires determination of stiffness coefficient K on the basis of the flexibility of an equivalent arch of the span equal to the double circumferential separation between adjacent stiffeners. The stiffness coefficient K was derived in the paper using classical mechanics methods and its value was compared to the one given in mentioned Eurocodes. Careful comparative analyses resulted in the identification of errors in one of the Eurocode formulae, which could result in a significant misestimation of the buckling resistance of the stiffeners. The proposed amendment led to a full correspondence between the final formula for K derived in the paper and that proposed in the referenced Eurocodes. The errors found were reported to the coordinator of the CEN working group updating EN 1993-4-1.