Buckling of shallow torispherical domes subjected to external pressure — a comparison of experiment,theory,and design codes

Abstract

The test results obtained on 24 externally-pressurised torispherical steel shells are given in this paper. The knuckle radius-to-diameter ratio of the domes varied from 0.06 to 0.18 and the spherical cap radius-to-thickness ratios were between 75 and 335. Initial shape and thickness measurements were carried out on all the torispheres and a summary of this information is given. The BOSOR 5 shell buckling program was employed to predict the buckling/collapse pressures of all the domes; both perfect domes and those with axisymmetric imperfections were considered. The correlation between the theoretical predictions and the experimental results was, in general, very good.

The main conclusions of the present investigation are: (i) that some of the experimental buckling pressures were lower than those obtained by multiplying the BS 5500 design values by a safety factor of 1.5, and (ii) that those torispheres with sharp knuckle radii failed by plastic collapse in the knuckle region and the collapse pressures were not very sensitive to initial geometric imperfections. It thus appears that the BS 5500 rules relating to the strength of shallow torispheres subjected to external pressure need to be amended, and that the tolerances on geometric shape for cases which are likely to be imperfection-insensitive should be reconsidered.