BUCKLING OF CYLINDRICAL-SHELLS CONTAINING GRANULAR SOLIDS

Thin-walled shell structures are likely to buckle under axial loading way below the classical value. In the presence of granular solids (e.g . sand) in cylindrical shells the stiffness of the contents has a posi tive influence on the buckling load, similar to internal pressure. In practical silo design this effect is not considered. This is because n ot much is known about the interaction between the shell and the flexi ble granular contents and about how to handle this in a computational model. The present study will focus on some simple intel action models . It will be seen that the presence of a granular solid can increase t he buckling load remarkably, and also that small modifications in the interaction assumptions have a major influence on the buckling loads.