A Survey of Recent Buckling Research on Steel Silos

Recent studies of the effects of buckling on the strength of circular steel silos for bulk solids are reviewed in this paper. Four principal failure modes are described. Buckling of the cylindrical wall under axial compression can be caused by wall friction, by non-symmetric loading and by non-uniform support conditions. Buckling of the wall, in membrane shear can occur under earthquake or non-symmetric wall loads, and buckling in circumferential compression can be induced by wind pressures. A ringbeam at the juncture of the conical hopper and cylindrical wall may also buckle as a result of the circumferential thrusts induced by radial components of tensile membrane stresses in the hopper, as well as the bending and twisting actions caused by discrete supports. Until recently, there has been comparatively little guidance available on how to design against these failure modes, and even less on the criteria on which they are based. Recent studies of available information and new research findings have shed considerable light on these problems, and recent publications by the authors of this paper provide tentative design recommendations and illustrate their bases. The present paper provides an outline of current knowledge of the influence of buckling on the strength of axisymetric steel silos.