BUCKLING OF UNSTIFFENED STEEL CONES SUBJECTED TO AXIAL COMPRESSION AND EXTERNAL PRESSURE

摘要

The paper considers buckling of unsliffened truncated conical shells under simultaneously acting quasi-static axial compression and an independent external hydrostatic pressure. This is both numerical and experimental study. Domains of combined stability were obtained using the finite element method for a range of geometrical parameters. Cones are clamped at one end and free to move axially at the other end, where all the other degrees of freedom remain constrained. Shells are assumed to be from mild steel and the material is modeled as elastic perfectly plastic. The FE results indicate thatthe static stability domains remain convex. The failure mechanisms, i.e., asymmetric bifurcation and axisymmctric collapse are discussed together with the spread of plastic strains through the wall thickness. Also, the combined stability domains are examined for regions of purely elastic behavior and for regions where plastic straining exists. The latter is not convex and repercussions of that are discussed. The spread of the latter is computed for a range of the (radius-to-wall-thickness)-ratios.