Stability of curved panels under uniform axial compression

The use of curved panels for the construction of steel bridges becomes more and more popular. Their design is however made difficult by a lack of specifications, especially in European Standards. The present study aims thus at developing a method for predicting the ultimate strength of cylindrical unstiffened curved panels subjected to uniform axial compression. The methodology used in this study is based on the formal procedure recommended by Eurocode 3 for all types of stability verifications. A series of numerical simulations is first carried out to identify the fundamental characteristics of curved panels' elasto-plastic behaviour. Then on the basis of these numerical results, semi-empirical formulae for predicting the elastic buckling and ultimate strength are derived and illustrated on a practical example.

► Cylindrical curved panels under uniform axial compression have been investigated.
► The behaviour of these panels depends on their curvature.
► A hand-calculation design method, based on numerical results, has been proposed.