Buckling strength verification of cantilevered cylindrical shells subjected to transverse load using Eurocode 3

At present, there are only a few studies concerning the application of different types of buckling strength verification according to Eurocode 3 at combined loading. Besides the stress design as classical hand calculation method of checking cylindrical steel shells against buckling failure, the new Eurocode 3 also offers two global numerical analyses at different modelling levels. The linear buckling analysis (LBA) combined with a materially nonlinear but geometrically linear analysis (MNA) is the simpler concept from the perspective of the modelling and calculation effort. The more sophisticated method is a geometrically and materially nonlinear analysis of the imperfect structure (GMNIA). This paper presents the application of both numerical concepts to the cantilevered shell subject to a transverse load at the free edge. The results are compared to those from stress design. There are specific features at both types of numerical analysis: As the determination of the plastic reference resistance and the buckling parameters is the main focus at MNA/LBA, the choice of proper equivalent geometric imperfections demands special diligence at GMNIA. The presented analyses show that the GMNIA concept in connection with consistent equivalent geometric imperfections may lead to a safe and economic design of cylinders subject to combined loading. At the particular load case the MNA/LBA concept currently suffers from the lack of proper regulations concerning the determination of the overall buckling reduction factor.