Exploration of novel geometric imperfection forms in buckling failures of thin-walled metal silos under eccentric discharge

The unsymmetrical discharge of a granular solid from a thin-walled cylindrical metal silo is well known to be a potential prelude to catastrophic buckling failure. The mechanics of this structure have only been very slowly unraveled in recent years with the help of powerful nonlinear finite element analyses. The associated buckling collapse is now known to be caused by localized axial membrane compression and occurs under predominantly elastic conditions. However, such high compressive stress concentrations are also known to produce significantly less imperfection sensitivity than uniform compression. For this reason, the search for an appropriately detrimental imperfection form under eccentric discharge has been quite a long one.This study presents and explores a novel form of long-wave imperfection using a superellipse to parametrise the entire shell geometry. This imperfection, termed ‘superelliptical flattening’, is judged to be potentially present in practical silo construction, and is shown to cause significant decreases in the nonlinear buckling strength of an imperfect slender silo under eccentric discharge.