Simulation of buckling process of cylindrical metal silos with flat sheets containing bulk solids

•Stability results of thin-walled cylindrical metal silos containing bulk solids are shown.•Non-linear FE analyses with the geometric and material non-linearity are performed.•Three different initial imperfections are assumed.•The strengthening effect of the stored solid on the silo buckling strength is obtained.

The paper presents 3D results on stability of thin-walled cylindrical metal silos made from isotropic rolled plates containing bulk solids. The behaviour of bulk solids was described with a hypoplastic constitutive model. Non-linear FE analyses with both geometric and material non-linearity were performed with a perfect and an imperfect silo shell wherein 3 different initial geometric imperfections were taken into account. The influence of a stored bulk solid (dry medium-dense cohesionless sand) during filling on the buckling strength of silos was compared with the strength of an empty silo and with the experimental results available in the literature. Our numerical results indicate a clear strengthening effect of the stored solid on the silo buckling strength as in the experiments, depending upon the wall thickness, wall loading way and imperfection type and amplitude.