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P. Ansourian

A study of Table 6.1 shows that for the case = 0.5 corresponding to the maximum skew in the table, the greater percentage rise in buckling pressure calculated relative to the uniform buckling pressure occurs in the longer and thicker cylinders. For the case L/R = 2 , the rise is 26.5% at R/h = 100, and 20.6% at R/h = 1000. The rise is only 6.8% at L/R = /4, R/h = 1000, and naturally decreases with reducing skew. Partial loading Table 6.2 contains results for partial loading ( = 18.590 , Fig. 6.7). Figure 6.9 gives a selection of graphs for this load case. With partial loading, the subtended angle of = 36.7 corresponds approximately to a positive wind pressure zone. On the other hand, = 60 is closer to the extent of positive wind pressure on a closely spaced group of cylindrical tanks or silos, for which the pressure distribution is not unlike that on a block-like envelope of the group; a consequent substantial fall in buckling strength occurs, by an average 18% and a maximum 26%.

Experimental behaviour
Considerable experimental effort has been exerted around the world to gain a clear understanding of the response of cylinders under external pressure. In this section, thin-walled cylinders are considered in the slenderness regime close to R/h = 1000, common in silos and tanks. It is clear that the response of these cylinders depends strongly on the restraint conditions at the two ends of the cylinder. These restraints are radial, tangential, axial and rotational. A detailed study of this effect is given in Vodenitcharova and Ansourian (1994, 1996) and Ansourian et al. (1995) in the context of the Flgge formulation, and includes numerical data for many combinations of restraint. It is clear that the buckling strength of thin cylinders under uniform or nonuniform pressure is very low when the two ends are free (wave number n = 2), and reaches a maximum when fully clamped at both ends; while a wide range of strengths is encompassed within the two extremes, the most signicant rise occurs in a free cylinder with the addition of radial restraint at each end; for example, with L/R = 1, R/h = 1000, an 82-fold increase in buckling pressure occurs, with n rising from 2 to 15. The addition of tangential restraint has an almost negligible effect (<1% except in very short and thick cylinders where the increase is 4%). Of particular signicance is the case of non-symmetric boundary conditions in which one end of the cylinder has radial and axial restraint, while the other end is entirely free. This is typically the case of a tank bolted to the foundations but totally free at the top. Here, the buckling strength does not reach the full restraint value, but is nevertheless high with a 48-fold increase over the free condition. The presence of meridional restraint at the foundation is however crucial, as a signicant loss of axial restraint stiffness at the base would almost eliminate resistance of the