Buckling experiments on cone-cylinder intersections under internal pressure

Cone-cylinder intersections are used in many shell structures including tanks, silos, pressure vessels, and piping, and internal pressurization is often an important loading condition. For the intersection of the large end of a cone and a cylinder, internal pressurization causes large circumferential compressive stresses in the intersection. These stresses can lead to failure of the intersection by either axisymmetric collapse or non-symmetric buckling. This paper presents the first carefully conducted experimental study on these intersections. Following a brief summary of the experimental setup, the experimental results are presented together with finite-element predictions. Both experimental and numerical results show that the postbuckling behavior of internally pressurized cone-cylinder intersections is stable, but the postbuckling growth of deformations and associated strains can cause rupture failure at welds. The experimental buckling load can be closely approximated by the nonlinear bifurcation load of the perfect geometry, indicating that the effect of initial imperfections is very limited.