Buckling resistance of a metal column in a corrugated sheet silo-experiments and non-linear stability calculations

Abstract

The results of experimental and numerical tests of a single corrugated sheet silo column’s buckling resistance are presented in this study. The experiments were performed in a real silo with and without bulk solid (wheat). A very positive impact of the bulk solid on the column buckling resistance occurred. The experimental results were first compared to the buckling resistance calculated by Eurocode 3 formulae. The comparison revealed that code formulae were overly conservative for the empty and pre-filled silo. The experiments were next simulated using the finite element method (FEM) with initial geometric imperfections, based on geodetic measurements or linear bifurcation analyses. The bulk solid’s behaviour was described by two different linear elastic approaches. For real geometric imperfections, the FE computations and experimental findings were in good agreement (particularly for an empty silo). For the pre-filled silo with the code elasticity of the bulk solid and the geodetic amplitude of geometric imperfection of the empty silo, the numerical buckling resistance was too low as compared to the experimental outcomes. In addition, the model tests were performed for a single column with a corrugated sheet at the laboratory scale.