Elastic Buckling Load Prediction of Thin Conical Caps with Edge Ring Constraint under Uni-axial Compression

Abstract

This study is devoted to the effects of edge ring thickness on the critical buckling load of conical caps having different shell thicknesses and cone angles based on geometrical nonlinearity. Additionally, different buckling failure mode shapes which may occur were investigated. The material behaviours of both shell and edge ring were assumed to be elastic and linear. Finite element simulations for the selected geometries were performed in COSMOSM package program. The models were subjected to compressive loads which starts from zero to a maximum value (buckling load) with a certain load step increments. The results were obtained from the simulations for different cone angles, edge ring and shell thickness. Moreover, an empirical relationship, which estimates buckling load, was established. The paper concludes with suggestions for implementing edge ring and possibility of this application according to finite element method results.

Keywords: Edge ring, Conical shell, Elastic buckling, Axial compression, Finite element method