Influence of Ring Stiffeners on a Steel Cylindrical Shell

Abstract

Shell structures are usually formed from concrete, steel and nowadays also from many others materials. Steel is typically used in the structures of chimneys, reservoirs, silos, pipelines, etc. Unlike concrete shells, steel shells are regularly stiffened with the help of longitudinal and/or ring stiffeners.The authors of this paper investigated steel cylindrical shells and their stiffening with the use of ring stiffeners. The more complete the stiffening, the more closely the shell will act to beam theory, and the calculations will be much easier. However, this would make realization of the structure more expensive and more laborious. The target of the study is to find the limits of ring stiffeners for cylindrical shells. Adequate stiffeners will eliminate semi-bending action of the shells in such way that the shell structures can be analyzed with the use of numerical models of the struts (e.g., by beam theory) without significant divergences from reality. Recommendations are made for the design of ring stiffeners, especially for the distances between stiffeners and for their bending stiffness.