Experimental evidence of imperfection influence on the buckling of thin cylindrical shell under uniform external pressure Original Research Article

The load carrying behaviour of cylindrical thin-walled shell structures under pressure load is strongly dependent on the nature and magnitude of the imperfections invariably caused by various manufacturing processes. The present paper examines instabilities of long homogeneous and isotropic thin elastic tubes, characterized by geometric imperfections like eccentricity or ovality, on the buckling behaviour in conditions for which, at present, a complete theoretical analysis was not found in literature. Moreover, the additional aspect of the influence of the welded joint geometry and position is investigated over a wide range of diameter to thickness ratio, extending the findings of previous works. The problem of buckling for variable load conditions is relevant in the context of NPP applications as, for instance the optimisation of an integrated and innovative LWR Steam Generator (SG) tubes, according to the updated ASME rules.