Buckling of Corroded Torispherical Shells Under External Pressure

The current paper examines the effects of corrosion induced wall thinning on buckling of domed closures onto cylindrical vessels. It is assumed that corrosion is axisymmetric and that the wall is corroded on inside, only. The ratio of corroded wall thickness, tc, to the non-corroded thickness, t, is varied between 0.10 ≤ tc/t ≤ 1.0. Both depth of corrosion and its meridional extend are varied during numerical calculations. Three modelling scenarios for placement of corrosion are considered: (i) corrosion confined to the knuckle, (ii) corrosion spanning evenly the knuckle and spherical parts, and (iii) patchtype area positioned at the apex. Numerical results indicate that the following factors influence buckling performance of the dome: (i) meridional position of corroded area, (ii) depth of corrosion itself, and (iii) meridional span of corroded wall. For example, wall thinning of 10 % over 10 % of meridional length causes almost 20 % drop in buckling strength. The largest drop of load carrying capacity is found when the corroded wall is at the knuckle/crown junction. Here it is shown that assessment of strength based on the collapse mechanism is not only wrong but dangerous. For the case of the corroded dome, the collapse pressure overestimates the load carrying capacity associated with asymmetric bifurcation buckling by 40 %.