Elastic-Plastic Buckling Analysis of Spherical Latticed Shell of Large Scale Molten Salt Storage Tank

In recent years, with the rapid development of solar thermal power technology in China, the key equipment molten salt storage tank is widely used. Instability is the primary failure mode for these large thin-walled structures. Thus, stability design for the molten salt storage tanks is significant. In this paper, the elastic and elastic-plastic buckling analyses of a spherical latticed shell are carried out with whole process load-deformation method considering geometric and material non-linearity. The critical buckling loads of these two analysis types are obtained from the load-deformation curve. Comparison between spherical latticed shells with channel beam and I-section beam is presented. The modeling method of finite element model for buckling analysis of latticed shell is discussed. This may provide a reference to the stability design of large scale storage tank.