ANALYSIS OF GFRP STRENGTHENED STEEL SILO WITH FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

Abstract

Due to their unique deformed shape, thin cylindrical metal shell structures such as silos and tanks are subject to elastic–plastic instability failure at their walls caused by high internal pressure and axial compression in the shell structure cause this type of buckling to occur. This is a common situation in a silo where the silo wall is subjected to both the normal pressure of the stored granules and vertical compressive forces caused by friction between the stored granules and the silo wall. This paper presents a novel method of strengthening cylindrical shells by applying a thin layer of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite, used at the silo body, can effectively eliminate the problem and increase the buckling strength. The strengthened shell is analysed using finite element method (FEM) in this preliminary study. Furthermore, the resistance of FRP materials to corrosion means that they can be used to replace steel and reinforced concrete in situations when they would be exposed to corrosion. FRP therefore has wide application prospects in civil engineering ranging from reinforcing rods and tendons, wraps for seismic retrofit of columns and externally bonded reinforcement for strengthening of walls, beams, and slabs, to all composite bridge decks, and even hybrid and all-composite structural systems.