The influence of initial geometric imperfection on the localized buckling of pressure vessel under internal pressure

Pressure vessels are widely used in nuclear engineering and buckling is a common mechanical phenomenon in structure. The buckling problem of pressure vessels under external pressure has been researched for many years. This paper focuses on the influence of initial geometric imperfection on the localized elastic-plastic buckling of pressure vessel under internal pressure. The localized plastic buckling occurred in the transition region in the torispherical end closure of a pressure vessel is analyzed by FEM. By introducing two types of initial geometrical imperfections, the arc-length method of modified Riks/Ramm procedure is performed to simulate the buckling process during loading. The first type of imperfection is displacement, into the region where it is circumferentially compressed. The second type of imperfection is the irregular thickness of the vessel, also into the region where it is circumferentially compressed. The initial critical point is captured within the buckled region, and the corresponding initial buckling load is calculated. The results show that both artificial geometric imperfections can seduce the buckling. Furthermore, after the first buckling initiated, the succeeding loading will lead to more wrinkles within the compressive transition region. And then the case that with two distributed imperfections is also analyzed. It can be seen that the interaction between the imperfections is very weak before or even after the first buckling occurred, which means the buckling is fairly localized.