Uplifting and stability of wind‐loaded vertical cylindrical shells

The present paper deals with the numerical calculation of the behaviour of vertical wind‐loaded cylindrical shells (large liquid storage tanks) with a very flexible bottom plate resting on an elastic foundation. The base of the tank, i.e. the lower boundary of the shell and the bottom plate, may partially uplift due to the shell deformations under the dead load, a hydrostatic pressure and due to wind forces. This behaviour represents non‐linear boundary conditions of the tank wall. Hence, the stability of the wind‐loaded tank is extremely influenced by the uplift conditions. This non‐linear problem (large deformations and variable contact) is solved by the FE method.