Inelastic general instability of ring-stiffened circular cylinders and cones under uniform external pressure

Experimental tests are described on three ring stiffened machined circular cylinders and three ring stiffened machined circular cones, which were tested to destruction under uniform external pressure. All six vessels failed by inelastic general instability. The experiments showed that the vessels initially deformed plastically at mid-bay in the circumferential direction, and this caused the circumferential tangent modulus to become much less than the elastic Young`s modulus, causing the vessels to fail through plastic general instability at pressures much less than that predicted by elastic theory. Based on a thinness ratio, two semi-empirical design charts are provided, which are intended to be used for design purposes in conjunction with the finite element method and a plastic reduction factor.