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Proceedings

of of
the
ASME
2010
Pressure
Vessels
and
Proceedings
the
ASME
2010
Pressure
Vessels
& Piping Division / K-PVP Conference
PVP2010
PVP2010
July 18-22, 2010, Bellevue, Washington, USA
July

PVP2010-25092
PVP2010-250
LOWER BOUND BUCKLING LOAD OF A FLOATING ROOF PONTOON
Shoichi Yoshida
Yokohama National University
Yokohama, Japan

ABSTRACT
The 2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake caused severe damage
to oil storage tanks due to liquid sloshing. Seven single-deck
floating roofs had experienced sinking failures in large
diameter tanks at a refinery in Tomakomai, Japan. The
pontoons of the floating roofs might be buckled due to bending
load during the sloshing. The content in the tank was spilled
on the floating roof from small failures which were caused in
the welding joints of pontoon bottom plate by the buckling.
Then the floating roof began to lose buoyancy and sank into the
content slowly. The elastic buckling of the pontoon is
important from the viewpoint of the single-deck floating roof
sinking. The authors had reported the buckling strength of the
pontoons subjected to bending and compressive loads in the
published literatures. The axisymmetric shell finite element
method for linear elastic bifurcation buckling was used in the
analysis. The buckling characteristics of the pontoon both
with and without ring stiffeners were investigated. The initial
geometrical imperfection may diminish the buckling load.
This paper presents the lower bound buckling load according to
the reduced stiffness method proposed by Croll and Yamada.
The lower bound buckling loads of the pontoon subjected to
circumferential bending load are evaluated from the
axisymmetric finite element analysis which includes the
reduced stiffness method.
INTRODUCTION
The floating roofs are used in large aboveground oil
storage tanks to prevent evaporation of the content. They are
welded steel structure and are classified into two basic types,
single-deck and double-deck structures. The single-deck
floating roofs, which are considered herein, consists of a thin
circular plate called a deck attached to a buoyant ring of boxshaped cross section called a pontoon.
Seven single-deck floating roof had sunk in the 2003
Tokachi-Oki earthquake at a refinery in Tomakomai, Japan.
The floating roofs deformed to leak oil due to the liquid
sloshing as shown in Fig.1, and they lost buoyancy to sink

slowly spending several days. It is presumed that small


failures in welded joints or in stress concentrated parts of the
pontoon were caused due to the sloshing, and next these
failures expanded gradually in the sinking process.

Floating roof

Fig.1 Sloshing of floating roof tank

In the sloshing, the pontoon of floating roof is subjected to


the circumferential bending load, which is concave downward
on the maximum wave height side and upward on the minimum
wave height side. The buckling may occur on either roof
plate or bottom plate of the pontoon, on which circumferential
compressive stress acts. The elastic buckling of the pontoon
is important from the viewpoint of the single-deck floating roof
sinking.
The author had investigated the elastic buckling
characteristics of the pontoons with and without ring stiffeners
subjected to several combined bending load and compressive
load due to the sloshing using the axisymmetric shell finite
element analysis [1~4]. They were linear elastic bifurcation
buckling analyses for non-axisymmetric buckling modes under
axisymmetric loading. Though the sloshing load is nonaxisymmetric, it was assumed to be axisymmetric in the
analyses for simplification. In addition, the previous analyses
were for the pontoons without initial geometrical imperfection.
In thin shell structures, it is well known that the theoretical
buckling load is different from the experimental buckling load.
The reason of the difference is the geometrical imperfection of
the shell. The design formula for buckling load is usually

Copyright 2010 by ASME

derived from experimental lower bound loads. On the other


hand, the reduced stiffness method proposed by Croll and
Yamada [5~7] gives the lower bound buckling load
theoretically. In this method, the lower bound is assumed to
be obtained to eliminate the linear membrane strain energy
from the quadratic components of the variation of potential
energy in equilibrium condition. The shape of geometrical
imperfection is not required to define in this method.
This paper presents the lower bound buckling loads of the
floating roof pontoon subjected to circumferential bending
load. The axisymmetric shell finite element method which is
the same as the previous studies [1~4] is used. The results of
the analyses are evaluated to the lower bound using the reduced
stiffness method.
NOMENCLATURE
Nonlinear strain-displacement transformation matrix
[Bdm]
Radial displacement for m
dr-m
z-direction displacement for m
dz-m
d-m
Circumferential displacement for m
{dm}
Nodal displacement vector or buckling mode
E
Youngs modulus
RS factor
fRS
RS factor for m
fRSm
Moment of inertia of pontoon cross section
Ir
[KLm] Small displacement stiffness matrix
[KMm] Membrane component of small displacement
stiffness matrix
[Km] Initial stress stiffness matrix
Elemental initial stress stiffness matrix
[km]
Lower edge difference
LD
Inner rim height
Li
Outer rim height
Lo
Pontoon width
LP
Ring stiffener length
LR
M
Circumferential bending moment
Circumferential buckling bending moment
Mcr
Mcr with i ring stiffeners
Mcr-i
Lower bound circumferential buckling
M*cr
bending moment
M*cr with i ring stiffeners
M*cr-i
Circumferential buckling bending moment for m
Mcrm
Mcrm-i Mcrm with i ring stiffeners
M*crm Lower bound circumferential buckling
bending moment for m
M*crm-i M*crm with i ring stiffeners
Bending moment of i-direction
Mi
m
Circumferential wave number
Membrane force of i-direction
Ni
Initial meridional membrane force for m=0
NS0
Initial circumferential membrane force for m=0
N0
Inner rim radius
ri
(r, , z) Cylindrical coordinates
s
Elemental coordinate
t
Shell thickness

ti
tL
to
tR
tu
U2b
U2m
u
um
V2m
v
vm
w
wm

m
Ni
Mi
i
i

i
m
min
*

[ ]

Inner rim plate thickness


Pontoon bottom plate thickness
Outer rim plate thickness
Thickness of ring stiffener
Pontoon roof plate thickness
Linear bending strain energy
Linear membrane strain energy
Tangential displacement of shell element
Tangential displacement of shell element for m
Nonlinear membrane strain energy
Circumferential displacement of shell element
Circumferential displacement of shell element for m
Normal displacement of shell element
Normal displacement of shell element for m
Rotation angle of nodal point
Rotation angle of nodal point for m
Membrane force of i-direction for virtual displacement
Bending moment of i-direction
for virtual displacement
Strain of i-direction for virtual displacement
Change of curvature of i-direction
for virtual displacement
Variation of total potential energy
Strain of i-direction
Eigenvalue or buckling load parameter for m
Minimum of m
RS Buckling parameter
Total potential energy
Poissons ratio
Initial circumferential membrane stress for m=0
Elemental angle
Coordinate transformation matrix
Change of curvature of i-direction

Subscript -i
Subscript m
Superscript (L)
Superscript (N)
Superscript *

The number of ring stiffeners


Circumferential wave number
Liner term
Nonlinear term
Lower bound

SINGLE DECK FLOATING ROOF STRUCTURE


The single-deck floating roof is made of mild steel, and its
members are jointed together by the welding. The thin
circular plate called a deck attaches to a buoyant ring of boxshaped cross section called a pontoon, as shown in Fig.2. The
pontoon consists of the inner rim, the outer rim, the pontoon
roof and the pontoon bottom. Both the plates of the pontoon
roof and the pontoon bottom have the range between 4.5 mm
and 6 mm in thickness, and both the inner rim and the outer rim
are about 12 mm. The deck thickness is about 4.5 mm (3/16
inch) regardless of the tank diameter. The pontoon is usually
a wide and shallow trapezoidal shape. The width of the
pontoon which equals to the length between the inner rim and

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the outer rim is several meters in large tank. It is divided into


a number of compartments in the pontoon by the radially
arranged plates called a bulkhead. Each compartment has
leakproof. API Standard 650 Appendix C [8] gives the
minimum requirement for the floating roof design. However,
the sloshing motion has not been considered in the floating roof
design.
The sloshing in cylindrical oil storage tanks occurs due to
relatively long period earthquake motion in which predominant
period is 5 seconds to 15 seconds. The 1st natural period of
the tank is usually within this range. In the sloshing, the
direction of the maximum and the minimum wave height side
of the tank is the earthquake excitation direction as shown in
Fig.3. The pontoon is subjected to the circumferential
bending load which is concave downward on the maximum
wave height side and upward on the minimum wave height side
during the sloshing. The buckling may occur on either the
roof plate or the bottom plate of the pontoon, where the
circumferential compression stress acts.

joint [9]. Because of small leakage, this floating roof had


remained afloat. Fig.5 shows the failure of the single-deck
floating roof in a 100,000 m3 crude oil tank at the 2003
Tokachi-Oki earthquake in Japan [3]. The floating roof had
damaged due to the sloshing, and it sank into the content.
This picture was taken after draining oil and cleaning the tank
several months after the earthquake. The large deformation
and failure of the floating roof is presumed to be caused during
the sinking process. This roof remained afloat without
collapse for several days after the earthquake according to
aerial photos. The author presumes that the damage condition
of both the single-deck floating roofs in Fig.4 and Fig.5 were
almost identical immediately after the earthquake. It is
concluded that the collapse of the single-deck floating roof as
shown in Fig.5 did not occur at the earthquake, but it occurred
during the sinking process.

Pontoon

Pontoon

Detail of Pontoon
Deck

Pontoon

Seal

Spilled oil

Pontoon roof plate


Bulkhead

Spilled oil

Outer rim

Deck

Deck

Deck

Fig.4 Pontoon buckling failure [9]

Shell

Bottom

Inner rim Pontoon bottom plate

Fig.2 Single-deck floating roof


Pontoon
Pontoon

Deck
Max. Sloshing
direction

Buckling

Deck
Buckling

Fig.5 Floating roof that sank in oil [3]

Fig.3 Buckling location


Fig.4 shows the pontoon buckling in a 130,000 m3 crude
oil tank at the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake in Taiwan. Crude oil
was inundated into the pontoon from ruptured pontoon bottom
plate, and spilled into the deck from ruptured inner rim-to-deck

ANALYSIS
Axisymmetric Shell Finite Element
The axisymmetric shell finite element used in this analysis
is a conical frustum element as shown in Fig.6. In this
element, the tangential displacement u and the circumferential
displacement v are assumed to be linear function and the
normal displacement w to be cubic function with respect to s,
where s is the elemental coordinate.

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The strain-displacement relation based on the KirchhoffLoves assumption is given by the Novozhilovs equation [10],
and the linear term is expressed by Eq.(1) and the nonlinear
term is expressed by Eq(2) [11]:

i
s
r

dr
L

1 v 1

+ (w cos + u sin )
s( L )
r r

(L )
u v v


sin
+

( L )
r s r
(1)
s
(L ) =

2w
2
s

s
(L )

2
1 w cos v sin w
s(L )

2
+ 2

2
s

r s
r
r

1
w
sin
w
cos
v
sin
cos

2
v
+ 2
+

r s
r
r

r s

u
j

dz

z
v

: Nodal point

Fig.6 Axisymmetric shell finite element

where m is a term of Fourier series, i.e., a circumferential wave


number. The relation of the displacements between the global
coordinate and the elemental coordinate is defined as follows:

1 w

2 s

s( N )
2
( N ) 1 w

v cos
= 2

( N ) 2 r
s 1 w w

v
cos

r s

um cos
v
m 0
=
wm sin
m 0

(2)

where, i and i (i = s, , s) express the strain and the change


of curvature. The superscript (L) and (N) denote a linear term
and a nonlinear term, respectively.
The elastic stress-strain relation based on the Hookes law
can be written as:
1

1
Ns

Et
N s
=

2
M s 1

M s

sym.

w =dw/ds

0
1
2

t2
t2

12
12
t2
12

0
s

0

s (3)

0
s

0


(1 )t 2 s
24

0
0
0 um
u
cosm

v 0
sinm
0
0 vm

=

0
cosm
0 wm
w m=0 0


0
0
cosm m
0

(4)

(5)

where, di-m(i = z, , r) and m are the i-direction displacement in


global coordinate and the rotation angle. Eq.(5) can be simply
written as follows:

{u m } = [ ]{d m }

where, E, and t are Youngs modulus, Poissons ratio and


thickness. Ni and Mi (i = s, , s) are the membrane forces and
the bending moments.
The displacements in elemental coordinate are expressed
using the Fourier expansion as follows:

0 sin 0d zm

1 0 0d m

0 cos 0d r m

0 0
1 m

(6)

where [ ] is the coordinate transformation matrix.

Linear Bifurcation Buckling Analysis


The virtual work principle gives the equation of
bifurcation buckling for the circumferential wave number
m 2 under axisymmetric load as follows:

([K Lm ] + m [Km ]){d m } = 0

(7)

where [KLm] , [Km], {dm} and m are the small displacement


stiffness matrix, the initial stress stiffness matrix, the
displacement vector and the buckling load parameter,
respectively. The elemental initial stress stiffness matrix is
expressed by the following forms:
T N
0
[km ] = [Bdm ] s0
[Bdm ]dVe
(8)
N 0
0
Ve
where Ns0 is the initial meridian membrane forces and N0 is the
initial circumferential membrane forces of the shell element.
These are axisymmetric forces while the sloshing load is non-

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axisymmetric. It is assumed that the pontoon buckling due to


the sloshing are approximately obtained from the axisymmetric
load.
[Bdm] is the nonlinear strain-displacement
transformation matrix.
Eq.(7) is the equation for a eigenvalue problem, and is
solved for the circumferential wave number m 2 . The
buckling load is derived from the minimum eigenvalue m.
The eigenvector {dm} corresponding to the eigenvalue m
becomes the buckling mode.
The computer code based on the theory mentioned above
was developed by the author. It was verified to investigate the
application to several problems [12,13].

INITIAL STRESS
The hatching area of Fig.7 is the pontoon cross section
and is discretized into 1500 to 1600 axisymmetric shell finite
elements. Point G is the centroid of the cross section. The
deck plate is not modeled in the analysis. The bulkhead plates
can not be taken into consideration in the analytical model
because of the axisymmetric analysis. Fig.8 shows the ring
stiffener which is LR in length and tR in thickness, and it
attaches to both the pontoon roof plate and the pontoon bottom
plate at regular intervals. The pontoon is subjected to
circumferential bending moment M as illustrated in Fig.9

M
M

Fig.9 Circumferential bending load


In the elastic bifurcation buckling analysis, the initial
circumferential stresses are applied to the pontoon cross section
as shown in Fig.10. The initial circumferential stress which
is equivalent to the circumferential bending moment M is given
by:
=

M
z
Ir

(9)

where, Ir is the moment of inertia of the pontoon cross section


through the centroid G, z is the distance from r axis through the
centriod. The initial meridional membrane forces in the
Eq.(8) is defined by the following equation in this analysis.

NS0 = 0

(10)

The initial circumferential membrane forces is defined by:

tu

N 0 = t

to
ti

Li

(11)

The circumferential buckling bending moment Mcr- is


calculated by the following formulas:

M cr = min M

Lo

(12)

LD
Lp

ri

tL

Fig.7 Cross section of pontoon

In this equation, min is the minimum value of the minimum


eigenvalues m in each circumferential wave number m. The
circumferential buckling bending moment Mcrm for m is defined
by:
M crm = m M

(13)

Mcr is the minimum value of Mcrm.

Fig.8 Ring stiffener

Fig.10 Initial stress due to circumferential bending moment

Copyright 2010 by ASME

REDUCED STIFFNESS METHOD


The virtual displacements u, v, w are non
axisymmetric, and are given to axisymmetric shell structure
which is equilibrium condition under axisymmetric load. In
this condition, the strains and the changes of curvature of the
shell are written as follows:
s s0 + s( L ) + s( N )

(L)
(N )
0 + +
s s(L ) + s(N )
(14)
=

s( L )


( L )


(L)

s
s
where i(L), i(L) (i= s, , s) are the linear strain and the
change of curvature, i(N) (i= s, , s) is the nonlinear strain
due to the virtual displacements.
The membrane forces and the bending moments due to the
virtual displacements can be also written in the following form.

(15)

where Ni(L), Mi(L) (i= s, , s) are the linear membrane force


and the bending moment, Ni(N) (i= s, , s) is the nonlinear
membrane force due to the virtual displacements.
The variation of total potential energy can be written as:

= 1 + 2 + 3 + L

(16)

where i (i = 1,2 ,3,L) is the i-th order component


variation of total potential energy with respect to the
displacement.
The linear component 1 = 0
equilibrium and the quadratic component 2 = 0
buckling. 2 is decomposed as follows:

2 = U 2 M + U 2b + V2 M

of the
virtual
is the
is the

(17)

1
N s( L ) s( L ) + N( L ) ( L ) + N s(L ) s(L ) dA
2 A

(18)

1
N s 0 s( N ) + N S( N ) s 0 + N 0 ( N ) + N ( N ) 0 dA (20)
2 A

The buckling condition is obtained as follows:

U 2 M + U 2b + V2 M = 0

(21)

where is the buckling load parameter, and is given as:


U + U 2b
(22)
= 2M
V2 M
The linear membrane strain energy U2m seems to reduce
due to the initial geometrical imperfection. In the reduced
stiffness method [5~7], U2m is eliminated from the quadratic
component of the variation of total potential energy 2 as
follows:
(23)

where * is the RS buckling load parameter, and is given as:


U
(24)
* = 2 b
V2 M
In this paper, RS factor fRS is defined as:
U 2b
*
(25)
f RS =
=
U 2 M + U 2b
In the finite element analysis, RS factor for each
circumferential wave number fRSm is derived form the following
equation:
{d }T ([K Lm ] [K Mm ]){d m }
(26)
f RSm = m
{d m }T [K Lm ]{d m }
where {dm} is the buckling mode vector and [KMm] is the
membrane component of small displacement stiffness matrix.
The lower bound buckling load for each circumferentil wave
number Mcrm* is expressed as:

M * crm = f RSm M crm

where U2b is the linear bending strain energy, U2m is the linear
membrane strain energy and V2m is the nonlinear membrane
strain energy.
These can be written in the following
equations.

V2 M =

1
M s( L ) s( L ) + M ( L )( L ) + M s(L ) s(L ) dA (19)
2 A

U 2b + *V2 M = 0

N s N s0 + N s( L ) + N s( N )
N
(L)
(N )
N 0 + N + N
N s N s(L ) + N s(N )

=
M s( L )

Ms

M
M ( L )


M s
M s(L )

U 2M =

U 2b =

(27)

The lower bound buckling load Mcr* becomes the minimum


value of Mcrm*.

ANALYTICAL MODEL
The pontoon is made of mild steel, and Young's modulus E
and Poisson's ratio are 200 GPa and 0.3, respectively. In
this analysis, the circumferential bending moment M where the
pontoon roof plate is subjected to compressive stress is defined
as positive as shown in Fig.9. Table 1 shows the basic
analytical conditions of the pontoon. The cross sectional area

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Table 1 Analytical condition


Radius r i
30 m
Height
L
Inner rim
450 mm
i
Plate thickness t i
12 mm
Height L o
900 mm
Outer rim
Plate thickness t o
12 mm
Width L p
4m
Pontoon Roof plate thickness t u
6 mm
Bottom plate thickness t L 6 mm
Lower edge difference L D
150 mm
Length L R
Ring
120 mm
Stiffener Thickness t R
10 mm
Young's modulus E
200 GPa
Poison's ratio
0.3

The lower bound buckling load ratio M*crm-i/Mcr-i for each


circumferential wave number m is shown in Fig.13. The
minimum value of M*crm-i becomes the lower bound buckling
load M*cr-i which is shown as the ratio in Table 2. The ratio
M*crm-2/Mcr-2 with two ring stiffeners decreases largely at m =
14. The circumferential wave number m of the buckling load
Mcr-i is identical to that of the lower bound buckling load M*cr-i
both without and with one ring stiffener. On the other hand,
in the pontoon with two ring stiffeners, m is 101 in Mcr-2 and m
is 14 in M*cr-2 as shown in Table 2, and they are not identical.

10000

Mcrm-i (kN-m)

is A = 6.43104 mm2, and the moment of inertia is Ir = 6.54109


mm4 in this pontoon without ring stiffener. This is almost
equivalent to the pontoon which has 70 m in diameter.
The ring stiffeners are attached to both the pontoon roof plate
and the pontoon bottom plate at regular intervals.

LOWER BOUND BUCKLING LOAD


Table 2 shows the buckling load without initial
geometrical imperfection Mcr-i which is derived from Eq.(12),
the minimum value of the RS factor fRSm-i and the lower bound
buckling load ratio M*cr-i/Mcr-i. M*cr-i is the lower bound
buckling load obtained by the reduced stiffness method and the
notation i denotes the number of ring stiffeners.
The buckling load without initial geometrical imperfection
Mcrm-i for each circumferential wave number m is shown in
Fig.11. The minimum of Mcrm-i becomes the buckling load
Mcr-i which is shown in Table 2. The RS factor fRSm-i for m is
shown in Fig.12. The minimum value of fRSm-i without ring
stiffener (i = 0) is 0.733 at m = 6, that with one ring stiffener ( i
= 1 ) is 0.478 at m = 12 and that with two ring stiffeners ( i = 2)
is 0.256 at m = 16 as shown in Table 2. The RS factor fRSm-i is
less than 1.0 and it decreases largely in the circumferential
wave number m less than 30. Also fRSm-i decreases with
increasing the number of ring stiffeners.

Circumferential bending
No ring ( i=0 )
One ring ( i=1 )
Two rings ( i=2 )

1000

100

10
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Circumferential wave number m

Fig.11 Buckling load

1.2

RS factor fRSm-i

1.0

Table 2 Lower bound buckling load ratio


Minimum
Number of
M cr-i
*
M cr-i /M cr-i
f RSm-i
Ring Stiffeners
(kN-m)
i =0
57.20 (39)
0.733 (6)
0.975 (38)
171.37
(69)
0.478
(12)
0.995
(68)
i =1
370.94 (101)
0.256 (16)
0.564 (14)
i =2
(Circumferential wave number m )

0.8
Circumferential bending

0.6

No ring ( i=0 )
One ring ( i=1 )
Two rings ( i=2 )

0.4
0.2
0.0
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Circumferential wave number m

Fig.12 RS factor

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1000000
Circumferential bending ( i =1 )

10.0

Strain energy (N-mm)

Circumferential bending
No ring ( i=0 )
One ring ( i=1 )
Two rings ( i=2 )

crm-i /Mcr-i

100.0

1.0

100000

10000

U2b
U2b
U2m
U2M

1000

100

0.1
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

20

40

60

80

100

120

Circumferential wave number m

Circumferential wave number m

Fig.15 Strain energy of the pontoon with a ring stiffener

Fig.13 Lower bound buckling load ratio

The linear membrane strain energy U2M derived from


Eq.(18) and the linear bending strain energy U2b derived from
Eq.(19) are shown in Fig.14~Fig.16. Fig.14 shows the
energies of the pontoon without ring stiffeners, Fig.15 shows
the energies with a ring stiffener and Fig.16 shows the energies
with two ring stiffeners. Those strain energies are calculated
assuming the maximum buckling mode to 1 mm and those are
divided by the circular constant . U2b increases with
increasing the circumferential wave number m. On the other
hand, U2M increases first and then it decreases with increasing
m. The grade of an increase and decrease of U2M becomes
large with increasing the number of ring stiffeners.

1000000

Strain energy (N-mm)

Cicumferential bending ( i =2 )
100000
U2b
U2b
U2M
U2m

10000

1000

100
0

40

60

80

100

120

Circumferential wave number m

1000000
Circumferential bending ( i =0 )
Strain energy (N-mm)

20

Fig.16 Strain energy of the pontoon with two ring stiffeners

100000
10000

U2b
U2b
U2M
U2M

1000
100
10
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Circumferential wave number m

Fig.14 Strain energy of the pontoon without ring stiffener

The buckling modes of the pontoon with two ring


stiffeners are shown in Fig.17. These modes are illustrated on
the section = 0, and they distribute cosm along the
circumferential direction.
The buckling mode of the
circumferential wave number m = 12 deforms in whole area of
the pontoon roof plate. The buckling mode of m = 26 shows
the local buckling which deforms in the pontoon roof plate
between the ring stiffeners. The linear membrane strain
energy U2M becomes the maximum at m = 20 in Fig.16. The
buckling mode of m = 20 is just transforming into the local
buckling.
Because the buckling mode transforms into local buckling
at m = 20 with increasing m, the linear membrane strain energy
U2M becomes the maximum and then it decreases with
increasing m.

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Fig.17 Buckling mode of the pontoon with two ring stiffeners

CONCLUSIONS
The initial geometrical imperfection may diminish the
buckling load. The lower bound buckling loads of the
floating roof pontoon of an oil storage tank subjected to
circumferential bending load are evaluated from the
axisymmetric finite element analysis and the reduced stiffness
method. The shape of imperfection is not required to define
in the reduced stiffness method.
As a result, the lower bound buckling loads of the pontoon
both without ring stiffeners and with one ring stiffener are
almost the same as the buckling loads without geometrical
imperfection. However, the lower bound buckling load of the
pontoon with two ring stiffeners is 56% of the buckling loads
without geometrical imperfection.
In this paper, the finite element method is the linear elastic
bifurcation buckling analysis for non-axisymmetric buckling
mode under axisymmetric loading. Though the sloshing load
is non-axisymmetric and theoretically has the circumferential
wave number m=1 due to the horizontal seismic excitation, it is
assumed to be axisymmetric, i.e., m=0, in this analysis. The
verification of this assumption will be a future study.
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