Recent research in thin-walled structures and steel structures has demonstrated that, in addition to internal forces and membrane stresses of shells, initial deformation and imperfection components should also be considered when calculating design cases. This paper presents a numerical analysis of a steel water tank with an initial deformation of the shell, which is used in an industrial plant for technological purposes. The steel water tank is a typical type of thin-walled structure for which initial deformation may be important. In the numerical example, a round symmetrical steel tank 2.70 m high is analysed under two states: with an undeformed shell and a deformed shell. The complicated interaction between the initial deformation and the vertical and horizontal stresses is analysed in detail. While the initial deformation of the shell may sometimes reduce stresses, in most cases, it substantially increases the overall stresses of the analysed steel water tank shell, up to 820% (for stresses in the horizontal direction) and up to 3554% (for stresses in the vertical direction). This means that initial large deformation and imperfections effects may play an important role not only in the design of industrial structures like silos and tanks but also for very specific slim, thin-walled structural elements.

最近对薄壁结构和钢结构的研究表明，在计算设计工况时，除了壳的内力和膜应力外，还应考虑初始变形和缺陷部件。本文介绍了具有外壳初始变形的钢水箱的数值分析，该钢水箱用于工业工厂的技术目的。钢制水箱是一种典型的薄壁结构，其初始变形可能很重要。在数值例子中，一个2.70 m高的圆形对称钢罐在两种状态下进行了分析：壳未变形和壳变形。详细分析了初始变形与垂直和水平应力之间复杂的相互作用。虽然壳体的初始变形有时可能会降低应力，但在大多数情况下，它会显着增加所分析钢制水箱壳体的整体应力，高达 820%（对于水平方向的应力）和高达 3554%（对于应力垂直方向）。这意味着初始大变形和缺陷效应可能不仅在筒仓和储罐等工业结构的设计中发挥重要作用，而且在非常特殊的细长薄壁结构元件中也可能发挥重要作用。