Buckling Experiments of Cracked Axially Compressed Cones

The paper presents experimental studies on the buckling behaviour of axially compressed mild steel cones having crack imperfection. Three different crack orientations were considered, and they are: (i) circumferential crack (0°), (ii) angular crack (45°), and (iii) longitudinal (90°). Fifteen mild steel cones were fabricated with the following geometrical parameter: bottom radius-to-top radius ratio, r2 /r1 = 2.0; top- radius-to-thickness ratio (denoted as cone thinness ratio), r1 /t = 25; axial length-to-bottom radius ratio, L/r2 = 2.24; nominal shell thickness, t = 1 mm; cone angle, β = 12.6°. Experimental results show that increasing the crack length leads to a decrease in the collapse load of the conical shells. In addition, it can be seen from the test results that relatively thick conical shells are more sensitive to circumferential crack a compared to other crack orientation