Experimental tests on buckling of ellipsoidal vessel heads subjected to internal pressure

This paper presents the tests of a series of eighteen ellipsoidal heads of pressure vessels. These heads were welded to cylindrical shells approximately 500 mm in diameter. They were fabricated in the three following materials: carbon steel in the form of 'XE' thin sheets meeting French standard A36-401 dated February 1969; austenitic steel in the form of thin sheets of grade Z6 CN18-09 meeting French standard A35-573 dated October 1975 (this grade is comparable to ANSI grade 304); and aluminium-magnesium alloy of grade AG3 meeting French standard A507602 (Magnesium content 3 per cent). These tests were part of a test series for the development of elasto-plastic buckling analytical methods. These methods are employed for analysing the mechanical structures of Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactors built and designed in France. The results of these tests are also used to validate the 'buckling' modules of the CEASEMT computation system (finite elements) developed at Saclay. (author)