ABSTRACT
Cylinders, cones, spheres and tori are some of the common basic shell elements. Steel shell structures such as silos, tanks, pressure vessels, offshore platforms, chimneys and tubular towers generally consist of two or more of these basic shell elements. Axisymmetric junctions featuringmeridional slopemismatches between the connected elements are common features in steel shell structures. These junctions are a structural weakness, and their buckling and collapse strengths are a key design consideration.
