Tubular conveyor galleries

M. S. Troitsky
Department of Civil Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
{Received January 1981; revised October 1981)

This paper discusses the structural analysis and design of tubular conveyor
gallaries, used in industry for supporting and housing of conveyors
handling bulk materials. The design of such galleries has not so far been
treated in detail in the literature.
The loads and forces acting on the gallery are established and the
structural behaviour of the gallery has been analysed in detail. The
expression for stresses in the gallery under vertical and horizontal loading
or their combinations are shown. Also, local and overall buckling stability
requirements are established. The design of intermediate stiffening rings,
as well as ring girders, considering vertical and saddle-type supports are
treated.

Key words: conveyors, gallery, tubular

Introduction At intervals along the length of a conveyor gallery,

supports must be provided to carry the gallery between its
The purpose of this paper is to outline the structural junctions with the plant. Two types of gallery supports,
analysis and design of tubular conveyor galleries, which both fabricated of steel pipe, are used. The first type of
relatively recently have found an application in industry. 1-3 support is the inverted V-bent, (Figure 2a) and is capable of
They are used for the support and housing of conveyor taking both the horizontal and vertical loads. The second
handling bulk materials. type of support is a single pipe post (Figure 2b), taking
Tubular types offer the following advantages: vertical loads only.
(a) They act as structural members in carrying the The latest proposal is to house the conveyor in an
conveyors and workways, and protecting them from adverse elliptically-shaped tube of light-weight, high-strength steel,
weather. supported by an A-frame, Figure 3.
(b) Their tubular cross-section has an aerodynamically
superior shape against wind action.
(c) The tubular section provides an equal resistance to
both the horizontal and vertical loads. Convey
(d) The circular tube is an ideal section for resistance to

/
torsional stresses imposed by eccentrically located loads.
These conditions are best fulfilled by a welded tubular
conveyor gallery, shown in cross-section in Figure 1.
The tubes are approximately 8 ft 6 in to 10 ft in
diameter, depending on the size of conveyor that they
house.
It should be noted that the range of wall thicknesses \ \ I ,r ~ .g I Walkway
encountered in practice in the design of a tubular conveyor
galley depends on the following factors: accepted diameter
of the tube, span, conveyor installations, weight of the
Re]~r~'n / , ' ~'~ " /

material transported by the belt and type of steel used for

the structure. In addition, external loadings such as the
intensity of the wind or earthquake forces influence the
design of the tube. As experience indicates, the most :' " Cooc,e,e
common thicknesses of tube walls may vary within the sluice w a y
range of ~ in to ½in. t'igure 1 Tubular conveyorgallery

0141/0296/82/02119-10/$03.00
© 1982 Butterworth & Co. (Publishers) Ltd Eng. Struet., 1982, Vol. 4, April 119
Tubular co#veyor galleries: M. S. Troitsky

Weight o f mechanical components and equipment.

qe = belts + idlers + pulleys + drive + switches
+ wiring + other, lb/ft (2)

Weight o f walkway:
qp = checkered plate + grating + stringer
+ posts, lb/ft (3)
qs = weight of concrete sluiceway, shown in
Figure 1, lb/ft (4)

Live loads
Live load due to material on belt."
qt.t, lb/ft (5)
No allowance is made for the impact due to the bounc-
ing of lumps as they wave along the belt.

Live load on walkway."

ql.w, lb/ft (6)
1 I
Normally, it is taken at 100 lb/ft 2 locally, but 25 lb/ft 2
Figure 2 Types of supports (a), inverted V bent support, (b), single
post support for the span.

Icing and snow {if applicable):

The advantages of the V-bent and single post support
qi+s, lb/ft (7)
structures for conveyor galleries include the following:

(a) The supports constitute a minimum of obstruction to Belt pull during starting, stopping or running."
plant operations. P, lb (longitudinal force) (8)
(b) The heavy pipe sections used are less vulnerable to
damage by mobile equipment than are the supports with Longitudinal forces
bracing of the conventional type. Sometimes, the head pulley of the conveyor is located
(c) Less frequent painting maintenance is required for the within the gallery, usually at one end, the highest of an
supports. inclined gallery. As a result, a longitudinal compressive
force, originated by the head pulley of the conveyor, has
to be resisted by the tube, and transmitted from one end
Fabrication
Nearly all of the steel is shop-welded and field-bolted,
using high strength bolts. Normally, the structures are
shop-assembled into the largest pieces which can be eco-
nomically shipped and handled in the field. The tubes are
fabricated in up to 60 ft sections, which can be transported
by rail to the plant site for erection. All the conveyor
components are assembled inside the tube before erection.
Structural grade steels, ASTM A-36 are used for most of
F. t
the work, although ASTM A-242 may be used for corrosion
resistance and alloy steels for reduction in dead weight.

Vertical loads a n d f o r c e s
Loading conditions vary, depending on the project, but the
following may be considered:

Dead loads
Own weight o f tubular structure:
nWst
qt = zrDitPs+ lb/ft (1)
l
where: Di, inside diameter of tube, ft; t, thickness of wall,
ft; ps, unit weight of steel shell, lb/ft3;n, number of
stiffeners in span; Wst, weight of one stiffener, lb and l,
span between bents or supports, ft. Figure 3 Elliptical tube for conveyor gallery

120 Eng. Struct., 1982, Vol. 4, April

 Tubular conveyor galleries." M. S. Troitsky

The tubular gallery spannings over the inverted V-bents

and single posts have to resist in flexure, as a continuous
beam of hollow circular cross-section over multiple
supports. In addition to flexure, the vertical loads usually
cause uniformly distributed torsional moments.
The resultant of the vertical loads in a typical cross-
-I- -F -I section of the gallery does not usually coincide with the
centre of the tube in creating a torsional moment, but the

Single post
2
I n v e r t e d V- b e n t
tubular section is the ideal section to resist torque.
In the following analysis we consider the general arrange-
ment of the conveyor gallery, as shown in Figure 4.
The statical values, due to the effect of a vertical
uniformly distributed load on a continuous structure, are
Figure 4 General arrangement of conveyor gallery shown in Figure 5.

Normal stresses due to maximum bending m o m e n t

of the gallery to the other, which is held by braced bent
against longitudinal displacement. The unsupported length My considering a multispan structure, Figure 5, under
of the tube is 2l, since the single posts are considered as a uniformly-distributed load qv is:
having zero flexural regidity. This compressive longitudinal My 4M~
force at one end of the conveyor gallery is usually eccentric, Max o v - - psi (10)
with respect to the centre of the tube. As a result, we have S ltD,(t--c)
two moments, one vertical and one horizontal, at this end where: S, section modulus of tube, in3; Di, internal
of the gallery. diameter, in; t, thickness of wall, in and; c, corrosion
allowance, in.
Temperature effect
Due to the temperature changes, the inverted V-bents
and single posts, being flexible structures, allow the tube Shearing stress due to internal torque MT. Due to the
to expand freely. asymmetric arrangement of the equipment inside the tube,
A factor that must be taken into consideration in there will originate an internal torsional moment (see
designing long-span tubular galleries, is the effect of the Figure 6).
sun's heat on the tube, one side of which may be in full With reference to Figure 6, internal torsional moment
sun, while the other side is in full shade, with the conse- is:
quent distortion of the tube to a degree where it may affect MT = R e = ZPe lb in (11)
the conveyor operation.
where: Px and P2 are the loads due to the conveyor installa-
Structural behaviour tion, material on the belt and sidewalk; e is the eccentricity
Stresses under vertical loads. Vertical loads generally of the resulting load, in and:
include the following components: MTDi 2MT
qv=qt+qc+qp+qs-Fql.l+ql.w+qi+s lb/ft (9) "/'max - - 2~p-p- lrO~(t - - c i psi (12)

Vertical loads are the most important, because they prevail where: lp, is the polar moment of inertia of the tube, in 4.
in magnitude and frequency of occurrence. They are uni- An internal torsional moment action on the tube may be
formly distributed along the length of the gallery. transferred only to inverted V-bents spaced at spans of 2l,

No Scheme of continuous structure Mspan Msupport Shear Reaction

1 IIIIIII1~111111~
Jv .o o7oq/~ - 0 124q12 0 625q1 ~ 1 25gl
0 625q/
/ _1_ / _j
I- -] ]

_Q 100q/2 QS00q/ [ ' ~ 1 lOql

A A A A 0 600 ql
I / _1 / _L_ / _1
r-- -I- -I - I

,/qv
3 AI I I I I I I IAI I I I I I I I I A
I I I I I I I I IAI I I I I 1 ~ , *00773ql2 -O 107q/2 0 536ql ~ 1 143q1
0 607q/
-i -I- _7_

qv
4
A
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIl
/',
111111~111111111111111111
,", /', A /',
.0 0789q/e -0 105q/~ 0526q1 ~
0 605q/
1 151ql
I_ / _1_ / I_ l _t_ / _t_ / .I
F I -I- -F - [ i

Figure 5 Bending moments and shear forces in continuous gallery

Eng. Struct., 1982, Vol. 4, April 121

Tubular conveyor galleries." M. S. Troitsky

#4, : Re Cg, gust effect factor. Total force:

w = qwDo lb/ft (16)
where: Do is the outside diameter of the tube.
The intermediate posts, due to their flexibility cannot
provide rigid support in a lateral direction. Therefore,
P1 continuous tubular structures have spans of 21 between the
inverted V-bents, as shown in Figure 7.
After determining the maximum bending moment due
\ / to the wind, Mw, the stress in the tube wall is:
Mw 4Mw
Ow - - (17)
S nD~ (t -- c)
J Local wind action. By indicating the intensity of the
i
horizontal wind pressure as qw, the distribution of wind
pressure around the tube is presented in Figure 8.
Due to the local wind action, the bending moment Mw;
and normal force Nwb acting on the tube, are calculated
by the formulae developed by Krupka. 6
The bending moment acting on the tube in the interval:

is:
Figure6 EquipmentloadsproducingtorsionalmomentMT
Mwt = qwR2m(- 0.101 + 0.707 sinq5 - 1.362 c a s e
-- 0.225 ¢ sin 0) lb i n (]8)
The maximum value is at ¢ = n, or:
,ll,~------_--~
V bent
............-- -----&l|~ybent-- ~ l w max Mw; = 0.261 q w R ~ (]9)
The normal force acting in the wall of the tube in the
///1//////////////////////// /if//////// interval:

Figure 7 Wind action on tabular conveyor

is:
because single posts due to their flexibility cannot provide Nwl = q w R m ( - 0.700 -- 0.921 cos~ + 0.707 sinq5
the necessary rigidity.
-- 0.225 0 sinq~) lb (20)
Principal stresses due to normal and shear stresses At ¢ = n, the value of this force is:
The stress due to the shearing force is usually only of
Nwl = 0.212 qwRm lb (21)
secondary importance. Its maximum value occurs at the
neutral axis where the normal stress due to bending is zero. The maximum stress in the wall of the tube under local
Therefore, the maximum combined stress usually occurs at wind action is:
the point where normal and shearing stresses due to torque
are a maximum. In the case under consideration - at the tel:
and bottom surfaces o f the tube the principal stresses qw
due to the combination of normal and shear stresses are :4

OV+I f~
O m a x . . . . .,-) gN/O v + 4~-2 (13) ©• qw~
Substituting in this equation the values from equations
(10) and (12), we obtain:
/ 0 3qw
1 W~nd
Omax -- (Mv + x / ( M v 2 + M } ) psi (14)
2S

Stresses under horizontal loads

Wind acting on structure. The wind forces should be
determined according to the National Building Code.S
The horizontal wind force is:
qw = qCcCgCp lb/ft 2 (15)
where: q, wind pressure, lb/ft2; C~, exposure factor and Figure8 Distributionof horizontalwindpressure

122 Eng. Struct., 1982, Vol. 4, April

 Tubular conveyor galleries: M. S. Troitsky

1.566 qwR2m 0.212qwRm

max Owl -- - - + psi (22)
t2 t

where: Rm, is the middle radius of tube, in, and t, thick-

ness of tube wall, in.

Earthquake forces. Tubular galleries in earthquake areas

should be designed to withstand earthquake forces. The
seismic action should be considered according to the /
National Building Code r (Figure 9).
The lateral earthquake force acting on the top of the
tube is: Ve H

Ft = 0.004 V ( ~ ) kips (23)

or:
F t = 0.15 V kips (24) if'l/i/I/i/////////// / // / / I iiii/
I__ 2(R*e)
whichever value is greater.
The minimum lateral seismic force, V, is: Direction of eerthquake
Acceleration
V = ASKIFW kips (25) Figure 10 Ring-girder under earthquake forces
where:
h t = height of force Ft above base, ft The additional lateral forces acting on the structure are:
D = diameter of tube, ft
A = acceleration ratio, or ratio of specific ground ( V -- Ft) Wth ,
acceleration to acceleration due to gravity F1 = (26)
[Wth, + (Wt + Ws)h2 ]
0.5 ( V - - F t ) (Wt + Ws) h2
S 3x/'T seismic response factor F2 = (27)
[Wth, + (Wt + Ws) h21
0.05 h t where:
T - m - fundamental period of vibration of structure
x/~ in seconds Wt = dead weight of tube, including conveyor installations
and material on belt, kips
K = structural coefficient that reflects material and type of
Ws = dead weight of supports, kips
structure, damping, ductility and/or energy-absorption
h 1 = height of force F l above base, ft
capacity of structure
h2 = height of force F 2 above base, ft
I = importance factor of structure
F = foundation factor depending on type and depth of soil The tubular gallery is usually stiffened above its supports
measured from fundament by the ring-girder. According to Foster, 8 the ring-girder is
W = operating weight of structure of combined dead load subjected to the bending moment and normal force, see
of tube (including conveyor installations in tube and Figure ! O.
material on belt) and weight of supports, kips The expression of the bending moment is:

yS"
--- 1 + - (28)
Ma 4rr R +e

and the value of the normal force is:

Na_ Q e [ L 1 H1[ ]
(29)
n LR 4 4(R+e)
where:
Qe total horizontal reaction of tube support, trans-
=

hn mitting earthquake acceleration to tube

R = external radius of tube, in
Fx r = internal radius of tube, in
H = height of support, in
e = eccentricity of vertical reaction, in

Head pulley inside gallery

g 1J Under the action of the head pulley inside the gallery,
the tube is under the action of axial compression and
g biaxial flexure due to internal moments acting on the
Figure 9 Earthquake action vertical and horizontal planes, see Figure 11.

Eng. Struct., 1982, Vol. 4, April 123

Tubular conveyor galleries: 114.S. Troitsky
Local buckfing or wrinkling
Local buckling is the governing consideration in tire
design of tubular galleries of moderate length. Failure of
Pul P this type is due to the formation of characteristic wrinkles
or bulges, circular or lobed in shape. Wrinkling is local in
nature and depends on the combined compressive stress
which occurs at a point of the dangerously loaded cross-
section and has to be smaller than the allowable buckling
eV
stress.
_ __ I In designing thin-walled tubular structures, two con-
siderations are of importance. First, the local buckling
should be prevented at stresses below yield strength;
secondly, a more severe restriction is that the tendency to
buckle locally should not reduce the overall buckling load
of the whole structure.
The allowable buckling stresses which will be presented
below, are for elastic buckling and tubes with simply sup-
ported edges. The edge of a tube is assumed to be simply
supported if at the edge the radial and circumferential
Figure 1 1 Biaxial moments displacements are zero and there is no restraint against
translation or rotation in the axial direction.

The longitudinal compressive force, due to pull, acts Ax&l compression

as an axial force along the continuous gallery. Compressive The critical buckling stress under axial compression given
action is used for 2l spans, between the inverted V-bents. by Plantema 1° is:
The moment My = Per acts on the continuous tube,
having multiple spans l, and a horizontal moment MH = 662
Ocr = - - + 0.399 Fy ksi (34)
Pert acts upon the continuous tube having multiple spans D/t
21, see Figure 12.
where: by = 36 ksi, the yield point for steel and tile ratio
D/t is valid for:

Buckling s t a b i l i t y r e q u i r e m e n t s 3300 D 13 000

----<-- < - - (35)
@ t Fy
General data
A thin-walled tube subjected to compression in the Wilson and Newmark give: al
direction of its longitudinal axis may fail, either by the 8000
instability of the tube as a whole, involving the bending of Oer -- ksi (36)
the axis, or by the local instability of the wall of the tube, D/t
which may not involve the lateral distortion of the axis, or, by assuming a factor of safety of 1.5:1=
at all.
We can classify a tube under axial load into three 5333
categories: 9 Oer - ksi (37)
D/t
Very short tube." a
~2E(t3/12) ~-tI[tlilIIIIIII[[II[IIIIIII]II]II[[IILI[IIII]~I~E[?
1 < 1.72x/Rt, %r- (3o) A
( 1 - - u 2) l
~_ 2, j~. 2, -4
Intermediate length tube:
172 X / ~ ~< 1 ~< 2 . 8 5 x / ~ t b

U U
Et 2 E't
(31)
Ncr--Rx/~(I__v2 )' °cr-R~/3(l_v= )
/ / 4- "
M v : Pe v
Long tube:
L~t( TrRI2 c
l > 2.85x/R~, N~. = ~ t T - / (32)

or / 2/ ~]
zr2EI M,, : Pe,
Per = 21rRNer - (33)
12 Figure 12 Axial force and resulting bending moments. (a), longi-
tudinal force; (b), vertical bending moment; (c), horizontal bending
which is the Euler formula. moment

124 Eng. Struct., 1982, Vol. 4, April

 Tubular conveyor galleries: M. S. Troitsky

lO approximately the same wave-lengths, as those in the

O9 - L axially-loaded tubes. A comparison of the axial compression
>-
0.8 and the pure-bending test results show exactly the same
-0.7 decrease of axial load P with an increase of the ratio R / t ,
~0.6 as shown by the axially-loaded tubes.
~o5 The influence of the initial imperfections in a tube,
~_o4 considering bending, should not be as great as the axial com-
~o3 pression. However, during the bending of the tubes a
~o2 certain flattening of the cross-section occurs, which leads
L)
Ol to an increase of maximum stress.
I I I I llill I I I I LIIII t I [ IIIII The design-allowable buckling stress for a thin-walled
C 2 3 4 ~67B9 2 ? 4 [ 6788 2 3 4 t 6789
10 2 10 3 10 4 circular tube subjected to bending, as given by Baker, is:
R/t
Figure 13 Correlation factor for unstiffened circular cylinders Ocr = 0 . 6 7 , E ( t / R ) psi (41)
subjected to axial compression
where: T1 = correlation factor obtained from Figure 15.
For elastic stresses, the allowable moment is:
30
Ocr = 6 6 2 _ O 3 9 9 F ~ ( R e c o m m e n d e d
Mcr = 7rR2tOcr = 0.6 %ETrRt 2 (42)
D/t ~ AISi f o r m u l a )
Ovalling effect under bending
25 During the bending of the tube a certain flattening of
the cross-section may occur which leads to an ovalling of
I ~ \ /Ocr = 8000 (W,lson- Newmork) the cross-section and consequently, to an increase of the
2C
iX \ o/, stress. This problem was investigated by Brazier and is
c_ t \ ~ \ o-. = 5333 (Recommended) known as the 'Brazier effect' 14 (see Figure 16).
Brazier proved that the ovalling of the tube results in
[_ the substantial reduction of the tube stiffness and conse-
~ 15 quently leads to a loss of stability. According to his theory,
the critical bending moment is:

[]
2X/~ E~rRm t 2
lO Mcr - 9 , -~ - Ib in (43)

09
o8

0 I I I I I I t I [ I oo6
200 400 600 8OO 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 4 0 0 1 6 0 0 18OO 2000
92 361
D/t
Figure 14 Recommended allowable buckling stresses
t

Finally, according to Baker: 13

Ocr--YCbL ~- C'b=~-3(1~
Oct = 0.6 7 E ( t / R ) ksi (38) 0

I I 1 [ II III I I l I I Ill] I I
is valid for moderately long tubes, where: 10 102 103
R/t
lr 2
Figure 15 Correlation factor for unstiffened circular tube subjected
7Z > - - (39) to bending

and
l 2
Z = - - X/1 -- p2 (40)
Rt
7 = correlation factor obtained from Figure 13
E = modulus of elasticity, ksi
l = span of tube, ft
l/lllllllll/I//llllllllllllll/ll/l' 111///////
t -- thickness of tube wall, ft

(
The recommended allowable buckling stresses in the
function o f D / t are shown in Figure 14.

Bending
Buckling tests on tubes similar to those tested in axial
compression indicate that buckling occurred over the com-
pression side of the tube in the same wave form, with Figure 16 Brazier effect

Eng. Struct., 1982, V o l . 4, A p r i l 125

Tubular conveyor galleries: 114,S. Troitsky
T: h2.- \ located inside the tube and serve a dual structural purpose,
namely: (1) To maintain the cross-section of the tube
circular, and thus to allow the tube to act as a beam. (2)
To receive the posts and bangers, which support at equal
i intervals the idlers of the conveyor and stringers of the
(, 5,q i walkway.
According to Rumman, 16 the bending moment of the
ring stiffener is:
~
f) 52i ~ v'ohd for
,7 > 1C:0 for simply supported M R -- (50)
',%S. ~ edges 4Err 2R ~ t
Z > ~'OC' for dcmped edges
and the normal (axial) force in the stiffener is:
M2
4{, AIR -- - 2 4 kips (51 )
Err Rmt
';44 I I I
!(,() ~ 2(O6) 300c; 4000
R/t
where: M, bending moment, kip-R; s, spacing of stiffeners,
Figure 17 Buckling stress coefficient Cs f o r c i r c u l a r tubes subjected ft; R m , middle radius of tube, ft and t, thickness of walt of
to torsion tube, ft.

and the critical buckling stress: Ring girders at supports

oe~ = 0.33 E ( t / R ~ ) psi (44) Rigid ring girders provide an effective support for the
where: E, modulus of elasticity, psi; t, thickness of wall, in; tubular structure. These girders prevent the distortion of
and R m , middle radius of tube, in. the tube at the supports and thus maintain its ability to
Therefore, considering the ovalling deformation of the act as a beam.
tube, the following condition should be satisfied: Usually ring girders are located outside of the tube and
consist of one or two stiffening rings continuously welded
Mcr<~ 0.33 E ( t / R m ) psi (45) on to the tube. A design for the ring girder construction,
S based on elastic theory, was developed by Krupka. a7

It is important to know the ratio R / t above which the Vertical supports

cross-section may be distorted, considering the ovalling
The tube transmits to the ring a concentrated vertical
effect under bending. According to the Brazier effect, the
road Q, which is the reaction of a tube acting generally as a
loss of stability or distortion of the tube may occur if: continuous beam. In the case of two vertical supports,
R 0.33 E S heaving reactions Q/2 and acting on the ring girder with the
~> (46) moments and normal (axial) forces along the circumference
t Mc~ of the ring girder, see Figure 18.
Buckling shear stress due to torsion
The design-allowable buckling stress for tubes of
moderate length 100 -<.Z < 7 8 ( R / t ) 2 ( l -- u 2) subjected
to torsion is given by: is
Et
r,.~ = C s R Z 1 m (47)

For long tubes, Z > 7 8 ( R / t ) a ( l -- u2), the design-

allowable buckling stress is:

rot (1 -- u2) s/4 (48)

where:
12
e = - - X/i -- u z (49)
Rt
and the coefficient Cs is given in Figure 1 Z

Intermediate stiffening rings

To prevent possible ovaUing of the tube along the length
of a tubular gallery at equal intervals, intermediate
circumferential stiffening rings are installed. They consist
i i
of flat plates, angles or T-sections continuously welded
onto the inside surface of the tube. These rings are usually Figure 18 R i n g g i r d e r having t w o vertical s u p p o r t s

126 Eng. Struct., 1982, Vol. 4, April

 Tubular conveyor galleries: M. S. Troitsky

Table 2 V a l u e s o f m o m e n t s and n o r m a l f o r c e s
We consider two cases, namely:
0o ~o Mma x N
eo Nma x M
Bending moment and normal force for any section below
support in interval 0 <~4) <<-O: 45 ° 80 ° 0.079QR -0.309Q 45 ° -0.412Q 0.012QR
90 ° 90 ° - - 0 . 0 4 7 QR -0.250Q 0° -0.477Q 0.043

M1-QR os0--- (rr--0)+ + cosy

- 21r R R-2
+ [4t sin20 --½ 0 + (0 --rr) sin20] cosy
+ siny] (52) + (0 -- Y -- ½ sin 20) r r s i n y + A l [ l +½cosy
+ (y -- 7r) sin y]} (56)
Q [ysiny- (1.5 ~ ) cosy] (53)
and
Bending moment and normal force for any section above
N3 = ~ {[¼ s i n 2 0 - 3 0 + (0 --rr) sin20] cosy
support for 0 <~0 <- rr: 27rA1
M2 = QR [o -a + cos0 + [1 + a2~ cosy + (0 -- Y + sin 20) 7r sin Y + A 1 [(y -- 7/') sin y
2rr I_ R \2 R-2]
_ =acos Yl} (57)
+ (y --rr) siny] (54) Bending moment and nothia'i force for any section above
support for 0 <<.y <~rr:
2°- 0.' cos0] M4 = O R {2 sin0 --0 --1 sin 20 + (0 sin20
where: Q is the reaction at support due to total operating 2rrA1
weight of tube, which consists of dead load of tube, con- 0 + ~ sin 20) cos y + A 1 [1 + ~ cos y
veyor installations in tube and material on belt, kips.
The combination for the simultaneous action of the + (y -- rr) sin y]} (58)
maximum moment, Mmax, and the corresponding normal also see Table 2.
force, N, and also the maximum value of the normal
force, Nmax and the corresponding moment, M, for the QR
typical values of the angle 0, are shown in Table 1. N4 = 2rrA~ {(0 sin 2 0 + 41-sin 20 -- ½) cos y

Saddle support + A1 [(Y -- rr) sin y -- 3 cos Y]} (59)

In a case when the tube is supported by the saddle, see where:
Figure 19, the bending moments and the normal forces in
the ring girder are calculated, using the following formulae A1 = 0 + sin0 cos0 (60)
developed by Krupka: 17 The combinations of the simultaneous actions of the
Bending moment and normal force for any section below moments and normal forces are shown in Table 2.
support in interval 0 <~0 <~O: For both types of supports, either vertical or in the
shape of the saddle, the maximum stress in the ring girder
should be calculated using the formula:
Ma = Q R {(2 sin0 - ½ sin 20 - 0)
27rA1 M N
f----- +-- (61)
W A
where: W is the section modulus of cross-section of ring
girder and A is the cross-sectional area of ring girder.

References
1 Mylar, D. T. 'Belt conveyor structures', paper presented at
SME Meeting, Seattle, Wash., Preprint No. 71-B-302,
September 1971
2 Troitsky, M. S. 'Design guidelines for steel tubular thin-walled
structure', 4th Progress Report, CSICC Project No. 727,
i i
January 1974
Figure 19 Saddle s u p p o r t 3 Troitsky, M. S. 'On the analysis of tubular conveyor galleries',
Proc. Canadian Soc. for Or. Eng. Conf., 7-8 June, 1979,
Montreal, pp. 335-340
Table I V a l u e s o f m o m e n t s and n o r m a l forces 4 Timoshenko, S. 'Strength of materials', Part I, D. Van
Nostrand Company, Inc., New York, 1957, p. 264
0° q5° Mma x N q~o Nrna x M 5 National Building Code of Canada. Issued by the National
Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, 1980, p. 145
45 ° 90 ° --0.049QR --0.250Q 50 ° --0.378Q 0.026QR 6 Krupka, V. 'Analysis of cylindrical thin-waUed metal pipeline
90 ° 70 ° 0.014QR 0.155Q 90 ° -+0.250Q 0 structures', Prague, Edition SNTL, 1967 (in Czechoslovakian),
p. 32

Eng. Struct., 1982, Vol. 4, April 127

Tubular conveyor galleries: M. S. Troitsky
7 National Building Code of Canada. Issued by the National qi ~s load due to ice and snow
Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, 1980, p. 147 qll weight of material on belt
8 Foster, H. A. 'Formulas indicate earthquake forces in design of live load on walkway
ring-girder-supported pipes', Cir. Eng., 1949,19, 45 qlw
9 McGuire, W. 'Steel structures', Prentice-Hall, Englewood qt own weight of tube
Cliffs, N.J. 1968, pp. 415-418 q; weight of walkway
10 Plantema, F. J. 'Collapsing stresses of circular cylinders and G weight of support of tube
round tubes', Rep. S.280, Nat. Luchtvaart-Laboratorium, w, weight of tube, including installations
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1946
11 Wilson, W. M. and Newmark, N. M. 'The strength of thin and material on belt
cylindrical shells as columns', Bull. 255, University of Illinois, weight of stiffener
February 1933 V base shear
12 Troitsky, M. S. 'On the local and overall stability of thin- Ps unit weight of steel
walled large diameter tubular structures', Proc. Canadian bending moment acting on ring-girder
Struct. Eng. Conf , Montreal, February 22-24, 1976, pp. 1-32
13 Baker, E. H. et al., 'Structural analysis of shells', McGraw-Hill, Mcr bending moment due to Brazier effect
New York, 1972, p. 230 bending moment on ring stiffener
14 Brazier, E. G. 'On the flexure of thin cylindrical shells and My torsional moment
other "thin" sections', Proc. Roy. Soc. London. Ser. A., g~ bending moment due to vertical load acting o11
1927, 114,104
15 Baker, E. It. et al., 'Structural analysis of shells', McGraw-Hill, continuous tubes
New York, 1972, p. 232 Mw bending moment due to wind load, acting on
16 Rumman, W. S. 'Stresses in ring stiffeners in cylinders',Proc. continuous tubes
ASCE, J. Struct. Div. Proc., December, 1961,87,161 Mwt bending moment acting on tube under local
17 Krupka, V. 'Analysis of cylindrical thin-walled metal pipeline wind
structures', Prague, Edition SNTL, 1967 (in Czechoslovakian),
pp. 39-40, 47-48 M~,M2 bending moments, acting on ring girder, having
vertical supports
M3, M4 bending moments, acting on ring girder, having
saddle support
Nomenclature ring-girder normal force
G
Di internal diameter of tube X~r critical axial buckling force
Do external diameter of tube X~ normal force in ring stiffener
R external radius of tube normal force in tube wall under the local wind
Rm middle radius of tube action
C corrosion allowance normal forces in ring stiffener, having vertical
C eccentricity supports
ht, hl, hz heights of earthquake forces above base N3, N4 normal forces in ring stiffener, having saddle
l span between supports support
r internal radius of tube Ocr critical buckling stress under axial load
s spacing o f stiffeners O'ma x principal stress due to combination of normal
t thickness of tube wall and shear stresses
A cross-sectional area o f ring-girder 0-7) bending stress in tube under vertical load
polar moment of inertia of cross-sectional area of OW bending stress in tube under wind load
tube Owl stress in tube under local action of wind load
S section modulus o f cross-sectional area of tube f maximum bending stress in ring-girder
W section modulus o f cross-sectional area of ring "refit critical buckling stress under torsion
girder Trnax maximum shear stress due to torsional moment
&,F,,& horizontal earthquake forces E modulus of elasticity of steel
P longitudinal force G coefficient in formula for torsion
qc weight of mechanical components and equip- P Poisson's ratio for steel
ment 7 correlation factor for axial stress
qs weight of concrete sluiceway ")'1 correlation factor for bending stress

128 Eng. Struct., 1982, Vol. 4, April