Risks and implications for decision-making processes associated with existing design codes or their non-existence

Abstract

The buckling phenomenon is a perplexing and unresolved issue in many safety critical structures, as a result, it has been heavily regulated. The existence of regulations would normally benefit modern decision-making tools. But there are various obstacles coming from real-life situations. In order to illustrate the above and draw awareness to the problem, the paper chooses the buckling of shells and discusses (i) the case of an internally pressurized dome found in a plane's fuselage that failed during a routine flight, (ii) a case where advances in structural mechanics challenge the existing design codes (i.e., metallic domes in pressure vessels), and (iii) a case of extracting rich seabed resources where efficient buoyancy units are required. In the last-mentioned case, the paper points towards the use of advanced carbon fiber plastics (cfrps) and illustrates this by a failed cfrp dome manufactured from a woven fabric (a topic still within the research sphere of activities). Cases of several other industrial failures caused by buckling are also provided. Finally, the paper highlights the risks to the decision-making processes due to the growing tendencies of eliminating the records of disastrous events from public domains through confidentiality arrangements and the erosion of the existing human know-how.