Thls paper was selected for presentallon by the OTC Program Committee follomng revlew of ~ntormatlon contamed In an abstract submlned by the author(s) Contents of the paper, as presented have not been reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to correction by the authors(s) The materlal as presented, does not necessarily reflect any posltlon of the Onsnore Technology Conference or 11s otllcers Eleclronlc reproduct~on. d~str~butlon. or storage of any pan of thls paper for commercial purposes mthout the wrltlen consent of the Onshore Technology Conference IS prohlblted Permlss~on to reproduce In print IS restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words, lllustratlons may not be copledThe abstract must conta~n consplcucus acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented Abstract After completion of fabrication and prior to installation of the Auger tension leg platform (TLP), the designers became concerned that the hull's ring stiffening might not be adequately braced against lateral-torsional buckling under hydrostatic pressure. Such a condition for stiffened shells was not clearly covered by ex~sting design codes. The primary code under which Auger columns were designed, API Bulletin 2U, provided guidelines for compactness, but nothing on the allowable unsupported length of the compression flange. L,.. Furthermore, it was unclear if the notion of L, was applicable to a circular member. Insufficient capacity would mean retrofitting more than 2500 tripping brackets and delaying installation.A finite element analysis procedure was developed at EWI to evaluate the capacity of the hull to resist buckling in the asbuilt arrangement. The modeled hull structure was stiffened by either circumferential rings and stringers or circumferential rlngs only. The analysis incorporated fabrication tolerances for out-of-roundness, axial offset, and web tilt of the circumferential stiffening rings.Models with different combinations of fabrication tolerances were loaded by hydrostatic pressure, axial load, or both. The maximum sustainable pressures were computed and compared to the design pressure. The analysis results indicate that the cylinders with only the circumferential stiffeners (such as analysis are compared with the requirements in API 2U. which is among the most comprehensive code available in the design of stiffened cylinders. The degree of conservatism embodied in API 2U is examined based on the comparison.