It is important to evaluate the safety of large cylinderical structures against overturn under possible conditions. Elastoplastic FEM is employed to solve this problem. First

a load-displacement curve of a cylindrical structure under certain condition is obtained by varying the load amplitude in the finite element analysis. Then the ultimate load that the cylindrical structure can bear

can be obtained

which is the upper bound load value at the load-displacement curve. Finally

a factor defined as the ratio of the ultimate load to design load is used to estimate the safety against overturn. The proposed method can avoid the difficulty existing in the current limit equilibrium analysis method

in which the earth pressure on the cylinder surface and the center of rotation must be determined. Furthermore

FEM can consider the interaction between the cylinderical structure and soil around. A practical case is analyzed to validate the applicability of the method.