Int. J. Pres. Ves.

& Piping 29 (1987)~67-81

Elastic-Plastic Cylindrical Shell under Axisymmetric

Loading--Analytical Solution

H: H i i b e l

Interatom GmbH, D-5060 Bergisch Gladbach 1, Federal Republic of Germany

(Received 15 November 1986; accepted 4 December 1986)

ABSTRACT

Thin-walled circular cylindrical shells play an important role in modern

engineering. For example, they are used in Liquid Metal Fast Breeder
Reactors, where they may be loaded far into the region of the inelastic
material behaviour. Designing such structures often requires time- and cost-
consuming non-linear finite-element analyses. The analytical solution for
axisymmetric loading presented in this paper reduces the analysis to an
ordinary non-linear differential equation of fourth order, which can easily be
integrated in virtually no time and at virtually no cost by any common
numerical initial value solver. The basic ingredients of the solution are the thin
shell theory and the classical theory of plasticity (including hardening
effects), assuming proportional loading.

NOMENCLATURE

x, t~, z Axial, circumferential, and radial coordinates

a M e a n radius of shell
C E E t / ( E - JEt)
E Young's modulus
e, Hardening parameter
f,,fx Distributed loads in directions r, x
mx, me, Generalized bending stresses in directions x,
nx, n~ Generalized normal membrane stresses in directions x, th
qx Generalized transverse stress
67
Int. J. Pres. Ves. & Piping 0308-0161/87/$03"50 © Elsevier Applied Science Publishers Ltd,
England, 1987. Printed in Great Britain
68 H. Hiibel

t Wall thickness
/./ Axial displacement
W Radial displacement
2pl Interface separating elastic and elastic-plastic part of a section
through the wall
arT Thermal strain of middle surface
~tAT Thermal bending strain (difference between linearized thermal
strain at surface and mean thermal strain of wall)
~v yon Mises effective strain = eel
v + ~lal
v
el Elastic portion of e,
~v
~pl Plastic portion of e,
v
8x, 8¢~ Elastic plus plastic strain components in directions x,
8xm, /~xb Axial membrane, axial bending strain
/34,m, EOb Circumferential membrane, circumferential bending strain
q 2z/t
?/pl 2zpl/t
- - = at Characteristic length
K
# wE/aay
V Poisson's ratio (= 0.5 in this paper)
fly von Mises effective stress
fix, t7 4a Stress components in directions x, ~b
~Ty Yield stress (proportional limit)
().=d() Derivative in radial direction
d~/
(),_ d()
Derivative in axial direction
K dx

INTRODUCTION

In this paper a thin-walled circular cylindrical shell with constant wall

thickness is considered to be subjected to an axisymmetric loading (see Fig.
1), causing inelastic material behaviour.
Thin shell theory is used, especially assuming that all points lying on one
normal to the middle surface before deformation do the same after
deformation; the shear stresses required for equilibrium do not cause
deflections. This is a significant simplification, because the response of the
structure is then independent of the ratio of wall thickness and mean radius.
The classical theory of plasticity is adopted along with the von Mises yield
condition and the differential Prandtl-Reuss flow law. Near-radial loading
with respect to the yield surface is introduced as a basic assumption,
 Elastic-plastic cylindrical shell under axisymmetric loading 69

~t ,.

~-I a
rev;axiLsof)t-7on(~
I D x

........ tr ..... ~ z,q,w

revolution

nx q x ~
ox

Fig. 1. Geometry and loading of the circular cylindrical shell.

allowing the direct integration of the flow law so that its differential
formulation becomes the finite Hencky's flow law. The appropriateness of
this assumption is discussed later.
Only a bilinear stress-strain relation is considered (see Fig. 2). This offers
some advantages in comparison to other material models as discussed later.
The material is assumed to be incompressible under plastic and under
elastic loading, so that Poisson's ratio cannot change from one point of the
structure to another due to different stress levels above yield. This

oy Et ay =
EEt
-

Fig.2. Materialmodel.
70 H. Hiibel

simplification facilitates the formulation of kinematic relations in terms of

generalized strains.
All kinds o f axisymmetric loading are admitted. This includes
concentrated as well as distributed loads, and also axial as well as radial
temperature gradients (where the latter is assumed to cause only linearly
distributed thermal strains through the wall). Although thermal problems
are treated here, all material data are assumed to be temperature-
independent.

STRESS-STRAIN RELATIONS

The total strain components may be decomposed into elastic, plastic and
thermal strains:
el
f,x = f,x "1-
~xPl _~_ eth
(1)
e~ = e~bI -3!- e~ 1 + /~th

Hooke's law for a plane stress condition states:

1
~' = ~ (~ - w,)

e$, 1
(2)
= ~(-v~x + ~,)
The Prandtl-Reuss flow law may be expressed in a finite formulation in the
case of radial loading (equivalent to Hencky's flow law):

~' = ~ (~x - ½o~)

av (3)
~' = ~ ' ( _ ½~x + o~)
O"v

F r o m the above and with the aid o f

el
~v -----~v + ~vpl
(4)
el O'v

we get
~v

(5)
gv 1 .4_ ~th
~ = - - ( - ~ox + a m)
O"v
for v = 0.5.
 Elastic-plasticcylindricalshellunderaxisymmetricloading 71

If the strain c o m p o n e n t s ex and e~ are expressed in terms of generalized

strains
ex = exr. + r/Gb (6)

and the thermal strain gb in terms of the m e a n thermal strain of a section and
a linearly distributed thermal strain across the wall
e TM = ~ t T + q~t A T (7)

we obtain the following by appropriate linear combination of the two

equations (5):

(~")
~v (x.,)" frx(x.,) =~2~m+8¢,m--30~tT)¢x,+Z3rl(2exb+eeVb--3~tAT)¢,O
(8)
( e~vv
v ) (x.,)" fr0(x.,) = "~(Sxm
2 -j- 2e4,m_3ottT),x)+2q(eXb+2e,b_3CqAT)~x)
The kinematic relations for axisymmetrically loaded, thin-walled circular
cylindrical shells are
du dZw 3 fry .
eX-dx z-d~x2= Xu'-~-~qU
w _ ar (9)
e,=

If we split up the axial m e m b r a n e strain into contributions from the h o o p

m e m b r a n e strain, the axial free thermal expansion and a remaining term
( 2 ' - ~ t TE/fry) according to

fry fry} fry/ ~y

we can rewrite eqns (8) as:

a-~=Eev --oq --q p" + 2~tAT (lla)

oo_ov[( : , , , + 2~tAT
r/~# (lib)

where cqn (IIb) may also be written in the form

. . . . + p-- --
ay 2 ay ~ fry// O'y_J
72 1t.. Hiibel

The von Mises effective strain is

~v = - 5 - x/(~x - e,)2 + (~, _ ~,)~ + ( ~ _ ~,)2

and with the aid o f

8, -~- 38 TM- - (8 x +/34, )

we obtain

{[(
%/ % 1_1 J
In order to obtain the interface ripHx), which separates the elastic and the
elastic-plastic part o f a section through the wall, we set ev = %/E:

% } ay % /\ %l

ay]

±
+ 2=, =,Ar--
ay/
(13)

where the plus sign applies to rip12 so that rip12 > rip, 1, and the angle brackets
< > mean
~arg, if arg > 0
<arg> = (0, if arg < 0

The following cases m a y be distinguished depending on the values of rip~l

and rip~2:
(1) the section is purely elastic if
ripll ~ --1 and + 1 <rip~2
 Elastic-plastic cylindrical shell under axisymmetric loading 73

(2) only the inside surface is plastic if

- 1 < r/s,~l < + 1 < r/p~2

(3) only the outside surface is plastic if

r/ptl < -- 1 </~pl2 ( + 1

(4) both surfaces are plastic if

- 1 < Tlpll ~p12 < + 1

or

/7pll ----- ~/p12< -- 1

or

+ 1 < r/v~l < ?/¢12

N o elastic core is left in the section if%~1 = %~2 or %~2 < - 1 or t/p~1 > + 1.
The interfaces between the elastic and the elastic-plastic regions of a
section are symmetric with respect to the middle surface of the wall if there is
no axial force and no radial temperature gradient.
F r o m eqns (11) we get the stress c o m p o n e n t s for the elastic part of the wall
(denoted by superscript E; - 1 < r/p~1 _< r/< T/pl2 ___~+ 1):

~-~ %/ %/
(14)
(0"~ E ( ~2 "It "~~-, - - 5 c t t T E ~ f l ,, 2cqATE~

and for the plastic parts of the wall (superscript P; - 1 _ ~/_< ~/p~1 - + 1 and
- 1 _/~pl2 ~-~t/ ___~-~ 1) by using the bilinear material model:

- \ay/ __%e, j

(15)

%/ \a,/ -

- - ~v
fly d
where (E/ay)e v is to be taken from eqn (12).
74 H. Hiibel

GENERALIZED STRESSES
For the bilinear material model, the generalized normal membrane and
bending stresses can be gained by direct integration of eqns (14) and (15)
through the wall. e.g.:
,,,, i;",,,:+'(<,xf
ta,-23%,, \-a-~y,/ d"+2J 1;",12 ~YY d~/
Et 4
"= ~ - " ~ C 2 -F
( E,][2E/L3
1 -- C 2 ( .p 1 2 - - " p l l ) -
1
4 C4("212 - ~]211)

1 C4 (h(1) h~_
2 C 2 + ~C,~32 -- 1) + h(%,1) -- h(%,2 ))

1 C3(-~C2C a - C 1C4)(g I -gl%,~))] (16a)

+2 -~-~:3~C+ zC,~ ()--gt-l)+gt%li)
"#~ 1 f"l)'2 (~l~l~ E 1 : "l;lli;+l ("</>']i'd.
t,r.-2 s..,, \~i d"+sJ-,:..,: \'r./
£
-~---~-(C 1 "~- 2 C 2 )

" p l l ) - - 4~(C3 "-~ 2i C 4 ) ( ~ p2l 2 - - ~p!

2 1)

1 ~C2C
2 32 -.{-~CIC2-}C1C3C4. C2C3C 4
+2 C~ -F- zC432 (g(1)--g(-1} + g ( " , l l ) - - g % , 2 ) )

1 C3+gC4th
2 C~ + ~,~4
3 f , 2 t (1)
-h~_
1)
+
h(.vjl )
-h%,2) ) ] (16b)

mx_ 1 fqpl2(o"x~E
'2°'~ ~<~,>,,t%) .d.-~
1
; --1;7,12(°:
"pI1;+ 1
~
X "
d.

Et 1 ( Et'XF 1 2
E • -6 C4+ N 1 - E - ) / - - ' C 2 ( q o l 2 - - " p2l l ) + T2Cg.(~p12
1 3 - - ~pll)3

3 C 1 C3 C 4 -
1
~CzCa 2 + -gC2C4
1 2 (h(l) - h~ +
3("2~2 1) hol,.0 -- hi.,,,2))
q (c~ + ~,~,,
-

~C, .,
+ 2 3~2 V'.} + h(_ i) + qpllh%,0 qpl2ht.,12) )
C3 + zL.~
1/"" 2 t'~ 2 t "~ 3 t'~ 2/'~ 3 1 3 l 2 1/"~2/'~ 2 t"~
Z'-'l '--'3 "---~ -- ~ , - , 1 "~4 -- ~CI C2 C3 + gC1 C2 C3 C4 -- ]'--'2 "-'3 "---4.
-~ ( C 2 + ~/"2~24~..41

x~(glt) - g(- ii + g%,p - g(.pm2))] (16c)

 Elastic-plastic cylindrical shell under axisymmetric loading 75

with the abbreviations

C1 = # - cttTE/ay

C2 = 2' - s t T E / a r
C 3 = o~t ATE/a r
C a = # " -I- 20t t A TE/ay
3 2
1 _ _(C 2 + zC4)r/-(CIC3 + C2C4)
/~_rsn
g(" ~ / C 2 + ¼C 2 . /2~ 1 C 2 C 3 ~ ~CI C48
%/-

hi,) = ~/(C 1 - r/Ca) 2 + ~-~C2 - r/C,) 2

~/,u and r/p~2 are given by eqn (13), but must not be greater than + 1 or less
than - 1.
For any other multilinear material model, the generalized stresses could
also be derived in a closed form, similar to eqns (16) only more lengthy than
for the bilinear stress-strain relationship.
In contrast to this, any other kind of material model usually does not allow
generalized stresses to be expressed as elementary functions. A numerical
integration of the stress components through the wall is always possible, of
course. Calladine 1 succeeded in considering an exponential material model
for a particular loading situation of the cylinder by introducing some
additional approximations.

EQUILIBRIUM CONDITIONS

In order to achieve a general solution for the elastic-plastic circular

cylindrical shell under axisymmetric loading, we need the three equilibrium
conditions (set up in the undeformed state):
n , + axq'~ = - f , a (17a)
q~ -- xm'~ = 0 (17b)
xn'x -_ --f~ (17c)
wherefr andfx are distributed loads according to Fig. 1. Equations (17a) and
(17b) may be written as
n~, ~- 3 / m x "x" aft
lay Rry
which is, after substitution of eqn (16b) and the second derivative of eqn
(16c), a differential equation in terms of # and 2 . f , , f x , o~tT and 0tt A T represent
 X
+ +
+ + x "Tin
I I
I 3 +
+- -- I l,,a
I -m
+
+ I~I~ I
-I~ I ,'--
"~" ~ "~ I I
i
I
I~ to
+ I
= I -1
"I:: t ~ I ~'~ ~ "L
t,o
J ~-F ~ ~
I I
i,,a
+
[ I
t~
I
I
----7-
r
g
I
I
f
I
"'t I
"1
"I:::
laq.n.H "H 9L
 Elastic-plastic cylindrical shell under axisymmetric loading 77

the loading and are known (includingf~ and the first two derivatives of (xtT
and ~tt AT). 2', 2" and 2'" are implicitly expressed in terms of these known
values and of # (and some derivatives of #) by eqns (16a) and (17c) and by
differentiation of eqn (17c). Thus eqn (18) is essentially an ordinary non-
linear differential equation of fourth order in terms of the related radial
deflection #. For general loading, eqn (18) along with the implicit functions
for the derivatives of 2 become rather lengthy expressions. But, for example,
in the specific case in which no radial temperature gradient is applied
(oqATE/a r = 0) and no axial force is to be carried (2'-~tTE/try = 0), ~/pl!
and r/p~2 are symmetric with respect to the middle surface of the wall, and
then eqn (18) has a relatively simple form, given as eqn (19) on p.76.
Equation (19) holds for the elastic-plastic sections of the shell, where

¼if,2 + /.t -- ~t T - _> 1 (20)

try/
The place of transition between the purely elastic and the elastic-plastic part
of the shell (x = xp~) is the section where the left-hand side of eqn (20) equals
unity. Equation (19) can easily be solved numerically (for example, with the
computer program package described in Ref. 2) at little cost in terms of
computer time, if the four initial values are known in one section, for
example in x = Xp~,where the values of/z,/l, mx/t2try (and t h u s / : ) and qJttry
(and thus p'") may be taken from the purely elastic side of this section. The
solution for the elastic part may be gained by increasing C/E in eqn (19)
infinitely to yield the elastic differential equation

# + ~ I# .... = OttT E af, (21)

try ttry

EXAMPLE

The solutions presented so far will now be applied to the specific example of
a thin-walled circular cylindrical shell, built into a rigid wall, where wall and
cylinder have different temperatures. Notch effects at the intersection of wall
and cylinder are disregarded here. The loading may then be idealized as
radial displacement at a section of the cylinder, where axisymmetric rotation
is prevented. Since neither a radial temperature gradient (oqATE/try = O)
nor an axial force (fx = nx = 0, resulting in 2' -- ctt TE/try = 0) is applied, we
may directly employ the differential equation (19), where we also set
i ,'
= let i T - | = 0
 O0
- mx n® qx 1
(a)
p qpl
t20y toy toy t

• 1.0 1- 0.25 1 -0.6

toy tae ~--'---~ ~ ~

- 0.2 • 0.5

- 0.9 - 0.15 - 0.4

/ / - 0.1 -0.3

-aex ~ 1 I ,I I 0.4 O. 0.05 0 • 0.2

- 0.4 - 0.3 I- 0.2 - 0.1 0

I
totally plastic ~ partly plastic ~. purely elastic

Fig. 3. (a) Axial d i s t r i b u t i o n o f radial d i s p l a c e m e n t a n d generalized stresses o f the elastic plastic cylindrical shell treated in the E x a m p l e
(C/E = O: fl/~ = 0.3; /'~ = f x = nx = A T = T = 0).
 Elastic-plastic cylindrical shell under axisymmetric loading 79

(b) 1.0
0

-- 1.0 0
r ,
1.0

Fig. 3--contd. (b) Stress c o m p o n e n t s across t h e wall t h i c k n e s s a t l o c a t i o n ~ex = - 0 - 3 6 1

(where #' = 0) o f the E x a m p l e (# = 1"0397; #" = - 5.605).

If the shell is long enough to allow us to disregard the boundary conditions

at the distant edge, only two integration constants appear in the
homogeneous elastic solution of eqn (21):
#~,~ = e- ~x(0tcos x x + [3 sin xx) (22)
(see, for example, Ref. 4).
At the transition to the elastic-plastic part of the cylinder (where we let
x = 0), eqn (20) along with eqn (22) and the second derivative ofeqn (22) yield
¢t 2 -I- 3[3 2 = 1
so that four initial values required for the elastic-plastic solution depend on
only one parameter, [3/~:
1
/J(o~= x/1 + 3([3/0t) 2

~(o~ x/1 + 3([3/~)2

,
~o, x/1 + 3([3/~)2

.~o~ = ~/1 + 3([3/~) ~

Each value chosen for the parameter [3/e yields a specific solution of eqn (19).
80 1-1..Hfibel

Once/~ and its derivatives are known at a place x, the stress components are
known from eqns (15) and the generalized normal stresses from eqns (16).
The generalized transverse stress may be obtained from eqn (17b) by
differentiating eqn (16c).
Figures 3a and 3b show some details of the solution for elastic-perfectly
plastic material ( C / E = 0) for the particular value of filet--0-3, gained by
numerical integration along the x-axis with the aid of the initial value solvers
in Ref. 2.
In order to analyze the built-in-cylinder, the numerical solution has to be
run in the x-direction at best far enough to reach the boundary condition of
vanishing axisymmetric rotation (#1x)--0). The value of the radial
displacement # found at that location is then to be interpreted as the related
loading.

DISCUSSION

An important simplification introduced here to achieve the analytical

solutions is the use of a finite flow law. The accuracy of this assumption
depends on the loading path, yielding exact results only for strictly radial
loading with respect to the yield surface, i.e. if a x and a~ (but not necessarily
the generalized stresses) are proportional to each other during the loading
history at any location (x, r/). As can be seen from eqns (11), this is only the
case for very special situations (for example, if there is no radial temperature
gradient and no axial force, the curvature #" must be proportional to
(# - a t TE/ay) at each location along the length of the cylinder and during the
entire loading history). Under practical design conditions, this requirement
can hardly be met exactly, but may often be a reasonable approximation.
Let us, for example, come back to the build-in-cylinder under radial
displacement treated in the previous paragraph. In Fig. 4, the loading path
for the outer surface is shown in the deviatoric stress space according to a
Finite Element (FE) analysis (see Ref. 3 for details), based on a kinematic
hardening assumption (the analytical solution is not able to distinguish
between kinematic and isotropic hardening for monotonic loading). We can
see that the loading path is slightly non-radial with respect to the yield
surface, and thus the analytical solution cannot be exact. However, if we
depicted the FE results in Figs 3a and 3b, we would hardly notice any
difference from the analytical results.
As indicated previously, eqn (18) can be expressed as an elementary
differential equation in terms of/~ and its derivatives only if the generalized
stresses can be expressed by elementary functions. This may fail for most
strain hardening material models, which are not piecewise linear. In such a
 Elastic-plastic cylindrical shell under axisymmetric loading 81

,• initial yield surface

with center0
d®
loading path
i / \o °' r

T
Wo

shifted yield surface

\\// withcenter A
axis of revolution
\
\
x

Fig. 4. Deviatoric stresses at the outside surface in section x = 0 for monotonic loading
according to the FE analysis described in Ref. 3; v = 0-5, C/E= 0.1 (kinematic hardening).

case, iterative solutions like the M e t h o d of Successive Elastic Solution,

applied by Mendelson 5 to thin circular shells, seem to be unavoidable. In
Refs 5 and 6, the stress components are not integrated in closed form
through the wall, but the purely elastic differential equation is considered to
have an u n k n o w n term of disturbance to be found by iteration. In the case
of vanishing radial temperature gradient and axial force, this term of
disturbance is essentially all but the last line of eqn (19).

REFERENCES

1. Calladine, C. R., Stress concentration in nonlinear creep of a simple shell, Trans.

ASME, J. Appl. Mech., 1966, pp. 322-6.
2. Morris, A. H., NSWC/DL Library of Mathematics Subroutines, Naval Surface
Weapons Center, Dahlgren, Virginia, 1981.
3. Hiibel, H., Plastic strain concentration in a cylindrical shell subjected to an axial
or a radial temperature gradient, Trans. ASME, J. Press. Ves. Techn. (in press).
4. Fliigge, W., Stresses in Shells, 4th printing, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1967.
5. Mendelson, A., Plasticity: Theory and Application, Reprint edition, Robert E.
Krieger Pub. Co., Malabar, Florida, 1983.
6. Chern, J. M. and Pai, D. H., Inelastic behaviour of finite circular cylindrical shells,
Trans. ASME, J. Pres. Ves. Techn., 1977, pp. 31-8.