CYLINDRICAL-SHELLS UNDER PARTIALLY DISTRIBUTED RADIAL LOADING

The elastic solution to the fundamental problem of a cylindrical shell subjected to a symmetric, partially distributed, and self-balanced ra dial pressure loading acting on the external surface is obtained under plane strain condition. A dual series approach based on Airy's stress functions is employed yielding an exact solution to an auxiliary comp osite cylindrical assembly problem. The solution for the problem under study is then derived as a limit case of the auxiliary composite cyli nder problem. It is proven that the more generalized solution presente d here may be used to recover several well-known classical results. Th e solutions also agree very well with the numerical results obtained f rom a finite element analysis performed for one sample hollow shell pr oblem. The rigorous expressions found in this analysis for the stress and displacement fields are applicable to both thin and thick-walled s hells, including piping.