EFFECTS OF GEOMETRIC AND MATERIAL NONLINEARITY ON THE STRESSES OF VARIOUS PRESSURE-VESSEL DOME SHAPES

Pressure vessels are usually designed and analyzed by the linear elast ic theory assuming small deformations. If the internal pressure is lar ge enough to cause the vessel stress to exceed the yield stress or to cause large deformation, the stress from the material and/or geometric nonlinear analyses may be different from that of the linear analysis. In this paper, the effects of the material and geometric nonlinearity on the stress of various dome shapes were analyzed to find the best a nalysis methods for each dome shape. The geometric nonlinear effects w ere large for very thin general torispherical domes, and the material nonlinear effects were large thick hemispherical and optimum torispher ical domes, and most of the general torispherical domes.