PONDING ON CIRCULAR MEMBRANES

Nonlinear circular membrane responses under partial and full ponding l oads have been solved by the fourth-order Runge-Kutta numerical integr ation and by finite element simulation with good accuracy. Under parti al pending loads, a discontinuity exists in the curvature of the defor med membrane at the fluid boundary while an inflection;point forms ins ide the pending. An iterative finite element algorithm has also been d eveloped for solving membrane pending problems where inelastic materia l response becomes significant. The finite element simulation procedur e was proven to be accurate when validated against lest data from memb rane forming experiments. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.