Limit load solutions for thin-walled cylinders with circumferential cracks under combined internal pressure, axial tension and bending

Abstract

Limit load solutions for thin-walled cylinders with circumferential cracks under combined axial tension, bending and pressure are developed, considering the effect of pressure-induced hoop stress via the Mises yield criterion. The new solutions cover thin-walled cylinders with constant-depth or semi-elliptical surface cracks and through-wall cracks. The predictions of the new Mises-based limit load equation agree very well with elastic-perfectly plastic finite element results. However, net-section collapse equations, which ignore the hoop stress in the cylinder, tend to over-estimate the limit load when internal pressure is dominant. The solution for constant-depth cracks without crack closure is proposed for inclusion in fitness-for-purpose assessment procedures for constant-depth or semi-elliptical surface cracks and through-wall cracks.