Section A16.2
SECTION
A16.2 MEMBRANE
EQUATIONS OF
EQUILIBRIUM FOR
THIN-WALLED
PRESSURE
VESSELS
Pressure vessels are shell-type structures. Thin walled implies skin thickness is much less than the radius of curvature. The most common shapes used for pressure vessels are cylinders and spheres. Spherical pressure vessels are the most efficient. The skin is usually very thin, it cannot sopppurt any bending, only membrane stress. In these problems, the plane stress condition is assumed.
Unstiffened (Monocoque) Cylindrical Pressure Vessels
Hoop Stress
Axial Stress
Maximun Shear Stress
Unstiffened Spherical Pressure Vessels
Due to symmetry, the stresses exerted on all four faces of the element must be equal.
EXAMPLE
PROBLEMS
- Example 1 Membrane stress calculations
in a cylindrical pressure vessel
- Example 2 Design of a spherical
pressure vessel
- Example 3 Design of an idealized
monocoque fuselage structure
To Section A16.5
To Index Page of
Internal Pressure