Elastic-Plastic Stress Distribution in a Compressed Ring

This investigation was conducted to define the plastic stress distribution at a section 90 degrees from the point of load application on a ring. The elastic and plastic stress distribution was determined experimentally by using postyield strain gages and the stress-strain relationship obtained from a uniaxial tensile test. The experimental results in the elastic range were found to agree with presently available theoretical predictions. A theoretical plasticity analysis of the ring was made by assuming that it deforms to the shape of an ellipse and that plane sections remain plane. The strains determined in this manner were used to calculate stresses off the tensile stress-strain curve. The experimental results indicated that this initial analysis gave a good approximation of the stress distribution for large deflections of the ring.