Plastic mechanism analysis of circular tubes under pure bending

There are a number of solutions available to predict the response of a circular steel tube under pure bending. However, most of these solutions are based on an elasto-plastic treatment, which is complex and difficult to use in any routine design. This paper describes a theoretical treatment to predict the moment-rotation response of circular hollow steel tubes of varying D/t ratios under pure bending. The Mamalis et al. (J. Mech. Sci. 1989;203:411–7) kinematics model for a circular tube under a controlled moment gradient was modified to include the effect of ovalisation along the length of the tube. Inextensional deformation and rigid plastic material behaviour were assumed in the derivation of the deformation energy. The plasticity observed in the tests was assumed to spread linearly along the length of the tube. Two local plastic mechanisms (Star and Diamond shapes) were studied to model the behaviour observed in the tests especially during the unloading stage. The theoretical predictions are compared with the experimental results recently obtained by Elchalakani et al. (Quartral. J. Struct. Eng. 2000;3(3):1–16). Good agreement was found between the theoretical predictions and experimental moment-rotation responses, particularly for the Star shape mechanism. A closed-form solution is presented suitable for spreadsheet programming commonly used in routine design.