Experimental method of determining the uniaxial-compression characteristics of thin-walled structures

Abstract

An analytical treatment of the stability of thin-walled cylinders demonstrates that this geometry is free from the normally observed buckling instabilities when the external pressure is applied as a ‘winding’ load. Overwrapping vessels with elastomeric fiber under high tension produces an equilibrium state that is identical with simple external pressure. This state differs from the case of constant external pressure in that it is stable and has no buckling instabilities. An analysis is presented that demonstrates this experimentally observed observation and shows that the system will be stable independent of its material properties (i.e., elastic, plastic, viscoelastic, etc.). Consequently, this technique can be used to subject thin-walled cylindrical structures to large enough external pressure to cause fracture or homogeneous yielding. Simple experiments on a metal and polymer sample demonstrate the technique.