Technical Note:

STRESSES IN A CIRCULAR RING

UNDER TWO FORCES ACTING
ALONG A DIAMETER

M. BATISTA Maritime and Trafic College Piran, University of Ljubljana, Portoroi, Solvenia*

J. USENIK Maritime and TrafficCollege Piran, University ofljubljana, Portoroi, Solvenia

This paper analyses the stress state in a circular ring under two opposite forces on its outer boundary. The solution is
obtained by using the complex variable method and the principle of superposition. Stress concentration factors are
calculated for the ratio of inner and outer radii in the range 0-0.95 and are presented in tabular form.

Key words;elasticity, stress concentration

Introduction

The problem of determining the stress state in a circular

ring under two opposite forces has attracted the attention of authors over the whole century. Timoshenko (l)?
computed the concentration factor for the ratio of inner
and outer radii equal to 0.5 using the series solution.
Cocker and Filon (2) considered the same problem both
theoretically and experimentally. Ripperger and David
3)calculated the stress concentration factors for ratios of
*adii0.1-0.5. Roark (4) published the stress concentraion factors for ratios of radii in the range 0-0.7. Lurje (5)
ias outlined the solution to the problem using the
nethod of complex functions, but he left the details as an
:xercise.Durelli and Lin (6)published stress diagrams for
he ratios of radii from 0 to 0.92 while, using a series
xpression, Bandera et al. (7) gave results from various
ources for validation of the curve beam theory in a
tudy of a bursting mechanism in rotating rings. Recently
Lose1 and Chen (8) used the solution of the above
roblem in the context of the stability problem and geoietrical optimization studies of the annular plate.
This paper was motivated by the review of Bandera et
f. (7) who found certain disagreement among the
ublished results. It is the aim here to give a complete
dution to the problem with all the details necessary for
i reproduction. Also, very accurate results are given in
bular form, which enables the results to be used as
ference values when testing various numerical approxlation methods in elasticity.
itation
3

Q-n

Ring inner radius

Coefficients of Laurent series of function 'pl

MS. of this paper was received at the Institution on 22 November 1994 and
:ceptedfor publication on 17 March 1995
orresponding author: Maritime and Trafic College Piran, University of Ljublna, Pot PomorEakov 4.66320 PortoroI, Slovenia
eferenees are given at the end ofthis Note
JRNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 31 NO 1 1996 Q IMechE 1996

Coefficients of power series of function fi

Ring outer radius
Coefficients of Laurent series of function
Coefficients in expressions for a,, a _ ,
Boundary conditions functions
Applied force
Imaginary unit
Stress concentration factors
Ring radius
Complex variable
Angle coordinate
Ratio of inner and outer radii
Complex variable
Ludolf number
Unit circle radius
Radial stress
Circumferential stress
Tangential stress
Complex analytical functions
Complex analytical functions
Conformal mapping function
Equations

A circular ring bounded by a circumference of radius b

on the outer boundary and a circumference of radius a
on the inner boundary occupies the region S of the
complex plane (z). Concentrated forces, whose magnitude is F, act on the outer boundary of the ring at points
z = b and z = - b in the direction of the x axis. Forces
are not applied to the inner boundary (Fig. 1).
It is convenient to introduce non-dimensional radii by
the function
z = o(() = b[

(5 = pe")

(1)

which conformally maps area S of plane z on to the

circular ring area Z of the complex plane [ which is
75

M. BATISTA AND J. USENIK

The solution of the boundary problem for the solid circle

is known (5,9,10) and is given by the functions

Y
T3

(9)

Inserting equations (9) and (10)into boundary conditions

(5) yields the boundary conditions for the corrective
functions :

where

Now, for the solution of the boundary value problem (11)

either the power series method (9) or the methods of
analytical continuation (10) can be used. In both cases
the corrective functions are sought in the form of
Laurent series:

Fig. 1. The ring geometry and load

defined by the inequality 1 < p

A=;

< 1 where

For a homogeneous isotropic and ideally elastic solid the

task of determining components of a stress tensor in the
given area is, according to Muskhelishvili (9),reduced to
determination of two functions p([) and $(lJ which are
analytical on 2. When those functions are known,
stresses are calculated using

(13)
C ' w

(14)

and the function (12) must be developed into the power

series

(3)
cr9 - 0,

+ 2 i ~ , $= -2b {cq"([)+ $'([)>etig

(4)

From the assumed external load the functions q(() and

$([) must satisfy the following boundary conditions :

'

where the coefficientsare

A 0 -- - A
~ 2 n 1
+

A , = -2n+1'
22"- I

A _ , = -(1
2n - 1

where

and C is an unknown integration constant which in this

case equals 0, on the grounds of symmetry.
Solution

The solution of the problem is sought in the form of the

superposition of the solutions ~ ~ ( and
5 ) IL0(c) for the
solid circle, with additional corrective functions ql([)
and I)'(<) which take account of the effect of the inner
circular hole on the stress state:

76

n = 1, 2, ...

+ (1 - A2)(2n - l)),

n = I, 2,

(18:
To obtain the unknown coefficients of equation (13) the
method of analytical continuation was used. Details o
the calculation are given in reference (10) and yield thc
following formulae for the unknown coefficients of equa
tion (1 3):

a,

AAO

(15

2(1 - A 2 )

JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 31

NO

1 1996 @ IMechE 1 9

STRESSES IN A CIRCULAR RING UNDER TWO FORCES

In practical calculations the above infinite sums ZZm are

, the number of terms
replaced by finite sums P Nwhere
N can be determined from prescribed accuracy of stress
calculation during computation.
Discussion

Tables 1 and 2 contain values of stress concentration

factors at point To, T,, T2 and T, (Fig. 1) which are
calculated from the following formula:

and for the unknown coefficients of equation (14)

In this way all the functions determining the stress state

are determined.
Stress calculation

Because of equations (5) and (6) the stresses are equal to

the sum of stresses for the solid disc and the additional
corrections stress :
[r

=g p

aa = a p
Tr9

= 5::)

+@

(24)

+ as'
+ T$)

(25)

(26)

Substituting equations (9) and (10) into (3) and (4) for the
solid disc, the following equations are obtained:
1
nb

or in the expanded form

F (1 - ~ ~ ) ~ (p2)2
( 1 - 2(1 COS 29))
=(1 p4 - 2/32 cos 29)2
nb

(1 - p2){l

Ti$) =

(29)

+ b, cos{2(n + 1)9)]p2"

(32)

+ 1)[2(n + l)a, cos(2n9)

+ b, cos{2(n + 1)9)]p2"
T(l)

KO

3
3.0476
3.1923
3.4395
3.7992
4.2872
4.9282
5.7602
6.8410
8.2598
10.1553
12.7506
16.4189
21.8221
30.2228
44.2748
70.3578
127.1682
290.7951
1181.6859

6
6
7
8
9
9
10
12
13
14
16
18
21
25
31
39
52
79
161

A.

For the correction stresses, taking equations (19) and (27)

into consideration, the following equations are obtained :

1
0
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0.40
0.45
0.50
0.55
0.60
0.65
0.70
0.75
0.80
0.85
0.90
0.95

K,
-5
-5.0128
- 5.0541
-5.1333
- 5.2656
- 5.4724
-5.7813
-6.2264
-6.8512
-7.7138
-8.8988
- 10.5394
- 12.8600
- 16.2595
- 21.4973
- 30.1599
-46.0337
-80.1297
- 176.8986
-695.5881

N
6
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
15
17
19
23
27
33
43
59
92
193

Table 2. The stress concentration factors on outer radii for 9 = 0 and

9=d 2

ab (1 + p4 - 2p2 cos 29)2

o(1)
9 =(2n
nb - m

Table I. The stress concentration factors on inner radii for 9 = 0 and

9 = XI2

+ 5p2 + p4 + p 6 - 2

2 F (1 + p2)(1 - p 2 ) 2 sin 29
-

In all calculations the prescribed accuracy was taken to

be lop4.In Tables 1 and 2 the number of terms N that
have been taken into consideration for the calculation of
the given accuracy are given.

(33)

F "

- - C (2n + 1)[2n(n - l)a, sin(2n9)

nb - m
- b,

sin{2(n + 1)9)]p2" (34)

JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 31 NO 1 1996 Q IMechE 1996

0
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0.40
0.45
0.50
0.55
0.60
0.65
0.70
0.75
0.80
0.85
0.90
0.95

K,
0.5
0.4174
0.4082
0.2883
0.1092
-0.1425
-0.4882
-0.9603
- 1.6072
-2.5033
- 3.7644
-5.5791
-8.2679
- f2.4092
- 19.1255
-30.8184
-53.3626
- 104.2755
-256.1094
- 1t I L.6259

N
3
4
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
8
9
10
12
14
7
22
30
45
91

K,

0
0.0176
0.0715
0.1650
0.3037
0.4954
0.7514
1.0882
1.5316
2.1226
2.9283
4.0596
5.7053
8.2039
12.2095
19.1165
32.3248
61.9425
149.7083
641.3085

3
4
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
8
9

11
12
15
18
23
32
50
106
77

M. BATISTA AND J. USENIK

To compare these results with those of other authors

A = 0.5 is taken. For this case Ripperger and David (3)
give the values

K O = 10.147,

K1 = -8.942

K 2 = -3.788,

K3

= 2.940

(36)

and Roark (4) gives the values

K O

K , = -9.00

= 10.1,

K 2 = -3.8,

K , = 3.0

(37)

Comparing the values from Tables 1 and 2, it is evident

that the results are already different at the second
decimal place. Another example is for A = 0.7, where
Roark (4) gives the values
K , = -21.4

K O = 31.0,
K2

= -19.0,

K3

Fig. 2. The maximal tangential stress contour lines for 1 = 0.5

= 13.1

which are also slightly different from the corresponding

results in Table 1.
To obtain stress concentration factors for the limiting
case, A ---* 0 stresses (29) to (31) are expanded into power
series of p and the coefficients (20) and (21) are expanded
into power series of A. Neglecting higher powers, the
following expressions for stresses are obtained :
(T

= -

( T ~

1-

nb

References
(I) TIMOSHENKO, S. On the distribution of stress in a circular
ring compressed by two lorces along a diameter, Phil. Mag., 1922,
44,1014.
(2) COCKER, E. G. and FILON, L. N. G. A Treatise on Photoelasticity, 1931 (Cambridge University Press), p. 373.

F
nb

=--

case A = 0.5. It is seen from Fig. 2 that the calculated

lines match the photoelasticity test published in reference
(11) perfectly.

(f) + 2{1 - 4 ( y + J3;(

[+
1

(a)

cos 291
(39)

- 2{ 1 + 3(:)}

cos 291 (40)

From these formulae values K O = 3 and K , = - 5 are

obtained for p = I..
To further verify the results of calculation, a qualitative comparison with the photoelasticity test was made.
The contour lines of non-dimensional maximal tangential stresses were computed with stress step 0.6 for the

(3) RIPPERGER, E. A. and DAVID, N. Critical stresses in circular

ring, Proc. ASCE, February 1946.
(4) ROARK, R. Formulas for Stress and Strain, 1965 (McGraw-Hill,
London), p. 333.
(5) LURJE, A. I. Theory of Elasticity (in Russian), 1970 (Nauka,
Moscow).
(6) DURELLI, A. J. and LIN, Y.H. Stresses and displacements on
the boundaries of circular rings diametrically loaded, J . Appl.
Mech., 1986,53,213-219.
(7) BANDERA, C., NICOLICH, M. and STROZZI, A. On the
bursting mechanism in rotating rings, J. Strain Analysis, 1993,
28(3), 153-162.
(8) KOSEL, F. and CHEN, J. Geometrical optimization orthe elastostatic stability problem of thin annular plate subject to two
locally acting loads, Z. Angew. Mathematik und Mechanik, 1994,
74.305-308.
(9) MUSKHELISHVILI, N. I. Some Basic Problems of the Mathe-

matical Theory ofEfusticity,1953 (P.Noordhoff, Groningen).

(10) ENGLAND, A. H. Complex Variable Methods in Elasticity, 1972
(Wiley-Interscience, Chichester), pp. 108-1 11.
(11) HEARN, E. J. Photoelasticity, 1971 (Merrow, Watford), p. 17.

JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 31 NO 1 1996 @ IMechE 1996