0263 8231 (85) 90030 8
0263 8231 (85) 90030 8
0263 8231 (85) 90030 8
N. W. Snedden
UEN/131, Shell UK Expro, Shell-MexHouse, Strand, London, UK
ABSTRACT
NOTATION
p Internal pressure.
p' Elastic buckling pressure.
P Equivalent axial load.
-~ Mean radius.
x, y Cartesian coordinates.
a Angle of tilt (from vertical) of convolution.
8 Lateral deflection.
A Equivalent axial displacement of convolution.
0 Angle of rotation of convolution.
1 INTRODUCTION
S-shaped
g'L
U-shaped
C-shaped
It was the investigation into the cause of buckling of bellows which also
prompted Haringx to study the problem of elastic stability, of thin-walled
cylinders subjected to internal pressure and to explain the buckling of
drill pipes. 2
Newland 3extended Haringx's theory to the more complicated case of a
universal expansion joint, i.e. two bellows interconnected by a straight
length of pipe. The principal conclusion of his work was that, by providing
a correctly designed supporting structure, the critical buckling pressure
could be increased by up to four times the value for the same system with
no supports.
Seide 4 also investigated the effect of pressure on the stability of a
hinged bellows, i.e. a bellows which is only permitted to rotate about a
fixed pivot-point. He showed that the bending characteristics of the
system varied considerably with changes in pressure and pivot-point
location, and that instability of the bellows could occur at both internal
and external pressure. The analytical results of this work were compared
with experimental data from bellows tests conducted by Fitzgibbon. 5The
agreement found between theory and experiment for small bellows (4.5 in
dia.) under external pressure was relatively good. However, for the large
bellows (13 in dia.) under internal pressure correlation was poor and
believed to be due to friction between the convolution plies.
In all of the aforementioned papers only elastic instability was
considered.
At the present time there is no British Standard for the design of
bellows expansion joints. There is, however, a code of practice for the
installation of metallic bellows: BS61296 and the Standards of the
Expansion Joint Manufacturers Association 7 (commonly referred to as
the E J M A standard). This latter document, published by a group of US
and Canadian companies, recommends standards relating to the manu-
facture, design, safety and installation of bellows expansion joints for
application in piping systems.
Design rules for bellows are also given in Section III (Nuclear Power
Plant Components) of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Cod&
where it is stated that bellows expansion joints are allowable in nuclear
piping systems conforming to ASME Class 2t and Class 3 standards and in
metal containment vessels. According to subarticle NB-3649.1, bellows
2 THEORY
There are numerous formulae in the literature for calculating the elastic
axial stiffness of a bellows. 13 However, there are only a few published
theories on the problem of bellows bending stiffness: Haringx's I analysis
m a d e use of the theory of unsymmetrical bending of circular plates and
was confined to the mathematically more simple case of bellows with
rectangular-shaped convolutions; H a m a d a e t al. 14examined the bending
flexibility of U-shaped convolutions and produced simple design charts
for a range of bellows dimensions.
In addition to the above theories, there is an elementary formula
relating bellows bending stiffness and axial stiffness, viz:
EI = ~Kar- (2)
n = (5)
p = p~.~2 (6)
P :/" '/- El I
' :J
x J
v ,
dy _ 0 at x = 0 (7a)
Y-dx
y= 6 atx= ~ (7b)
and from equilibrium of the bellows
F~ + P6
M - - - (8)
2
Substituting eqn (4) into eqns (7a) and (7b) and using eqn (8) yields the
following solution for the lateral deflection between the ends of the
bellows
F [ g ( 1 - c o s n g ) + 2sinn---------~- 2g ]
6 = n (9)
P(1 + cosng
This relationship can be re-written as
F = Ke6 (10)
Ke = [ g ( l - c o s n ta) + 2sinngn
- - - 2~ ] (11)
152 N. W. Snedden
Using a Maclaurin series to expand the sine and cosine terms it can be
shown, by truncation, that eqn (11) simplifies to
12EI 6P E1
Ke - ~ - -~- for e < < (---7 (12)
Ke = 0 at p =p' (13)
K~-
Substituting f o r p a n d p ' from eqns (1) and (6), respectively, into eqn (15)
finally gives
12El 12P
Ke- ~ zr2( (16)
The results obtained for the lateral stiffness in eqns (12) and (16) are only
relevant to bellows undergoing small elastic deformations. In service,
however, bellows are subject to much larger displacements and are often
stressed beyond the elastic limit. In this situation a more elaborate theory
is required to predict the bellows behaviour.
It has been observed from full-scale buckling experiments carried out
by the author 15 that the assumption of undistorted cross-sections is
sufficiently accurate for bellows subject to gross shear deformation (e.g.
8 = ?/4) and relatively low internal pressure. (In addition to the type of
squirming discussed here, which is sometimes termed column instability,
in-plane instability can occur if the bellows intemal pressure is high.
When this happens the convolutions buckle in a local manner and distort
Lateral stiffness of bellows expansionjoints 153
such that they are no longer perpendicular to the bellows neutral axis. 7)
By maintaining this assumption it is possible to establish a simple
procedure for investigating the non-linear lateral stiffness of a bellows.
The mathematical model which will be utilised is similar to the one
considered by Newland 3 where the bellows was represented as a strut
made up of a number of rigid links joined by linear spring hinges, each
~ ~idIink2s
~
inghinges
ON =f(MN) (17)
where Ms = bending moment applied to convolution N
(18)
./2 tar ]
(19)
~=,nl_ T 1
154 N. W. Snedden
N 1
~N = Z OM (2o)
M-1
6000
55OO
5O00
4500 []
4000
3500
3000
N 2500
1
2000
1500
1000
5O0
I J i i i b
intercepts of the lines in each region. The gradient of the line in region I is
easily calculated since for a linear elastic bellows 3
M~
0- nEl (21)
O1 ~ (22)
The intercept of the lines in regions II and III can be determined from the
assumption of undistorted cross-sections. It should be evident that the
convolutions come into contact when
(23)
3 RESULTS
Experimental data for the elastic lateral stiffness of a bellows taken from
Ref. 15, together with the solution of eqn (11), are presented in Fig. 6.
The value of bellows equivalent bending stiffness used in the derivation of
the theoretical line shown was determined from the formula by Haringx
(see Appendix 1). Details of the relevant bellows geometry and materials
data are given in Appendix 2. As can be seen from Fig. 6 there is
sufficiently good correlation between theory and experiment to establish
that the simple bellows beam model (Fig. 3) is valid for small lateral
deflections. (n.b. The experimental results plotted are applicable to
0.040 in lateral deflection.) It is worth pointing out that the individual
solutions of eqns (11), (12) and (16) are indistinguishable at the scale
indicated in Fig. 6.
Lateral stiffnessof bellows expansion joints 157
I!!!:
: ::: :q: : : : : : ~.-.~:..:::::::: :::: -::: ========================== ~,~*.:~: :::: -::: :: ~::: :~q~:. : ~.-~ ~.~:~:: ~r:.::: -'--:::::t::-:~ !~ ~ - ~ ~ : :q-.-::-.
l ................. t ....... ~ .............. ~ ............. :. . . . . . - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . --, :h~o ~ ............
5000
ii
IF
4500
ii
,i
~ Theory
4000 i'
3500
- - 30DO
-[ M Experiment
~2500
2000
1500
// /
/
I000 /
/
500
I I i I I I I I I
0.0 0.~ 0,2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.? 0.8 0,9 1.0 1.1 2 Ii ~ !. 4 t.5
LATERAL DEFLECTION [IN)
4 DISCUSSION
The data plotted in Fig. 6 show that for the particular bellows tested the
elastic lateral stiffness decreases linearly with increasing internal
pressure. This result is also evident from the form of eqn (12). It is
possible to determine the bellows elastic buckling pressure either by
linear extrapolation of the experimental data or, as previously indicated,
from eqns (6), (12) and (13).
When subject to combined internal pressure and lateral movement the
Lateral stiffne~ of beUows expansion joints 159
F, = ( K , ] - K,])8
p=0 p~p,
F~ = ( r ] - 4 ) (25)
p = 0 P=Po
where Fis computed from eqn (18) for a given lateral deflection 8.
If the bellows operating pressure is relatively low, instability, i.e.
uncontrolled movement, can be a temporary event impeded by the
increased bending stiffness due to contact between convolutions. The test
results shown in Fig. 7 corroborate this assertion. However, for high
internal pressure, gross buckling due to an excessively large destabilising
force, or plastic collapse, can lead to catastrophic failure of the bellows.
5 DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that, if the bellows design stresses are within the elastic
limit, the bellows lateral stiffness should be determined using eqn (12) if
the bellows axial compressive load P < - 2 E I / g 2, or with eqn (11) if
P >- 2 E I / g 2. In either instance, the quantity E1 should be derived from
Haringx's formulae given in Appendix 1, or indirectly from eqn (2) using
either the measured value of bellows axial stiffness or the result for Ka
calculated from the EJMA standard. 7For the bellows to remain stable the
lateral stiffness Ke must exceed zero. In the event that the bellows design
stresses exceed yield, it is recommended that the lateral load/deflection
characteristic of the bellows should be verified by experiment or
calculated using eqns (17) through (23). An alternative function from that
used by the author may be employed to define eqn (17). However,
160 N. W. Snedden
REFERENCES
13. Matheny, J. D., Bellows spring rate for seven typical convolution shapes,
Machine Design, 34(1) (1962).
14. Hamada, M., Nakagawa, K., Miyata, K. and Nakade, K. Bending deform-
ation of U-shaped bellows, Bulletin of the JSME, 14(71) (1971).
15. Snedden, N. W., The strength and stability of corrugated bellows expansion
joints, PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, 1981.
16. Wan, F. Y. M., Laterally loaded elastic shells of revolution, lngenieur-
Archiv, 42(4) (1973).
APPENDIX 1
~.,Ex(h3r 3
E1 = zr(1 - v2)n(ro- r33 (A1.1)
where
T
7' - (A1.2)
X
~2~
~"- 2x (A1.3)
1[ (1+p2)(1-p) 3 ]
E = -~ 1-p2+(l+p2)lnpJ (A1.4)
(1 - p2)(1 -- p4 + 4p21np)
x = 4(1 - p2 + 2p In p ) (1 -- p2 _ 2p In p ) (A 1.5)
ri
p - (A1.6)
ro
I-t = 4 ,C-4n
(A1.9)
APPENDIX 2
TABLE A.1
Bellows Dimensions
TABLE A.2
Properties of Type 321 Stainless Steel
aApproximate value of thinning at root and crown of convolution. Data under this column
have been applied in the large deflection analysis.