Plastic deformation and burst of pressurized multilayered cylinders

A large strain analysis is presented for internally pressurized multilayered tubes, in generalized plane strain. Material behavior is modeled by an elastoplastic deformation theory with an orthotropic yield function, introduced by Hill, and arbitrary hardening. Elastic compressibility is neglected. An exact solution is given, in terms of quadratures, along with a general condition for burst. Simple yet useful relations are derived for thin-walled cylinders with the neglect of elastic strains. For rigid/ nonlinear-hardening response, we obtain an expression for the onset of burst in terms of overall effective moduli. A few numerical examples are given and the possibility of locating an optimal two-layer configuration is discussed. It appears that optimization with respect to weight is attainable provided that appropriate materials are selected.