Abstract：Metal cylinder shell structures are very common components in the large complex structure systems. And the end of the shell is usually connected with other components. Due to the heat effect of the welding and real complicated inherent stress, the possibility of engendering fatigue cracks increases. With the application of high toughness material, elastic-plastic crack becomes more popular. However, there is no elastic-plastic theoretical analytical solution to such problem until now. In this paper, a set of complete elastic-plastic solutions for circumferential through-cracks at the fixed end of cylindrical shells loaded by bending, such as the crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) and crack tip opening angle (CTOA), are developed according to the semi-membrane theory of cylindrical shells and with the use of Dugdale model. The proposed solutions are obtained mostly by explicit equations except a few numerical root-finding calculations and could be used for the calculation of crack initiation and stable crack growth, which describe the whole changing process of the structure compliance and ultimate carrying capacity with the presence of the elastic-plastic crack. This method has filled the gap of analytical solution to such engineering problem.
2012, Vol. 33 
