Brazier effect of single- and double-walled elastic tubes under pure bending

The cross sections of hollow cylindrical tubes ovalise under a pure bending condition, and this reduces their flexural stiffness as their curvatures increase. It is important to accurately evaluate this phenomenon, known as the \"Brazier effect\", to understand the bending behaviour of the systems considered. However, if the tubes are supported by an elastic medium or foundation, the ovalisation displacements of their cross sections may decrease. From this point of view, the purpose of this research is to analytically investigate the bending characteristics of single- and double-walled elastic tubes contacted by an elastic material by considering the Brazier effect. The Brazier moment, which is the maximum moment-carrying capacity of the ovalised cross section, can be calculated by introducing the strain energy per unit length of the tube in terms of the degree of ovalisation for the tube and the curvature. The total strain energy of the double-walled system is the sum of the strain energies of the outer and inner tubes and that of the compliant core. Results are comparatively presented to show the variation in the degree of ovalisation and the Brazier moment for single- and double-walled tubes.