Comparative study on thin and thick walled cylinder models subjected to thermo-mechanical loading

This paper gives a theoretical background and compares two analytical approaches, thin- and thick-walled models, analyzing composite cylindrical tubes under thermo-mechanical loadings. First, a theoretical background is introduced, and a lamination theory and an elasticity theory for thick-wall tubes are recalled. A systematic parametric study for various geometrical, material and load settings was performed to find out the difference between analyzed calculation approaches. It was generally observed, that the Classical Lamination Theory can be successfully applied for pressure loads, however this plane-stress assumption may generate remarkable errors if thermal loads are introduced. It is especially the case for highly orthotropic cylinders. The generalization of the achieved results allowed to recommend a new criterion for the selection of an appropriate calculation model. The proposed measure incorporates simple forms of tubes’ geometrical parameters (D/t) and material factor (C22/C33). Thanks to the applied approach the importance of through-thickness stresses can be quickly assessed.