Buckling analysis of flanged curvilinear pipes in pure bending

The geometrically nonlinear problem of pure bending of a thin-walled elastic curvilinear pipe terminated by totally rigid flanges is studied by the finite-element method. The stiffening effect of the flanges is modeled by imposing special boundary conditions on the end cross sections. The buckling behavior is studied and the values of the critical bending moment are obtained for a wide range of geometrical parameters of the pipe.