Buckling of an Elastic Elliptical Ring Inside a Rigid Boundary

Abstract

The buckling of a thin, elastic ring confined in an elliptical hole whose circumference is smaller than that of the ring is studied. The effect of post-buckling slippage of the ring along the boundary with a corresponding curvature change is included. Buckling configurations with no friction that are (a) symmetric to one axis, and (b) symmetric to both axes, and (c) buckling configurations with no-slip are presented. Buckling with a strain energy consideration added as a criterion and buckling merely from compatibility alone are discussed. Results include curves for buckling loads of different ellipticities for different radius-to-thickness ratios.