Tube-Bulging Under Internal Pressure and Axial Force

Abstract

A numerical solution for analysis of the bulging process of a thin-walled tube under internal pressure and axial force is proposed. The solution is applied to a case in which the longitudinal stress resulted from internal pressure and external compressive load is tensile along the whole length of the bulged tube. To verify whether the solution is applicable, theoretical and experimental results on the bulging of copper tubes have been obtained and are compared in this paper.