Plastic Analysis of Laterally Loaded Circular Tubes

Abstract

A rigid‐plastic analytical formulation for the analysis of laterally loaded tubular members is presented. Various boundary conditions are studied together with different load distributions. The interaction effect of simultaneously acting lateral load and axial load is also investigated. The analytical results are compared with the predictions of an elasto‐plastic finite element program including large displacement effects. It is demonstrated that simple rigid‐plastic methods represent a useful tool for ultimate load analysis of bracing elements in offshore platforms.