Generalized Plane Strain Study of Rotational Autofrettage of Thick-Walled Cylinders—Part I: Theoretical Analysis

In recent years, a few new methods of achieving autofrettage in thick-walled hollow cylinders have been developed. Rotational autofrettage is one of the new methods proposed recently for prestressing thick-walled cylinders. The principle of rotational autofrettage is based on inducing plastic deformation in the cylinder at the inner side and at its neighborhood by rotating the cylinder about its own axis at a certain angular velocity and subsequently bringing down it to zero angular velocity. However, the analysis of the process is still in its nascent stage. In order to establish the rotational autofrettage as a potential design procedure for prestressing thick-walled cylinders, accurate modeling of the process is necessary. In this paper, the rotational autofrettage for thick-walled cylinders is analyzed theoretically based on the generalized plane strain assumption. The closed form analytical solutions of the elasto-plastic stresses and strains and the residual stresses after unloading during the rotational autofrettage of a thick-walled cylinder are obtained. In Part II of the paper, the numerical evaluation of the theoretical model will be presented in order to assess its feasibility.