Elastic-plastic deformations of rotating variable thickness annular disks with free, pressurized and radially constrained boundary conditions

Analytical solutions for the elastic-plastic stress distribution in rotating variable thickness annular disks are obtained under plane stress assumption. The analysis is based on Tresca's yield criterion, its associated flow rule and linear strain hardening material behavior. The thickness of the disk is assumed to vary in parabolic form in radial direction which leads to hypergeometric differential equations for the solution. It is shown that, depending on the boundary conditions used, the plastic core may contain one, two or three different plastic regions governed by different mathematical forms of the yield criterion. The expansion of these plastic regions with increasing angular velocity is obtained together with the distributions of stress, displacement and plastic strain. It is also shown mathematically that in the limiting case the variable thickness disk solution reduces to the solution of rotating uniform thickness disk. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.