The Elastic-Plastic Stress Distribution Within a Wide Curved Bar Subjected to Pure Bending

Abstract Analytical expressions are obtained for the radial and circumferential stress distributions within a wide curved bar made of a perfectly plastic material when it is subjected to a uniformly distributed bending moment. The elastic stress distributions are based on the use of the Airy stress function, whereas the plastic stress distributions in this problem of plane strain are based on the use of the Tresca yield condition. It is found that as the bending moment increases in the direction which tends to straighten the initially curved bar, an elastic-plastic boundary develops first around the concave surface. It meets a second boundary, which starts sometime later around the convex surface, when the bar is completely plastic. The elastic region within the bar decreases at a fairly uniform rate as the bending moment increases to within approximately 90 per cent of the fully plastic bending moment but then it degenerates very much more rapidly until it no longer exists when the bar is completely plastic. The position of the neutral surface is independent of the applied bending moment when the stress distribution is within the completely elastic and the completely plastic ranges. Within the elastic-plastic range, however, it moves away from and then toward the center of curvature as the bending moment increases.