Creep of thick-walled cylinders subjected to internal pressure and axial load

A creep theory is presented to predict deformations at any specified time for a thick-walled cylinder subjected to internal pressure and axial load. The theory is based on the usual assumptions that the deformations are infinitestimal, that the material is incompressible and that the total strain theory is valid. The stress-strain-time relation for the material is assumed to be represented by an isochronous stress-strain diagram which is approximated by an arc hyperbolic sine function. The experimental part of the investigation included tests of thick-walled cylinders made of high-density poly-ethylene whose ratio of outside to inside radii were either 1.5 or 2.0. The test cylinders were either tested as closed-ented cylinders with internal pressure or subjected to a combination of internal pressure and axial load. Also, the application of the theory for varying load conditions was studied. Good agreement was found between theory and experiment.