• 대한기계학회논문집
• /
• 제19권6호
• /
• pp.1439-1450
• /
• 1995

Bellows is a familiar component in piping systems as it provides a relatively simple means of absorbing thermal expansion and providing system flexibility. In routine piping flexibility analysis by finite element methods, bellows is usually considered to be straight pipe runs modified by an appropriate flexibility factor; maximum stresses are evaluated using a corresponding stress concentration factor. The aim of this study is to develop a bellows finite element, which similarly includes more complex shell type deformation patterns. This element also does not require flexibility or stress factors, but evaluates more detailed deformation and stress patterns. The proposed bellows element is a 3-D, 2-noded line element, with three degrees of freedom per node and no bending. It is formulated by including additional 'internal' degrees of freedom to account for the deformation of the bellows corrugation; specifically a quarter toroidal section of the bellows, loaded by axial force, is considered and the shell type deformation of this is include by way of an approximating trigonometric series. The stiffness of each half bellows section may be found by minimising the potential energy of the section for a chosen deformation shape function. An experiment on the flexibility is performed to verify the reliability for bellows finite element.

• 한국공작기계학회논문집
• /
• 제17권1호
• /
• pp.150-157
• /
• 2008

Bellows are commonly used in piping systems to absorb expansion and contraction in order to reduce stress. Unlike most piping components, bellows consist of a thin-walled shell of revolution with a corrugated meridian, in order to provide the flexibility needed to absorb mechanical movements. It is a composite shell structure consisting of at least one toroidal shell, an annular plate or conical shell. It is difficult to analyze the behavior of bellows because of its complex geometry. Simplified formulas for variable mechanical behaviors of bellows are provided by a standard called EJMA. An automatic design software for bellows is programming by using VBA(Visual Basic for Application) based on EJMA. Bellows engineers can effectively make a decision for bellows geometries because this software provides graphically design results in its post-processor. Bellows design software is expected to give quite a good guidance to practical design. The characteristics of bellows are also investigated through the automatic design process in bellows design software.

• 한국정밀공학회지
• /
• 제25권8호
• /
• pp.57-64
• /
• 2008

Corrugated flexible joint with bellows shape is widely used in many industrial fields as it provides a relatively simple means of absorbing mechanical vibration and deformation due to its inherent flexibility. In this study, an effective equivalent beam modeling technique of corrugated flexible joint bend using a commercial CAE software is proposed to reduce the excessive efforts and costs required for three dimensional shell modelling in vibration analysis of bellows shape structure. When this simple and practical technique, based on the strain energy concept, is employed to modify the beam sectional properties of the flexible joint bend, quite satisfactory results can be obtained.