Uncertainty of the elastic buckling formula of a thin tube is considered. The measuring uncertainty of Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio and the tolerance of the tube thickness and diameter are dealt with. The elastic buckling should be absolute...
Uncertainty of the elastic buckling formula of a thin tube is considered. The measuring uncertainty of Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio and the tolerance of the tube thickness and diameter are dealt with. The elastic buckling should be absolutely prohibited for a thin tube like a nuclear fuel rod that should satisfy a self-stand criterion. Since the predicted critical buckling pressure overestimated the actual one observed from an experiment, determination of the minimum safety factor is crucial. The uncertainty of each parameter (i.e., Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, thickness and diameter) is mutually independent, so the safety factor is evaluated as the sum of the inverse of each uncertainty. It is found that the thickness variation strongly affects the uncertainty. The minimum safety factor of a thin tube of Zirconium alloy needs to be from 1.547 to 3.487 for the thickness of 0.87 and 0.254 ㎜, respectively.