Buckling of Double Bellows Expansion Joints under Internal Pressure

Abstract

Corrugated bellows expansion joints may buckle under internal pressure in the same way as an elastic strut may buckle under an axial load. This paper is concerned with the analysis of this phenomenon for the ‘universal expansion joint’ which incorporates two bellows joined by a length of rigid pipe. The principal conclusion is that, by providing a correctly designed supporting structure, the critical buckling pressure can be increased to up to four times its value for the same system with no supports.