Out-of-plane bending of faceted cylinder end plates

Abstract

Washing machine tanks are now made mainly as plastic injection mouldings. Essentially, they consist of a cylinder, open at one end and with a faceted end plate at the other. The tanks are subjected to an out-of-plane bending moment at the centre of the faceted plate. This geometry/loading combination has been examined using the finite element method and an understanding of the important design parameters obtained. To avoid performing many finite element analyses to obtain a satisfactory design, a quick approximate analysis method has been developed. This has been shown to be accurate over a wide range of designs.