Study on axial and bending stiffness characteristics of reinforced S-shaped bellows

Purpose Reinforced S-shape bellows are novel metal bellows with high pressure resistance. Displacement compensation ability is a key index in the design of metal bellows. Axial-tension-compression deformation and bending deformation are two typical displacement compensation forms. Thus, analysis of axial and bending stiffness is important in structure design. Design/methodology/approach In this study, theory analytics of axial tension and compression stiffness of reinforced S-shaped bellows structure is derived, and the load-displacement relationship during axial deformation is obtained by correcting the geometric parameters of waveform during axial tension and compression deformations. On the basis of them, the relationships of bending stiffness with axial tensile and compression stiffness under the action of bending loading are constructed, and thus, the theory analytics of bending stiffness is realized for S-shaped bellows. Findings This theory analytics is verified by comparing the results of theory analytics with those of numerical simulation for a few typical examples. An investigation on the axial and bending non-linear mechanical behaviors of multi-layer-reinforced S-shaped bellows was also carried out by numerical simulation and experiment, and the experimental results verified the reliability of the analysis method. Originality/value It is found that non-linearity behavior occurs greatly during the first loading course of reinforced S-shaped bellows, and the structure is strain-strengthened due to plastic deformation; however, stable stiffness characteristic is exhibited during the succeeding cyclic-loading course.