This paper investigates the large deformations of an extended thick cylindrical tube under
internal pressure, with emphasis on the static nonlinear behavior and instabilities of the
shell. Thick elastic tubes that undergo large elastic deformations under internal pressure can
exhibit novel instabilities. After some deformation, part of the tube becomes highly deformed
taking the form of a bulge, while the remainder appears almost unchanged. This local
instability phenomenon corresponds to a limit point along the nonlinear equilibrium path …

Rubber structures are common in several engineering applications and everyone is familiar
with some of the physical properties of this class of polymers called elastomers. They are
capable of being stretched to several times their original length with relatively small applied
forces and, when the force is released, they retract rapidly to the unstressed length with heat
transfer on rebound very close to zero. Also, under moderately large deformations, after
unloading, they present no permanent deformation as a result of the extension process and …