The determination of singular stresses in a circular ring using fast Fourier transform techniques

Determining the stress state in a circular ring has been a classical topic in the stress analysis literature. Based on the principle of superposition, the results may be obtained by adding known solutions to an associated ring problem, where the boundary stresses on the inner and outer walls of the ring are represented in Fourier series. In this work, the coefficients of the Fourier series are generated through an algorithm based on the fast Fourier transform (FFT). In the case of concentrated loading, the required additional fundamental solutions are derived in closed-form. The presented numerical method allows for accurate and efficient computations of the stress distributions in a circular ring in static equilibrium under arbitrary in-plane loading; and generally, the FFT-based algorithm provides a convenient and versatile tool for handing some two-dimensional problems involving circular boundaries.