Effects of Geometrical Clearances, Supports Friction, and Wear Rings on Hydraulic Actuators Bending Behavior

Hydraulic actuators are commonly adopted in machines and structures to provide translating forces with significant magnitudes. Although their application dates back to the industrial revolution, their bending behavior under compression is typically addressed by simple Euler’s instability analysis on the rod, neglecting effects such as the cylinder inertia and stiffness, the presence of contact elements in the cylinder-rod junction and on the piston, geometrical misalignments and imperfections, and friction moments at the support. Such simplifications lead to unjustified reduced critical load calculations on the component. In the present paper, a complete mathematical formulation, which accounts for such effects, is presented and validated against experimental data. A numerical sensitivity analysis is conducted, to assess the contributions of initial rectilinear imperfections, wear rings stiffness and dimension, and supports friction on the actuator’s limit buckling load and bending behavior under compression. Results are presented, including the effect of the cited parameters on the buckling load, providing a reliable tool for the mechanical designer. In particular, an optimum position for the wear ring distance is found. Moreover, increased wear ring stiffness and reduced imperfections increase the buckling load and reduce the bending stresses before the critical load.