If a pipe of large diameter and of comparatively thin thickness, -for examples, a penstock of a hydraulic power plant under low head and with a large quantity of water, or a steam accumulator of large capacity and under low pressure, -is laid horizontally on the ground, then the form of its cross section changes due to its own weight and the weight of its contents, and the original circular form turns into an oval one. In the following treatise, the author has attempted to calculate the amount of this deformation, the problem being treated as an applied case of the theory of the deformation of a curved beam.
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