How will it deform when I compress an elliptical ring along its long axis?

For simplicity we
could consider that the ring is homogeneous, elastic, has no internal stress at the beginning,
and its cross section is small enough compared to its radius.

I think I should be able to find the normal stress and shear stress on any cross section if the
ring were rigid. I feel that the next step should be establishing the relationship between stress
and strain, but I don't know exactly what to do.

Follow these steps:

1. Draw a nice free body diagram

2. Find the internal moment inside the ring

M(θ)=MA +Fbsinθ
3. Find the total strain energy U when the ring deforms under the force F

𝑀2 (𝑀𝐴 + 𝐹𝑏𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜗)2
𝑈=∫ 𝑑𝑠 = ∫ √𝑎2 − (𝑎2 − 𝑏2 )𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 𝜗𝑑𝜗
2𝐸𝐼 2𝐸𝐼
where MA is the unknown reaction moment at point A, E is the elastic modulus and I is
area moment of the section.

4. Find the reaction moment by solving

𝑑𝑈
=0
𝑑𝑀𝐴
for
𝐹𝑎(5𝜖 2 − 12)
𝑀𝐴 ≈
6𝜋

with the eccentricity parameter

 2
𝑏 2
𝜖 =1−( )
𝑎

The expressions can only be calculated for small values of ϵ because U(ϵ) contains elliptical
integrals.

5. Get the total strain energy (approximation)

𝐹 2 𝑎3 208 − 27𝜋 2 2 𝜋 2 − 8
𝑈≈ ( 𝜖 + )
𝐸𝐼 192𝜋 8𝜋
6. Calculate the deflection from 𝑈 = ∫ 𝐹𝑑𝛿U or

𝑑𝑈 2𝐹𝑎3 208 − 27𝜋 2 2 𝜋 2 − 8

𝛿= ≈ ( 𝜖 + )
𝑑𝐹 𝐸𝐼 192𝜋 8𝜋
7. The internal stress comes from the bending

2 5𝜖 2
|𝑀|𝑦 𝑦 (𝐹𝑎 ( − ) + 𝐹𝑏 sin 𝜗)
𝜋 6𝜋
𝜎 (𝜗 ) = ≈
𝐼 𝐼
where y is the half width of the section.
𝜋
8. Maximum stress is at 𝜗 = with
2
𝐹𝑦 𝑏(6𝜋 + 13) 𝑏3
𝜎𝑚𝑎𝑥 ≈ ( − )
𝐼 6𝜋 6𝜋𝑎2

The above is only valid for small values of eccentricity, like ϵ<0.5. I estimate the approximation
error at 10% for ϵ=0.78 and 2% for ϵ=0.58

For further details on this method see Roark formulas for Stress, Chapter 9 (p267).