The Determination of the Limit Load Solutions for the New Pipe-Ring Specimen Using Finite Element Modeling

Abstract

To estimate the acceptable size of cracks and predict the loading limit of the pipeline or its resistance to the initiation and crack growth by following the structural integrity, the fracture toughness and limit load solutions are required. Standard fracture toughness testing of thin-walled pipelines is often difficult to perform in order to complete standard requirements. To find an alternative technique for the measurement of the fracture toughness of the already delivered pipeline segment, the new pipe-ring specimen has been proposed; however, the limit load solutions have not been investigated yet. The limit load depends on the geometry of the specimen and loading mode. The ligament yielding of pipe-ring specimens containing axial cracks through the thickness under combined loads was calculated by the finite element method. This paper provides limit load solutions of several different pipe-ring geometries containing two diametric symmetrical cracks with the same depth ratio in a range of 0.45 ≤ a/W ≤ 0.55. The limit load (LL) solutions calculated by numerical analysis are shown as a function of the full ring section’s size and the corresponding crack aspect ratio for determining the normalized load. These can potentially construct the failure assessment diagram to estimate the crack acceptance in a part of the pipe.

Keywords

• limit load
• pipe-ring specimen (PRS)
• finite element analysis
• thin-walled
• loading of pipelines