Effects of External Loads on the Reliability of A131 Welded Pipe with Circumferential Crack

Abstract

In this paper, the reliability of welded pressure pipe with circumferential surface crack was calculated by using three dimensional stochastic finite element method for A131 pipe steel. This method has overcome the shortcomings of conservative results in safety assessment with deterministic fracture mechanics method. The calculation of reliability was based on three dimensional elastic-plastic stochastic finite element programs which were developed by ourselves. The calculation results indicate that the external load has great effect on the reliability of the welded pipe. When the mean value of bending moment changes from 10000N.m to 20000N.m, the failure probability of the welded pipe will change from 3.3750×10-9 to 1.6794×10-1. When the mean value of moment is changed from10000N.m to 20000N.m, the failure probability of the welded pipe increases dramatically for the same circumferential crack opening angle, inner pressure and the crack depth. The method has put forward a new way for safety assessment of welded pipe with circumferential surface crack.