Abstract
A user-defined material constitutive model is presented for the prediction of pipeline puncture under external interference loading by excavator teeth, using the finite element program ABAQUS. The model uses continuum damage mechanics theory and a material softening approach to simulate ductile failure. Studies into appropriate boundary conditions and suitable mesh densities for puncture modelling of buried pipelines are presented. Numerical results using the proposed failure model are compared against experimental tests of denting and puncture conducted on an in situ pipeline with excavator equipment, and also some other test results on puncture reported in the literature. Good correspondence has been obtained between the puncture loads predicted using the current numerical method and the experimental results.
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