Plastic Collapse of API 5L X65 Pipe Having Dent Defects Under Internal Pressure and Bending Load

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the dent magnitude on the collapse behavior of dented pipe subjected to a combined internal pressure and in-plane bending. The plastic collapse behavior and bending moment of the dented pipe with several of dent dimensions were evaluated by using elastic–plastic finite element (FE) analyses. The indenters used to manufacture the dents on the API 5L X65 pipe were hemispherical rod type with diameter of 40, 80, 160 and 320 mm. Dent depths of 19, 38, 76, 114 and 152 mm were introduced on the pipe having a diameter of 762 mm and a wall thickness of 17.5 mm in analyses. A closing or opening inplane bending moment was applied on the dented pipes pressurized under internal pressure of the atmospheric pressure, 4, 8 and 16 MPa. The FE analyses results showed that the plastic collapse behavior of dented pipes was considerably governed by the bending mode and the dent geometry. Moment-bending angle curves for dented pipe were obtained from computer simulation and evaluated with a variety of factors in FE analyses. Load carrying capacity of dented pipes under combined load was evaluated by TES (Twice Elastic Slope) moments. Load carrying capacity of pipe having up to 5% dent depth of outer diameter was not reduced compared with that of plain pipe. Opening bending mode had a higher load carrying capacity than closing bending mode under combined load regardless of dent depth. TES moment was decreased with increasing the dent depth and internal pressure regardless of bending modes.