CONTROL OF OVALITY IN PIPE BENDING: A NEW APPROACH

This paper formulates and analyses results of experimentation of pipe bending process on a new modified pipe bending mechanism. Ovality or flattening of pipe in the bent portion is a major defect and contributes to poor quality of the bend, deforms the cross section and reduces the strength of the bend to cause easy buckling of the pipe. Several other defects in addition to this drawback of the bending process necessitated corrective action and modification in the existing equipment to bend pipe with minimum defects. Hence, this work targets at design, development, fabrication and use of equipment, which will produce pipe bends with better quality without sacrificing simplicity of existing equipment. Analysis of experimental data is presented here