In-plane bending of a large 90° smooth bend

Abstract An experimental investigation has been conducted on a 6 ft 6 in diameter 90° smooth bend which forms part of the outlet ducting of Number 2 reactor vessel at Sizewell nuclear power station. The results of the investigation show excellent agreement with various available theories, both for stresses and flexibility factors. The theories themselves are discussed and it is concluded that the asymptotic solution of Clark and Reissner, largely neglected in this country, has distinct advantages in many cases, being relatively simple to use and giving comparable results with other theories which require extensive computation.