Prediction of Ratchet Boundary for 90-Degree Smooth and Mitred Pipe Bends

The present paper attempts to predict ratchet boundary for 90-degree mitred and smooth pipe bends subjected to sustained pressure and cyclic in-plane bending. The methodology utilizes a recently published technique known as the “Uniform Modified Yielding” (UMY) technique, which relies on generation of a virtual structure with inhomogeneous reduced yield strength, whose magnitude and distribution depend on the elastic stress field due to the cyclic load. The collapse load of this virtual structure determines the threshold steady load necessary for commencement of “incremental collapse”. The technique is applied first to predict ratchet boundaries for two benchmark problems possessing analytical descriptions of ratchet boundary and uni-axial states of stress; the two-bar structure problem and the Bree cylinder. Predicted ratchet boundaries exactly coincided with the corresponding published analytical descriptions, and reasons for this correlation were discussed in this paper. The technique was then applied to three 90-degree pipe bends with similar geometries as follows: smooth pipe bend (SPB), single mitred pipe bend (SMPB), and three weld mitred pipe bend (3WMPB). Certain assumptions are adopted to enable treatment of the problem as a quasi-uniaxial one. Conservative estimates are obtained for ratchet boundaries in pipe bends that correlates well with elastic shakedown/ratchet boundary of the same problems as predicted by a recently developed non-cyclic direct technique.Copyright © 2012 by ASME