Further experimental study on the failure of fully clamped steel pipes

Abstract In the present study experimental data recorded from 226 impact tests on seamless mild steel pipes are reported. The pipe specimens with different geometries were fully clamped at both ends, and impacted transversely by rigid wedge-shaped indenters at the positions of mid-span, one-quarter span and very close to a support, respectively. In order to model the fully clamped boundary conditions, a special clamping system was designed to hold the pipe specimens rigidly at each end to prevent any significant inward displacements from the supports. The impact velocities ranged up to 10.69 m/s and caused large inelastic indentations for the lower values and at higher values a loss of integrity near the supports. Particular attention was paid to obtaining the threshold value of initial impact energy that caused the onset of material rupture. Discussion is made for the influences of pipe geometry, impact position and internal pressure on the critical value of initial impact energy.