Effects of local wall thinning on net-section limit loads for pipes under combined pressure and bending

This paper provides plastic limit loads of pipes with local wall thinning under combined pressure and bending, by quantifying effects of the axial extent and the shape of local wall thinning. The effect of the axial extent on plastic limit loads is not so significant for bending but could be more significant for internal pressure. It is also found that the effect of the shape of local wall thinning on limit loads could be significant. Thus idealization of local wall thinning as a rectangular shape rather than a circular one could lead to significantly conservative estimates of maximum loads, which is also supported by comparison with published full-scale pipe test data. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.