Nonlinear Analysis for Pipe Bends Due to Plastic Load

Pipe bends are considered as a critical component in the piping system. Therefore, it is very important and necessary to be able to predict their response accurately and to have deep understanding of their elastic-plastic behavior under different conditions of loads. By understanding their behavior, it is very useful, for the design safe purposes, to have accurate and conservative estimates of the limit loads, beyond which the structure of the pipe bend undergoes excessive plastic deformation. The historical of pipe bends have been difficult to analyze accurately. With the development of finite element analysis (FMA) it has become possible to model, the behavior of pipe bends using a variety of elements. In research, shell elements are often used in piping analysis. The goal of this research is to study behavior of the pipe bends under different conditions of loads and to study the effects of changing the value of pipe bend factors, varying with wall thickness.