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International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 83 (2006) 707713

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Analysis and experiments on the plastic limit pressure of elbows

Zhi-Xiang Duan, Shi-Ming Shen
College of Mechanical & Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing 210009, China
Received 8 December 2005; received in revised form 28 February 2006; accepted 4 August 2006

Abstract
This paper discusses the plastic limit pressure of elbows without defects and with local thinned area in the extrados. Finite element
analysis (FEA) and experiments have been used. The results of FEA show that the limit load of elbows under internal pressure increases
with increasing wall thickness and bend radius of the elbow. The results are consistent with the calculated results by the Goodall formula,
the maximum error is 6.58%. By data tting of FEA, an empirical formula for the limit load of elbows with local thinned area in the
extrados has been proposed, which is validated by experiments.
r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Elbow; Limit load; Finite element analysis; Local thinned area; Experiment

1. Introduction
Elbows are often considered to be the critical components in a piping system. Because of the bend radius,
elbows represent different performance from a straight
pipe. The elbow can not only change the direction of the
pipeline, but can also absorb the force and moment caused
by heat expansion because its rigidity is lower than the
connected straight pipe. The elbow is subjected to loads,
such as internal pressure, moment, torsion, and dead
weight. Under these loads the maximum stress in the piping
system occurs in the elbows and so elbows fail earlier than
the straight pipe and become the weakest part of the piping
system [1].
Because of corrosion, erosion, mechanical damage and
crack polishing, there are local thinned areas (LTAs) in an
elbow. The LTAs reduce the structural integrity, and may
affect the safety of the pipeline. For the safety evaluation of
an elbow with LTA(s), it is signicant to calculate the limit
load of an elbow with LTA(s) [2].
Zhang et al. [3] took the relation of different LTA
position to the limit load into consideration and deduced

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 25 835 872 89;

fax: +86 25 835 872 88.
E-mail address: laoduanno1@hotmail.com (Z.-X. Duan).

0308-0161/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpvp.2006.08.003

that the acceptance criteria for a straight pipe LTA cannot

be used in the assessment of an elbow.
Wang et al. [4] calculated many elbows with LTA by
nite elements analysis and determined the inuence of the
LTA dimensions on limit load.
However in the above researches, an elasticperfectlyplastic material model is used. So the results are
conservative. In this research the stressstrain curve of
the material is adopted.
This paper discusses the plastic limit load of elbows
without defects, or with a local thinned area in the
extrados, under internal pressure.
2. Finite element analysis on the plastic limit load of elbows
2.1. Finite element modeling
The dimension of the elbow without defects is a diameter
of 108 mm, a thickness t, and 901. At the two ends of
the elbow, two 150 mm straight pipes are connected. The
thickness t is chosen as 3, 5, 8 and 10 mm, respectively. The
bend radius is chosen as 100, 150, 175 and 200 mm,
respectively. There are 16 models (Table 1) in all.
The dimensions of the elbows with LTA are 108 mm
diameters, 8 mm thickness and 901, and the elbow bend
radius is R 150 mm. At the two ends of the elbow, two
150 mm straight pipes are also connected. The LTA lies in

Z.-X. Duan, S.-M. Shen / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 83 (2006) 707713

708

Nomenclature
t
P
P1
P0
PL
R
r
Do
Di
g
y

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elbow thickness
internal pressure
equivalent pressure, P
D2i =D2o  D2i
plastic limit pressure of elbow without defects
plastic limit pressure of elbow
elbow bend radius
mean elbow radius
outer diameter of elbow
inner diameter of elbow
axial half-angle of local thinned area
circumferential half-angle of local thinned area

the outer wall of the extrados of the elbow. The dimensions

of the elbows are shown in Table 2. Sixteen models are
chosen for the calculations according to the Orthogonal
Design Table L16 (4) [5]. The dimensions of the defects are
described by the non-dimensional parameters a ( g/451), b
( y/1801) and c ( C/t) (Fig. 1).
The model of FEA is one half of the structure because of
the symmetry of geometry and loading (Fig. 1).
2.2. Boundary conditions
The boundary conditions of the model are shown in
Fig. 1. The pressure P is applied on the internal surfaces of
the elbow. In the symmetrical plane XOY the displacement
in the Z direction is restrained. In the plane of the lower
end of the model the displacement in the Y direction is
restrained. In the left node of this plane the displacement in
the X direction is restrained. An equivalent pressure P1 is
applied on the right end of the model. The value of P1 is

C
a
b
c
sf

depth of local thinned area

g/451
y/1801
C/t
ow stress

Subscripts
T
F
G
4

test
nite element analysis
Goodall formula
formula (4)

P
D2i =D2o  D2i , where Do and Di are the outer and inner
diameters, respectively.
2.3. Meshing
Finite element analysis is performed using the software
ANSYS. The SOLID45 (3-Dimensional Structural Solid)
elements are used for the analysis (Fig. 2). A threedimensional mesh is created by taking 5 divisions in the
longitudinal direction of each straight segment and
approximately 20 divisions (more or less according to the
LTA and other dimensions, but more divisions in the LTA)
in the longitudinal direction of the elbow. In the
circumferential direction, about 15 divisions are taken
and in the depth direction 4 or 5 divisions are taken. In the
LTA, the mesh is rened taking more divisions in the
circumferential and longitudinal directions. The number of
nodes and elements are controlled by the non-dimensional
parameters a, b and c and the dimensions Do, t, R.

Table 1
FEA models of elbows without defects
No.

01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Dimensions Do  t (mm  mm)

108  3
108  5
108  8
108  10
108  3
108  5
108  8
108  10
108  3
108  5
108  8
108  10
108  3
108  5
108  8
108  10

R (mm)

100
100
100
100
150
150
150
150
175
175
175
175
200
200
200
200

Error (%) eG PLG  PLF =PLF

Limit loads (MPa)

FEA (PLF)

Goodall (PLG)

15.210
26.795
46.000
60.267
18.332
31.467
52.616
67.743
19.030
33.048
55.922
71.042
20.248
33.794
57.068
72.484

15.862
27.333
45.973
59.416
19.404
33.173
55.168
70.788
20.282
34.625
57.467
73.640
20.908
35.661
59.109
75.680

4.287
2.008
0.060
1.411
5.847
5.423
4.851
4.495
6.580
4.771
2.764
3.657
3.260
5.525
3.577
4.409

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Table 2
FEA models of elbows with LTA
No.

Dimensions

L01
L02
L03
L04
L05
L06
L07
L08
L09
L10
L11
L12
L13
L14
L15
L16

0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.125
0.125
0.125
0.125
0.25
0.25
0.25
0.25
0.375
0.375
0.375
0.375

0.10
0.25
0.40
0.50
0.10
0.25
0.40
0.50
0.10
0.25
0.40
0.50
0.10
0.25
0.40
0.50

0.10
0.25
0.50
0.75
0.25
0.10
0.75
0.50
0.50
0.75
0.10
0.25
0.75
0.50
0.25
0.10

Limit loads PF (MPa)

Maximum strain location

52.48
52.27
50.62
28.37
52.36
52.55
21.05
41.67
38.32
19.52
52.47
52.00
18.84
37.01
52.37
52.42

Inner
Inner
LTA
LTA
Inner
Inner
LTA
LTA
LTA
LTA
Inner
LTA
LTA
LTA
LTA
Inner

wall of intrados
wall of intrados

wall of intrados
wall of intrados

wall of intrados

wall of intrados

A
y

P1

P1

P
A

A
y
P
o

P1

P1

A-A

A-A
t
P

Di
P

P
C

(a)

Without defects

(b)

With LTA

Fig. 1. Model and boundary conditions.

2.4. Material model

The specimens are made from straight steel pipe of which
the material is the same as the elbow. The test machine is
the MTS-880. The stressstrain curve from tests on this
material is used for the nite element analysis. The material
properties are
Youngs modulus: E 1.7397  105 MPa;
Poissons ratio: n 0.3;
Yield strength: sy 345 MPa;
Ultimate strength: su 517 MPa;

Fig. 2. Finite element mesh.

The real stressstrain curve of the material is shown in

Fig. 3. The kinematic hardening multilinear material model

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is adopted for FEA. In the elastic stage there is a single

slope and in the plastic stage there are 6 segments (Fig. 3).
2.5. Results and analysis
The ideal limit load is dened as the load corresponding
to the limit state, where the load does not increase, but the
displacement or strain of the structure increases innitely.
The hypothesis of the denition is that the structure is
composed of elasticperfectly-plastic material and only
small displacements are considered. In reality, the ideal
material does not exist because of strain-hardening and
geometry hardening or weakening. Therefore, various
methods of determining the value of the limit load are

proposed in the engineering eld, such as the twice-elasticslope method, 3 times-elastic-slope method, twice-elasticdefect method, tangent intersection method, zero-curvature
method and 0.2% residual strain method. In this paper the
limit load is determined based on the loadstrain curves
using the twice-elastic-slope method which is described in
the ASME Boilers and Pressure Vessel Code [5]. The strain
in the loadstrain curve is the maximum von-Mises strain
of the elbow.
The FEA results are shown in Tables 1 and 2.
2.5.1. FEA results of elbows without defects
2.5.1.1. Variation of limit pressure with dimensions. The
variation of the limit pressure PL of elbows without defects
with R/Do and t/Do is shown in Fig. 4. Here, Do is the outer
diameter.
From the gures, it can be seen that when R/Do is kept
constant, the limit pressure increases with increasing
thickness. The relation of limit pressure with thickness is
close to linear. When t/Do is kept constant, the limit
pressure increases with increasing bend radius. The
inuence of thickness (t) on the limit pressure is greater
than the effect of bend radius.
2.5.1.2. Comparison of FEA results with available formula.
For a thin-walled elbow, Goodall [6] proposed the formula
for the limit pressure P0
P0

sf t 1  r=R
.
r 1  r=2R

(1)

Here, r is the average radius of the elbow. sf is ow stress

taken as sf su =2. In this paper
sf 345 517=2 431MPa

Fig. 3. Real stressstrain curve of 20 g steel.

80

75

70

70

R/Do=1.38889

65

R/Do=1.62037

60

R/Do=1.85185

55

t/Do=0.0463

50

t/Do=0.07407

PL (MPa)

PL (MPa)

60

R/Do=0.92593

50
40

t/Do=0.02778

45

t/Do=0.09259

40
35
30

30

25
20

20

15
10
0.02

10
0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.07

0.08

0.09

0.10

0.8

1.0

1.2

t/Do
(a)

PL -t/Do

1.4

1.6
R/Do

(b)
Fig. 4. Variation of limit pressure with R/Do and t/Do.

PL -R/Do

1.8

2.0

2.2

2.4

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Comparison between FEA results and results from

Eq. (1) is displayed in Table 1. From the table, it can be
seen that the FEA results are very close to the results of
Goodall, with the Goodall results being a little greater than
the FEA results. The maximum error is 6.58%. Thus
the Goodall formula may be used to calculate the limit
pressure of elbows with no LTA.
2.5.2. Results of elbows with LTA
From Table 2, the elbows are classied into 2 groups
according to the location of the maximum strain:
Group 1, the maximum strain is located in the inner wall
of the intrados;
Group 2, the maximum strain is not located in the inner
wall of the intrados.
Elbows L01, L02, L05, L06, L11 and L16 belong to
Group 1. The limit pressures of these are 52.48, 52.42,
52.47, 52.55, 52.36 and 52.27 MPa, respectively. The limit
pressure of the corresponding elbow without defects is
52.62 MPa. Observing that the elbows belong to Group 1,
the LTA is thin and small and the inuence of LTA on the
limit pressure is small. The limit pressure of these elbows
can be calculated using the Goodall formula with a
multiplying factor. The result of Goodall is 55.17 MPa,
so the factor is taken as 52.62/55.17 0.954.
For elbows belonging to Group 2, the inuence of LTA
on the limit pressure is obvious. The revised Goodall
formula is also used. But the revised factor is related to the
LTA. Take the revised Goodall formula as
PL P0
f a; b; c.

(2)

According to the inuence of a, b, c on the limit pressure

and through a number of data tting exercises, f(a, b, c) is
obtained as
f a; b; c 18:483 G 2  7:108 G 1:023;

(3)

Fig. 5. Fitting curve.

3. Experiments
3.1. Manufacture of the specimens
3.1.1. Manufacture of the LTA
Because the specimen is an elbow and the LTA is in the
curve of the elbow, it is difcult to ensure the dimensions
and precision of the defect using a mechanical method. For
satisfactory test results, the LTA is manufactured through
handcraft polishing. The structure of the specimens is
shown in Fig. 6. The dimensions of the 901 elbow in the
specimens are as follows:
(1) 108 mm  5 mm, without defects;
(2) 108 mm  5 mm, g 5.6251, y 451, C 1.25 mm;
(3) 108 mm  8 mm, g 11.251, y 901, C 6 .00 mm.

where
G a0:5 b0:1 c3 .
The tting curve is shown in Fig. 5.
The limit pressure of the elbow which belongs to Group
2 is smaller than that of the corresponding elbow without
defects, thus f a; b; co0:954.
So the limit pressure of an elbow with or without LTA
can be described by the following equations:
PL

sf t 1  r=R

f a; b; c,
r 1  r=2R

(4)

f a; b; c ming; 0:954,

(5)

g 18:483 G2  7:108 G 1:023

(6)

0:5 0:1 3

Ga b c
(for the elbow without defects:
a b c 0, then G 0)
Because the range of LTA in this paper is Go0:21, the
restriction of the above equations is Go0:21.

3.1.2. Welding
A 901 elbow, 2 straight pipes and two at heads are
welded together to make the specimen (Fig. 6).
3.2. Experimental process
The purpose of the experiments is to determine the limit
pressure of the elbows. A 60 MPa pressure pump is used to
provide the pressure with water. Strain gauges are
distributed along the axis in the outer wall of the extrados
and the outer wall along the circumference of the
symmetrical area. When the pressure attains a given value,
the strain is measured. Finally, the loadstrain curve is
drawn, and the limit load is obtained.
3.3. Test results and analysis
The comparison between FEA results and test results is
shown in Table 3.

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08

150
08

50

150

R150

R1

108 8

108 8

A-A
A

108 8

150

150

108 8

1. 90 degree elbow 2. Straight pipe 3. Flat head

(a)

Without defects

1.90 degree elbow 2. Straight pipe 3. Flat head

(b)

With LTA

Fig. 6. Structure of the specimens.

Table 3
Comparison of results between nite element analyses and experiments
No.

Dimensions

Test PT (MPa)

FEA PF (MPa)

Formula (4) P4 (MPa)

Error eF

Error e4

1
2
3

108 mm  5 mm, without defects

108 mm  5 mm, a 0.125, b 0.25, c 0.25
108 mm  8 mm, a 0.25, b 0.50, c 0.75

29.637
28.58
17.67

31.467
31.62
19.52

31.647
31.65
18.76

0.0617
0.1064
0.1046

0.0678
0.1074
0.0617

Postscript: eF PF  PT =PT ; e5 P5  PT =PT .

It is clear from Table 3 that the test results are consistent

with these from the nite element analysis. The FEA is
effective and the formula developed from FEA results is
reasonable.
4. Conclusions
From the nite element analysis and experiments in this
paper, the following conclusions can be drawn:
(1) The FEA results are consistent with those from
experiments, indicating that the modeling method is
correct and it is effective to calculate the limit load of
an elbow under internal pressure using FEA.
(2) The results of FEA show that the limit pressure of
elbows increases with increasing wall thickness and
increasing bend radius. The results are consistent with
the results calculated by the Goodall formula, the
maximum error is 6.58%, which indicates that the limit
pressure of an elbow can be calculated using the
Goodall formula.
(3) According to the FEA results, when the LTA is very
thin or small, the elbow with a LTA collapses in a
standard manner and the intrados of the elbow rst

reaches the limit state. The limit pressure of this elbow

is the same as the corresponding elbow without defects.
(4) By data tting of FEA results, an empirical formula of
the limit load for elbows with local thinned area in the
extrados has been proposed, which is validated by
experiments.
These conclusions can be used for elbows with similar
stressstrain curves (the shape of the plastic stage, although
the stress and strain values need not be the same as those to
the one in the paper), because the formula in the paper
includes the ow stress. Furthermore, work should take
different material properties into consideration to attain
more general conclusions.
References
[1] Guo C. Plastic limit loads for surface defect pipes and bends
under combined loads of tension, bending, torsion and internal
pressure. East China University of Science and Technology;
1999.
[2] Han L-H, LIU Z-D. Limit load analysis for local wallthinning pipeline under internal pressure. Press Ves Technol 1998;
15(4):14.

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[3] Zhang L, Wang Y, Chen J, et al. Evaluation of local thinned
pressurized elbows. Int J Press Ves Pip 2001;78:697703.
[4] Wang Y, Sun L, Fan D-S. Plastic limit load analysis of
elbow with local thinning. J Beijing Univ Chem Technol 2005;
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[5] ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section III, Division 1,
Nuclear power plant components. New York, NY: ASME; 1992.
[6] Goodall IW. Lower bound limit analysis of curved tubes loaded by
combined internal pressure and in-plane bending moment. RD/B/
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