High Cycle Fatigue of Pipelines With Plain Dents: Simulations, Experiments and Assessment

The objective of this work is to propose a methodology for assessing the fatigue life of dented pipelines according to the current high cycle fatigue theory. The proposed methodology employs S-N curves obtained from tensile test material properties and includes an expression to estimate stress concentration factors for spherical dents. Finite element analyses are carried out to determine stress concentration factors for different pipe and dent geometries. Using the numerical results, an expression to estimate stress concentration factors of dented pipelines is developed. Additionally, fatigue tests are conducted with the application of cyclic internal pressure on small-scale dented steel pipe models. Different pressure levels are employed, resulting in failures ranging from around 6000 to more than 10⁶ cycles, enabling the determination of the endurance limit and of the finite life behavior of dented pipes. Furthermore, the Goodman and Gerber criteria to account for the mean stress are evaluated in view of the experimental results. The fatigue test results are used to validate the proposed assessment methodology for the analyzed conditions.