Fatigue Life Prediction for Short Dents in Petroleum Pipelines Available to Purchase

Pipeline dent fatigue behavior has been shown to be strongly dependent upon dent length and external force dent restraint characteristics. Full-scale laboratory tests have shown that short dents that are unrestrained by an external force typically experience fatigue cracking in the dent periphery outside of the dent contact region. A fatigue life prediction method for short dents is presented here. In order to assess method accuracy, predictions are made for cases in which fatigue life has been measured experimentally. The predictions account for both crack initiation life and crack propagation life. Stress concentration values used in the predictions are determined using finite element modelling on a case-by-case basis for comparison purposes. Appropriate crack initiation life estimates, stress intensity factor predictions, and crack propagation models are taken from existing literature. Predicted and measured fatigue lives are compared for the cases studied.