Failure Behavior of Carbon Steel Pipe Having Local Wall Thinning Near Tee Joint

Monotonic four-point bending tests were conducted using tee pipe specimens having local wall thinning. The effects of local wall thinning on the failure behaviors of tee pipes were investigated. Local wall thinning was machined on the inside of pipes in order to simulate erosion/corrosion metal loss. The configurations of the eroded area were l = 100 mm in eroded axial length, d/t = 0.5 and 0.8 in eroded ratio, and 2θ = 90° and 180° in eroded angle. The area undergoing local wall thinning was subjected to tensile stress. It was found that fracture type could be classified into ovalization or crack initiation, depending on eroded ratio. Three-dimensional elasto-plastic analyses were also carried out using finite element method to discuss the effects of position and geometries of wall thinning in both tee pipes and straight pipes.