Experimental Study on the Plastic Collapse Load of Elbows Subjected to In-Plane Opening Bending Moment

Pipe elbows are the most critical components in any piping system. However, the earlier experiments on cracked elbows were focused mainly on the determination of limit load of through wall cracked elbow. The experimental results of plastic collapse load of seven carbon steel 900 elbows, subjected to in-plane opening bending moment, are reported in this work. Among the selected specimens, three were defect-free elbows and six had axial surface cracks at the intrados, crown or at extrados. Test arrangement and the collapse behavior with and without cracks were presented. The plastic collapse loads were then obtained on the basis of experimental results. Reasonably good matching between test results and existing estimation formulae has been observed.