Numerical Study of Defect Free Elbows Subjected to In-Plane Bending Moment

Elbow is a type of components widely used in a piping system, and so it is very important to know the plastic carrying capacity of elbow. In this study, the elastic-plastic behavior of elbows with various ratios of t/rm and relative bending radius R/rm were investigated in detail by using of three-dimensional (3D) non-linear finite element (FE) analyses, assuming elastic-perfectly-plastic material behaviour and taking geometric nonlinearity into account. The analyses indicated that elbow exhibited different behavior obviously at the elastic-plastic states subjected to In-Plane opening bending moment and closing bending moment. The closed form equations of elbow involving effect of tangent pipes were established.