Study on Plastic Limit Load of Extruded Piping Tee under Internal Pressure

The experimental results of plastic limit load of 14 pieces of homemade extruded piping tee, under the internal pressure, were presented in this work. Among of them, two pieces of tee are made of stainless steel and the others are made of carbon steel, and eight pieces of tee are defect free while the other six pieces of tee with cracks located at the flank or crotch corner. The variable behaviour of structural dimension for different extruded piping tees with identical standard-size was investigated firstly, and then the procedure and feature of plastic failure of piping tees with and without cracks were analyzed systemically. The relationship of plastic limit load with structural dimension and crack size were then summarized on the basis of experimental results. The existing estimation formulae concerning on the plastic limit load of piping tees were also evaluated by using the experimental results.