Failure Pressure Estimations for Corroded Pipelines

Abstract

The goal of the present paper is to propose a simple methodology to estimate the failure pressure of thin-walled metallic pipelines with arbitrary localized corrosion damage. This methodology is conceived as a preliminary tool for a quick analysis of the structural integrity of real corroded pipelines. Due to the different possible geometries of the corroded region, the exact analysis of this kind of problem can be very complex (in general using an elasto-plastic finite element simulation). The idea is to obtain an approximate exact analytical solution of the problem for any arbitrary geometry of the corroded region considering elasto-plastic constitutive equations and a factor that accounts for the stress concentration due to the metal loss caused by corrosion. With a simple expression, a reasonable lower limit for the failure pressure can be obtained.