The effect of bi-directional loading on fatigue assessment of pressurized piping elbows with local thinned areas

An elastic-plastic finite element study is conducted to determine the effect of bi-directional loading on the fatigue characteristics of pressurized 90degrees piping elbows with local thinned areas. The analysis is conducted on pressurized piping elbows considered previously in the literature, but analyzed only for in-plane loading. Considering also the out-of-plane loading the present analysis seeks to simulate simultaneous horizontal and vertical seismic actions. A validation study is first conducted in which the present results obtained for in-plane loading are compared with previous results. Comparisons are made for deformation patterns, hoop strain histories, and reaction forces. The relative in-plane to out-of-plane load intensities to be adopted for the combined loading case is determined next. Results considering bidirectional loadings are then found for the pressurized piping elbow for a total of 23 cases of local area thinning. Finally conclusions are drawn about the significance of considering the additional out-of-plane loading. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.