Practical Pipe Understanding and Limits

Abstract

There are aspects of pipe behavior and limits that can be confusing and counter intuitive. These include understanding the conditions under which a pipe will "buckle" and when the stresses in the pipe will reach a point where the pipe material "yields". The combination of forces, pressures, torque and bending moments that are being applied to the pipe may make it difficult to understand how the pipe will responding. The objective of this paper is to clarify some of these issues and demonstrate a simplified calculation tool for field engineers to use when critical decisions need to be made quickly.