Pressure loadings on elbow elements

Elbow elements are often used to model pipelines in which the curvature of the pipe can change significantly while the pipe is subjected to uniform or hydrostatic pressure. Therefore, pressure loadings that include large geometry changes are developed for these elements, as described in this section.

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Pipes and pipebends with deforming cross-sections: elbow elements

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The virtual work contribution of pressure on the lateral surface of the elbow is

δWLp=ApδxndA,

where

p

is the pressure magnitude,

δx

is the variational displacement at a point on the midsurface of the lateral wall of the elbow,

n

is the normal to the lateral wall midsurface, and

A

is the area of space occupied by the lateral surface in the current configuration.

The product of the surface normal and the differential area can be rewritten in terms of material coordinates S0 along the pipe and ϕ around the pipe section:

ndA=1r0xϕ×xS0r0dϕdS0,

where r0 is the initial pipe radius, so that

δWLp=A0p1r0δxxϕ×xS0r0dϕdS0,

where A0 is the area of space occupied by the lateral surface in the reference configuration.

For hydrostatic pressure, the pressure magnitude is a function of position:

p=(z0-xk)p1(z0-z1),

where

p1

is the reference pressure magnitude,

z0

is the zero pressure height,

z1

is the reference height, and

k

is (0,0,1), a unit vector in the vertical direction.

In the elbow elements position on the lateral surface, x, is interpolated as

x=x¯+(r0+ur)r+utt+y3a3,

where

x¯(S0)

is the position of a point on the pipe axis,

ur(ϕ,S0)

is the radial displacement,

ut(ϕ,S0)

is the tangential displacement,

r

is a1cosϕ+a2sinϕ, and

t

is -a1sinϕ+a2cosϕ, with a1(S0) and a2(S0) being the cross-sectional basis vectors.

The first variation of the position can now be expressed as

δx=δx¯+δurr+δutt+δy3a3+δω×[(r0+ur)r+utt+y3a3],

and the derivatives of the position with respect to the parametrization are

xϕ=(urϕ-ut)r+(r0+ur+utϕ)t+y3ϕa3

and

xS0=[dx¯dS0r+urS0+ut(tS0r)+y3(a3S0r)]r+[dx¯dS0t+utS0+(r0+ur)rS0t+y3a3S0t]t+[dx¯dS0a3+y3S0a3+(r0+ur)rS0a3+uttS0a3]a3.

Assuming that (1) terms in (r/S0)t and (t/S0)r can be ignored due to negligible twist in the pipe, (2) terms in y3 and its derivatives can be ignored due to negligible warping in the pipe, (3) a3(dS/dS0)=dx¯/dS0, (4) the stretch dS/dS0 is unity, and (5) ur and ut are small compared to r0, we arrive at the following expression for the integrand of δWLp:

pr0δxxϕ×xS0=pδx¯r0(1+r0rS0a3)[(r0+ur+utϕ)r+(ut-urϕ)t]+pδωr0(1+r0rS0a3)[(r0+ur)(ut-urϕ)a3-ut(r0+ur+utϕ)a3]+pδurr0(1+r0rS0a3)(r0+ur+utϕ)+pδutr0(1+r0rS0a3)(ut-urϕ).

For closed-end loading the virtual work contribution of pressure on the end-caps of the elbow is

δWEp=E0prδyyr×yϕrdϕdr,

where r and ϕ are the material coordinates in a two-dimensional cylindrical coordinate system of points on the end-caps of the elbow element, y represents position on the end-caps, and E0 is the area of space occupied by the end-caps of the elbow element. We assume the following deformation for the end-caps:

y(r,ϕ; S0)=x¯(S0)+rr0[x(ϕ; S0)-x¯(S0)],

where S0 is the parameter that identifies the end-cap being considered. The assumed deformation arises naturally on considering a deformation of the end-caps in which radial rays of the reference end-cap configuration remain straight lines under deformation. It can be shown easily that the assumed deformation of the end-caps is differentiable as long as the deformations of the circumferential curves of the end-caps are differentiable. For the end-cap boundary shapes that arise in applications (primarily ovalized modes), the assumed deformation will be locally invertible so that integration of functions over the deformed surface is not likely to be a problem.

Ignoring the terms due to warping in the expression for position on the lateral surface, the first variation of position on an end-cap is

δy=δx¯+rr0[(δur-utδωa3)r+(δut+(r0+ur)δωa3)t+(utδωr-(r0+ur)δωt)a3],

and the derivatives of y with respect to r and ϕ are

yr=1r0[(r0+ur)r+utt]

and

yϕ=rr0[(urϕ-ut)r+(r0+ur+utϕ)t].

The integrand of the expression for the virtual work of pressure on the end-caps can now be expressed as

prδyyr×yϕ=p{r02+2r0ur+(r0+ur)utϕ-uturϕ}[1r02δx¯n+rr03δω{utr-(r0+ur)t}a3n],

where n is a3 if the center of the end-cap is node 1 of the element and -a3 if the center is node 2 or 3 of the element.

The load stiffness for the pressure loading, which by definition is the first variation of the virtual work of the pressure load, is given by d(δWLp+δWEp). The following expressions are required for its calculation:

d(pr0δxxϕ×xS0)=dpr0δxxϕ×xS0+{pδxxϕ×xS0(1+r0rS0a3)}[(dωS0×r+dω×rS0)a3+rS0dω×a3]
+pr0(1+r0rS0a3)δx¯[(dur+dutϕ)r+(r0+ur+utϕ)dω×r+(dut-durϕ)t+(ut-urϕ)dω×t]+pr0(1+r0rS0a3)δω[{dur(ut-urϕ)+(r0+ur)(dut-durϕ)-dut(r0+ur+utϕ)-ut(dur+dutϕ)}a3+{(r0+ur)(ut-urϕ)-ut(r0+ur+utϕ)}dω×a3]+pr0(1+r0rS0a3)δur(dur+dutϕ)+pr0(1+r0rS0a3)δut(dut-durϕ)

and

d(prδyyr×yϕ)=dprδyyr×yϕ+p[ 2r0dur+durutϕ+(r0+ur)dutϕ-duturϕ-utdurϕ][1r02δx¯n+rr03(a3n)δω{utr-(r0+ur)t}]+p[r02+2r0ur+(r0+ur)utϕ-uturϕ][rr03(a3n)δω{dutr+utdω×r-durt-(r0+ur)dω×t}+1r02δx¯dω×n].

In the above dp is nonzero only in the case of hydrostatic pressure, when it is given in the first case by

dp=-p1(z0-z1)kdx

and in the second case by

dp=-p1(z0-z1)kdy.