Calculations of plastic collapse load of pressure vessel using FEA

This paper proposes a theoretical method using finite element analysis(FEA) to calculate the plastic collapse loads of pressure vessels under internal pressure,and compares the analytical methods according to three criteria stated in the ASME Boiler Pressure Vessel Code. First,a finite element technique using the arc-length algorithm and the restart analysis is developed to conduct the plastic collapse analysis of vessels,which includes the material and geometry non-linear properties of vessels. Second,as the mechanical properties of vessels are assumed to be elastic-perfectly plastic,the limit load analysis is performed by em-ploying the Newton-Raphson algorithm,while the limit pressure of vessels is obtained by the twice-elastic-slope method and the tangent intersection method respectively to avoid excessive deformation. Finally,the elastic stress analysis under working pressure is conducted and the stress strength of vessels is checked by sorting the stress results. The results are compared with those obtained by experiments and other existing models. This work provides a reference for the selection of the failure criteria and the calculation of the plastic collapse load.

A new numerical method for determining collapse load-carrying capacity of structure made of elasto-plastic material

Determination of collapse load-carrying capacity of elasto-plastic material is very important in designing structure. The problem is commonly solved by elasto-plastic finite element method （FEM）. In order to deal with material nonlinear problem involving strain softening problem effectively, a new numerical method-damped Newton method was proposed. The iterative schemes are discussed in detail for pure equilibrium models. In the equilibrium model, the plasticity criterion and the compatibility of the strains are verified, and the strain increment and plastic factor are treated as independent unknowns. To avoid the stiffness matrix being singularity or condition of matrix being ill, a damping factor a was introduced to adjust the value of plastic consistent parameter automatically during the iterations. According to the algorithm, the nonlinear finite element program was complied and its numerical example was calculated. The numerical results indicate that this method converges very fast for both small load steps and large load steps. Compared with those results obtained by analysis and experiment, the predicted ultimate bearing capacity from the proposed method is identical.

Progressive collapse resisting capacity of reinforced concrete load bearing wall structures

Reinforced concrete(RC) load bearing wall is widely used in high-rise and mid-rise buildings. Due to the number of walls in plan and reduction in lateral force portion, this system is not only stronger against earthquakes, but also more economical. The effect of progressive collapse caused by removal of load bearing elements, in various positions in plan and stories of the RC load bearing wall system was evaluated by nonlinear dynamic and static analyses. For this purpose, three-dimensional model of 10-story structure was selected. The analysis results indicated stability, strength and stiffness of the RC load-bearing wall system against progressive collapse. It was observed that the most critical condition for removal of load bearing walls was the instantaneous removal of the surrounding walls located at the corners of the building where the sections of the load bearing elements were changed. In this case, the maximum vertical displacement was limited to 6.3 mm and the structure failed after applying the load of 10 times the axial load bored by removed elements. Comparison between the results of the nonlinear dynamic and static analyses demonstrated that the "load factor" parameter was a reasonable criterion to evaluate the progressive collapse potential of the structure.

Prediction of Static Strength of Tubular T and X Joints Subjected to Axial Compression

-The formulation of ring analogy method for the prediction of static strength (ductile collapse) of tubular T, X joints under axial compression based on the limit analysis of the ring with some assumptions is presented in this papaer. The regression formula for the effective length of the chord based on test results is established by means of the least square method. The results computed by the present semi-analytic formula are compared with previous results and test data. They are quite close to each other. The accuracy of the present formula depends on the reasonable selection of the effective length of the chord, which requires numerous test data.

Slip-line field solution for ultimate bearing capacity of a pipeline on clayey soils

A slip-line field solution is presented for the ultimate bearing capacity of the pipeline on a purely-cohesive clay soil, taking into account the circular configuration of the pipe, the pipe embedment, and the pipe-soil interfacial cohesion. The derived bearing capacity factors for a smooth rigid pipe limit to those for the conventional rectangular strip footing while the pipe embedment approaches zero. Parametric studies indicate that, the pipe-soil interfacial properties have much influence on the bearing capacity for the pipe foundation on clayedy soils.

Accurate modelling of the crush behaviour of thin tubular columns using material point method

In this paper,we apply the material point method(MPM),also known as a meshfree method,to examine the crush behaviour of thin tubular columns.Unlike the finite element method,randomly-distributed-weak-particle triggers were used to account for the deformation behaviour of collapse modes.Both symmetric and asymmetric modes of deformation and their associated mean collapse loads are determined for an elasto-plastic constitutive law describing the tubular columns.Attention was devoted to the accuracy and the convergence of the MPM simulation,which is determined by the number of the particles and the size of the background cells used in our explicit solver.Furthermore,a novel contact approach was adopted to establish the crush behaviour of the tubular columns.Two aspects of the work were accordingly examined,including three different crush velocities(5,10 and 15 m/s) and varied geometrical features of the tube(t/d and l/d) based on the deformation history.The results of our model,which were compared with existing analytical predictions and experimental findings,identify the critical geometric features of the tubular columns that would dictate the deformation mode as being either progressive collapse or following Euler's buckling mode.