Design of a four-point bend test for ultra-low cycle fatigue of pipelines under inelastic bending

This master thesis is situated in the research domain dealing with the ductile failure of pipelines under extreme loading conditions. It is part of an umbrella research aiming to develop innovative experimental and computational methodologies to simulate fracture of steel structural elements under ultralow cycle fatigue. The focus of this study is on steel pipeline applications. The objective of this thesis is to design a large-scale four-point bend test setup to cyclically bend pipes. The feasibility of instrumentation will be evaluated using small scale test specimens. In this paper some ideas, constraints and opportunities for the design are considered, based on a literature review of several test setups for other applications. The design parameters have been calculated to compose the design windows and an initial overview of the possible instrumentation is given.

ISBN:9789490726027

Publication year:2012

Accessibility:Open