Evaluation of limit loads for circumferentially cracked pipes under combined loadings

Since the Fukushima nuclear accident, several researchers are extensively studying the effect of torsion on the piping systems In nuclear power plants. Piping installations in power plants with a circumferential crack can be operated under combined loading conditions such as bending and torsion. ASME Code provides flaw evaluations for fully plastic fractures using limit load criteria for the structural integrity of the cracked pipes. According to the recent version of Code, combined loadings are provided only for the membrane and bending. Even though actual operating conditions have torsion loading, the methodology for evaluating torsion load is not established. This paper provides the results of limit load analyses by using finite element models for circumferentially cracked pipes under pure bending, pure torsion, and combined bending and torsion with tension. Theoretical limit load solutions based on net-section fully plastic criteria are suggested and verified with the results of finite element analyses.