In-Plane Bending of a Short-Radius Curved Pipe Bend

Abstract

The analysis developed in this article is a logical extension, or generalization, of Von Karman’s original theory [1] on curved pipe bends. It can be shown, for long-radius pipe bends which have a negligible shift of the neutral axis, that the solution presented here reduces to that of Von Karman. It is evident from the results of this analysis that the stresses in and flexibility of curved pipe bends are virtually independent of γ(a/ρ) (even for γ approaching unity) and depend almost entirely on the simple Von Karman pipe factor λ(tρ/a2 ). Errors arising from premature truncation of the selected power series for the radial displacement are discussed, and a guide given to the number of terms necessary for a particular problem.