Proceedings of the ASME 2021 40th International
Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering
STRUCTURAL STRENGTH ASSESSMENT OF DENTED STEEL TUBULAR MEMBERS
S. Saad-Eldeen Mahmoud Helal
Port Said University Taif university, Taif, KSA
Port Said, Egypt Mansoura university, Mansoura,
Egypt
ABSTRACT
Tubular members are widely used in oil and gas offshore
production and drilling structures either fixed or mobile units.
Due to complex operational conditions, the tubular members
are subjected to both age and mechanical related damage,
which in turn affect the ability of the structure to withstand the
applied loads. This motivates the importance of investigating
the behavior of tubular members considering the presence of
dentation resulting from collision or falling objects and
consequently assessing the residual strength of the damaged
members accurately. A series of finite element analysis are
performed to study the pre- and post-ultimate strength behavior
of intact and locally dented un-stiffened steel tubular members
subjected to four-point bending. The effects of dent geometrical
parameters; length, width, depth, orientation, and location on
the ultimate load carrying capacity are analyzed. The ratio
between the diameters to the shell thickness is varied, where
combined local and global initial imperfections are considered.
Buckling and post collapse analysis as well as modes of failure
are studied. Parametric diagrams for the ultimate residual
strength as a function of dent geometry and the location of
damage are also presented. Several concluding remarks are
stated which benefit the structural integrity assessment of
tubular steel members.
Keywords: Strength, Assessment, Dent, Tubular
NOMENCLATURE
D Diameter
R Radius
L Total length
  Local imperfection amplitude
  Global imperfection amplitude
d  Local depth
d Global dent depth
k1 Local number of half waves along the length
k2 Number of half waves in the circumferential
direction
OMAE2021
June 21-30, 2021, Virtual, Online
OMAE2021-63897
Elsayed Fathallah
Military Technical College
Cairo, Egypt
k3 Number of half waves of the global
imperfection along length
1. INTRODUCTION
Cylindrical shells are generally used for numerous
applications in marine field as offshore structures. These
members are subjected to different acting loads due to complex
operational conditions. One of the most hazard zones is the
tidal as well as air gap zone, at which the structural members
may be subjected to severe mechanical damage resulting from
i.e. supply vessels collision or dropped objects.
Another important damage scenario is the age related one;
corrosion degradation, which affects both structural capacity
and mechanical properties of the material.
For plated structures, Paik, et al. [1] investigated the
ultimate compressive strength of steel plates with local denting
damage subjected to axial compressive loads, taken into
consideration the dent size changing including the depth and
the diameter furthermore, the plate aspect ratio, the plate
thickness and the dent location. The results illustrated that, the
influence of spherical shape of local denting on the plate
ultimate compressive strength is similar to that of conical shape
of local denting. Furthermore, the results were useful for
determining the damage tolerant design of the steel plated
structures with local denting.
Saad-Eldeen, et al. [2] studied numerically the ultimate
compressive strength of highly damaged steel plates with
different dent shapes and sizes, where a regression formula has
been developed for predicting the strength reduction under
comparative loads and dent damage. Jin, et al. [3] conducting
an experimental procedure on a cylindrical shell subjected to
both bending moment and axial compression. The ultimate load
and local buckling modes of the tubes were investigated.
Furthermore, Kyriakides and Bardi [4, 5] performed a series of
researches on the buckling behavior of circular tubes due to
axial compression. Ezzati et al [6] analyzed the progressive
inelastic deformation of high strength steel pressurized pipes
1 © 2021 by ASME
with plain and gouged dents. The results demonstrated that, the k 1 z  x  k2 
presence of the dent made the pressurized pipes vulnerable to local   sin cos  a cos  * 
ratcheting failure. Additionally, the existence of the shallow L  R  2 
dent reduced the number of load cycles to failure in the
(1)
pressurized tube. k 3 z
Naghipour et al [7] performed using both experimental and Global  1 sin
Finite Element Analyses (FEA), the structural behavior of high- L
strength pressurized pipes subjected to indentation with local where z  [0, L] and x  [-R, R], for the analyzed tubular
wall thinning on the pipe body under internal pressure. The member, the imperfection parameters k1, k2 and k3 are as
results illustrated that, FEA can be used to estimate the follow 20 mm, 50 mm, 15, 8 and 1, respectively as presented in
variations of the failure depth due to several internal pressures FIGURE 1. Due to severe operational conditions; collision with
and gouge sizes. services tugs may occur, where several dents along the length
Loh [8] calculated the residual strength of the dented as well as around the circumference of the tubular member may
tubular members. Ghazijahani and Holloway [9], investigated exist. For the current study, the dent shape follows the shape of
the ultimate load carrying capacity of dented structures. From the initial imperfection given in Eq. (1) with dl of 20 mm and
the results, the dent was mostly recovered under a bending d of 50 mm, 100 mm and 150 mm, respectively.
moment according to the shape of the dent when the dent
located in the tension side; conversely, the load carrying Loading
condition
capacity was reduced due to the dented area. Prabu et al [10]
conducted a FEA on a short thin cylindrical shell with dent of
different sizes and different angles of inclination. From the
results, the reduction in the buckling strength of the thin
cylindrical shell with a dent of same size and orientation L1 L1 L1 L1 L1 D

increases with increase in shell thickness.

Raviprakash and Venkatraman [11] studied the neighbor-
hood effect of two circumferential short dents on the buckling
behavior of a thin short stainless steel cylindrical shell. The
results illustrated that; the effect of two short dents and its
nearness effect were negligible compared with the effect of
single dent for reducing the buckling strength of cylindrical
shell.
The current study is a continuation of the work done by
Saad-Eldeen, et al. [12], for which the behavior of the
cylindrical member was studied considering the variation of
half-wave numbers around the circumference as well as along
the length of the cylindrical member, for different thicknesses.
The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of dent
damage; depth and location, on the residual strength of a multi-
bay tubular member.

2. MODEL DESCRIPTION

2.1 Structural Configurations

A tubular member which is a part of an offshore jacket
structure will be analyzed under four-point bending loading
condition. The tubular member is a multi-bay structural element
with five bays; the length of each bay is 1000 mm, the wall-
thickness is 5 mm, with D/t of 200, as shown in FIGURE 4.
The member is fabricated using mild steel with yield strength
and modulus of elasticity of 235 MPa and 206 GPa,
respectively. The load is acting at the two central stiffening
brackets as shown in FIGURE 4. The tubular member is an
imperfect structural element with local and global
imperfections in longitudinal direction and around the
circumference, following the defined expression in Eq. (1). FIGURE 1: GEOMETRICAL CONFIGURATIONS AND
IMPERFECTION SHAPES

2 © 2021 by ASME
2.2 Finite Element Simulation symmetric dent where two adjacent central bays are subjected
The multi-bay tubular structural member was modeled in to dent damage with varied dent depth, see FIGURE 2.
both intact and damaged condition using commercial code
ANSYS [13]. The circumference of the tubular member was TABLE 1 ANALYZED FE CASES
divided into eight equal sections, each one equals D/8, as may Dent damage
be seen in FIGURE 2 to facilitate the modeling of dent damage.
Location Depth (d), mm
The whole model was generated using shell element;
1st 50, 100,150
SHELL181, with elastic-fully plastic material response. Based Group1, Asymmetric
2nd 50, 100,150
on the previous study done by [12], the best element size for the dent
3rd 50, 100,150
current analysis is 50 mm with mesh density of 10,756
1 &4th
st
50, 100,150
elements. The boundary conditions at both ends are simply Group2, Symmetric
2nd&5th 50, 100,150
supported as shown in FIGURE 3 (left), where the applied load dent
3rd&6th 50, 100,150
is modeled as point load acting exactly at the frontiers of the
mid-bay, producing sagging bending moment. The initial
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
imperfections (local and global) as well as around the
The results of the analyzed cases with and without dent
circumference presented in FIGURE 1 were modeled by
damage are presented as moment-curvature relationship and
adopting the nodes location, without considering any residual
post deformed shapes at ultimate bending moment.
stresses due to fabrication.
3.1 Group1, Asymmetric Dent
For the first bay, with length and breadth of L/5 and D/8,
with different dent depths, the moment-curvature relationship is
presented in FIGURE 4. As presented in FIGURE 4, the global
response of the intact tubular member follows the gentle trend,
with soft collapse rate after reaching its maximum bending
capacity of 3.92x108 N.mm at 8.5x10-6 1/m. As may be seen the
three curves which represent the three different depths 50 mm,
100 mm and 150 mm follow the same trend of the intact tubular
member in all regimes; buckling, post-buckling and post-
collapse. This indicates that the dent for this condition does not
affect the global behavior of the tubular member.
With the presence of dent damage with depth of 50 mm,
the tubular member loses 1.54% of its intact bending capacity,
where the developed curvature increases by 8.46%. By
increasing the dent depth to 100 mm and 150 mm, the ultimate
FIGURE 2: TUBULAR MEMBER DIVITION INTO BAYS bending capacity of the tubular member decreases by 2.13%
and 3.92%, respectively.

FIGURE 3: FE MODEL, LOADING AND BOUNDARY

CONDITIONS (LEFT) AND DENT MODELING (RIGHT)

For the dented tubular member, the dent shape is defined

as shown in FIGURE 3 (right). For the current analysis, both
dent damage location and depth are varied as tabulated in
TABLE 1. The first group concerns the 1st, 2nd and 3rd bay as
shown in FIGURE 2, with varied dent depth 50mm, 100mm
and 150 mm, respectively. The second group represents a
FIGURE 4: MOMENT-CURVATURE RELATIONSHIP, 1st BAY
(DIFFERENT DEPTHS)

3 © 2021 by ASME
1 1
NODAL SOLUTION
STEP=1
SUB =24
DEC 31 2020
19:38:32
NODAL SOLUTION
STEP=1
SUB =24
JAN 3 2021
23:39:55
12.85% and 14.26%, respectively for 50mm, 100mm and 150
TIME=.952922 TIME=.953172
SEQV (AVG)
DMX =20.1529
SMN =1.87518
SMX =234.761
Z
Y

X
SEQV (AVG)
DMX =20.1325
SMN =1.81949
SMX =234.729
Y mm dent depth.
Z X

MX MX

MN MN

1.87518 53.6275 105.38 157.132 208.885 1.81949 53.5771 105.335 157.092 208.85
27.7514 79.5037 131.256 183.008 234.761 27.6983 79.4559 131.213 182.971 234.729
Stiffened Tubular Member, Intact Stiffened Tubular Member, Dent at 1st bay (wd=150mm)

1
NODAL SOLUTION
JAN 7 2021
STEP=1 21:09:06
SUB =24
TIME=.953172
SEQV (AVG)
DMX =8.3152
MX
SMN =2.77745
SMX =173.067

Z
Y
X

MN

2.77745 40.6195 78.4616 116.304 154.146

21.6985 59.5406 97.3827 135.225 173.067
Stiffened Tubular Member, Dent at 1st bay (wd=150mm)

FIGURE 5: VON MISES STRESS DISTRIBUTION, 1st BAY

AND DEPTH 150mm

This indicates that for the first bay, as the dent depth FIGURE 6: MOMENT-CURVATURE RELATIONSHIP, 2nd
increases, the ultimate bending capacity decreases nonlinearly. BAY (DIFFERENT DEPTHS)
Regarding the curvature, it may be noticed that the registered 1
NODAL SOLUTION
JAN 7 2021
1
NODAL SOLUTION
JAN 7 2021
STEP=1 STEP=1

curvature for 100mm and 150mm dent depths are 0.63% and SUB =23
TIME=.955321
SEQV (AVG)
22:07:34
SUB =24
TIME=.988079
SEQV (AVG)
22:12:12

DMX =13.9274 DMX =14.533

0.68%. SMN =5.70035

SMX =234.294
SMN =5.80917
SMX =234.723
MX

The von mises stress distribution along the tubular MX

member for the intact and the deepest dent damage of 150 mm
is shown in FIGURE 5. As may be seen, for the intact tubular MN

member FIGURE 5 (up, left), the mid-bay and the adjacent MN

bays are highly stressed, where the frontier bays are of less 5.70035 56.499 107.298 158.096 208.895
ZY

X
5.80917 56.6789 107.549 158.418 209.288

stresses. With the presence of deep dent, 150mm, the stress 31.0997 81.8983
Stiffened Tubular Member, Dent at 2nd bay (wd=100mm)
132.697 183.496 234.294 31.244 82.1137
Stiffened Tubular Member, Dent at 2nd bay (wd=150mm)
132.983 183.853 234.723

distribution is the same as of the intact one especially for the FIGURE 7: VON MISES STRESS DISTRIBUTION FOR DENT
mid-bay, FIGURE 5 (up, right). For the frontier bay at which DEPTH 100mm AND 150mm, 2nd BAY
the dent damage is located, the distribution is different from the
intact one, where several locations are of high stresses at the For the higher dent depth of 100mm and 150mm, the
border of the dent FIGURE 5 (down) distribution of the von mises stresses is presented shown in
For the second bay, the resultant moment-curvature FIGURE 7. As may be seen, the distribution is different at the
relationship is shown in FIGURE 6, for different dent depths. dent border for the two depths, with higher stress near the
From the ultimate bending capacity point of view, the reduction middle of the left border for 150mm dent depth, but both depths
is higher than the one registered for the first bay, with reduction coincide with higher stress concentration near adjacent mid-
of 2.25%, 5.43% and 9.80% for dent depth of 50mm, 100mm, bay.
and 150mm, respectively with respect to the intact one. It may In case the dent damage is located at the 3rd bay, the
be noticed that at the post-buckling regime, as the dent depth relationship between the moment and the resultant curvature is
increases the trend on the curve deviated from the intact one given in FIGURE 8. As may be seen, the three curves follow
which reflect the less flexural rigidity due to dent presence. the same response in the pre-buckling and buckling regimes,
At the post-collapse regime, it is visible that the collapse and start to deviate in the post-buckling and post collapse
rate is steeper than the intact one as well as the plotted ones for regime. Considering the obtained ultimate bending capacity
the first bay, which means that the rate of the capacity with respect to the intact tubular member, it is evident that both
discharge is less as the dent is closer to the mi-bay. This dent depths 100mm and 150mm, show less capacity, with
indicates that as the dent is closer to the mid-bay, its effect on reduction of 3.29% and 7.48%, respectively. But for dent depth
reducing the ultimate bending capacity of the tubular member 50mm, the tubular member registered higher bending capacity
increases. than the intact one with about 1.00% with sudden collapse. This
For the relevant curvature at the ultimate bending, it is is due to the developed upward final deformed shape, which is
evident from that FIGURE 6, the developed curvature for in opposite direction to the initial downward shape of the dent
50mm dent depth is higher than that of the intact one and damage, which means additional resistance of the tubular
increases as the dent depth increases nonlinearly by 10.03%,

4 © 2021 by ASME
member to overcome the change of the shape, as may be seen TABLE 2 FE RESULTS FOR ASYMMETRIC DENT DAMAGE
FIGURE 9. Ultimate bending, Corresponding curvature,
It is visible form FIGURE 8 that the global behavior of MN.mm (1/mm)*10-6
the dented structure in the post collapse regime is softer than Intact 392 8.54
the intact one, with higher capacity discharge than the intact 1st 386 384 377 9.26 8.59 8.60
one especially for higher dent depths. Comparing the developed 2nd 383 371 354 9.40 9.64 9.76
curvature with respect to the intact one, the tubular member 3rd 396 379 363 8.10 8.55 8.35
with 50mm, dent depth shows the less curvature, with reduction
of 5.13% as may be seen in FIGURE 8. 3.2 Group2, Symmetric Dent
The developed von mises stress for the three dent depth is The results presented here belong to the deepest dent
presented in FIGURE 9, it is noticeable that the stress damage of 150mm, where the rest of the results are given in
distribution for the three depth is different within and around TABLE 3. The moment-curvature relationship for two adjacent
the dent location, with high stressed locations in the central part central bays distributed along the tubular member length
of the dent for dent depth 100mm and near the dent borders for 1st&4th, 2nd&5th and 3rd&6th is presented in FIGURE 10. As may
dent depth 50mm, which confirms the higher capacity of the be seen, from the beginning all curves deviate from the intact
member with dent depth 50mm. one with higher rate than any case for the symmetric dent,
which mean that as the dent width increases and becomes
symmetric with respect to the coordinates and near the mid-
length, its effect on reducing the flexural rigidity of the tubular
member increases.
From ultimate bending capacity point of view, as the dent
depth increases from 50mm to 10 mm, the bending capacity
decreases nonlinear with 0.63%, 6.10% and 13.1%,
respectively. As may be seen from FIGURE 10 and TABLE 3,
as the dent depth increases, the related curvature at the ultimate
bending increases nonlinearly by 72.20%, 76.60% and
104.23%, respectively.

FIGURE 8: MOMENT-CURVATURE RELATIONSHIP, 3rd

BAY (DIFFERENT DEPTHS)
1 1
NODAL SOLUTION NODAL SOLUTION
JAN 7 2021 JAN 7 2021
STEP=1 22:47:36 STEP=1 22:37:52
SUB =22 SUB =22
TIME=.972462 TIME=.940927
SEQV (AVG) SEQV (AVG)
DMX =17.1925 DMX =20.5852
SMN =3.88601 SMN =4.91228
SMX =235 SMX =235
MN
MX
MX

MN

FIGURE 10: MOMENT-CURVATURE RELATIONSHIP FOR

3.88601
29.5653
55.2447
80.924
106.603

Stiffened Tubular Member, Dent at 3rd bay (wd=50mm)

132.283
157.962
183.641
209.321
235
4.91228
30.4776
56.0429
81.6082
Stiffened Tubular Member, Dent at 3rd bay (wd=100mm)
107.173
132.739
158.304
183.869
209.435
235 DENT DEPTH 150 mm
1

The resultant von mises stress distribution for bay 3rd &6th
NODAL SOLUTION
JAN 7 2021
STEP=1 22:30:19
SUB =20
TIME=.876394
SEQV (AVG)
DMX =18.9722
SMN =5.10653
SMX =235
with dent depth 150mm, is plotted in FIGURE 11. Comparing
MX
the stress distribution with respect to the intact one shown in
FIGURE 5 (up, left), it visible that the collapse mode in the
MN mid-bay is different, with downward shape for the symmetric
dent and highly stressed location around the dent borders and
formation of plastic hinges at the adjacent bay with respect to
5.10653 56.194 107.281 158.369 209.456
30.6503 81.7377
Stiffened Tubular Member, Dent at 3rd bay (wd=150mm)
132.825 183.913 235
the circumference. FIGURE 12 show a relationship between the
reduction of the ultimate bending moment as a function of dent
FIGURE 9: VON MISES STRESS DISTRIBUTION FOR depth, for symmetric and asymmetric dent at mid-length, as
THREE DENT DEPTHS, 2nd BAY

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may be seen, both relations may be fitted to nonlinear functions relations may be generalized for real structures using
and the deviation increases as the dent depth increases. dimensional theory, and will be considered for future work in
addition to other damage scenarios.
TABLE 3 FE RESULTS FOR SYMMETRIC DENT DAMAGE
Ultimate bending, Corresponding curvature,
MN.mm (1/mm)*10-6
REFERENCES
st th
1 &4 392 393 393 8.61 8.63 8.69
2nd&5th 389 392 393 9.17 9.30 9.98 [1] Paik, J. K., Lee, J. M. and Lee, D. H., 2003, Ultimate
3rd&6th 390 368 340 1.47 1.51 1.74 Strength of Dented Steel Plates Under Axial Compressive
Loads, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, 45, pp.
1
NODAL SOLUTION
433-448.
JAN 5 2021
STEP=1
SUB =41
12:38:41 [2] Saad-Eldeen, S., Garbatov, Y. and Guedes Soares, C., 2016,
TIME=.781958
SEQV (AVG)
DMX =48.3659 Y
Ultimate strength analysis of highly damaged plates, Marine
SMN =1.28014
SMX =235
Z X Structures, 45, pp. 63-85.
MX
[3] Jin, S., Cheng, P., Saneian, M. and Bai, Y., 2020,
Mechanical behavior of thin tubes under combined axial
compression and bending, Thin-Walled Structures, p. 107255.
MN
[4] Bardi, F. C. and Kyriakides, S., 2006, Plastic buckling of
circular tubes under axial compression—part I: Experiments,
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, 48, (8), pp. 830-
841.
1.28014
27.249
53.2179
79.1868
105.156
131.125
157.093
183.062
209.031
235
[5] Bardi, F. C., Kyriakides, S. and Yun, H. D., 2006, Plastic
Stiffened Tubular Member, Dent at 3rd&6th bay (wd=150mm) buckling of circular tubes under axial compression—part II:
Analysis, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, 48,
FIGURE 11: VON MISES STRESS DISTRIBUTION FOR DENT (8), pp. 842-854.
DEPTHS 150mm, 3rd&6th BAY [6] Ezzati, M., Naghipour, M., Zeinoddini, M., Zandi, A. P. and
Elyasi, M., 2020, Strain ratcheting failure of dented steel
submarine pipes under combined internal pressure and
asymmetric inelastic cycling, Ocean Engineering, p. 108336.
[7] Naghipour, M., Ezzati, M. and Elyasi, M., 2018, Analysis of
high-strength pressurized pipes (API-5L-X80) with local gouge
and dent defect, Applied Ocean Research, 78, pp. 33-49.
[8] Loh, J. T., 1993, Ultimate Strength of Dented Tubular Steel
Members, The Third International Offshore and Polar
Engineering Conference, Singapore, International Society of
Offshore and Polar Engineers, p. 12.
[9] Ghazijahani, T. G., Jiao, H. and Holloway, D., 2015,
Experiments on Dented Steel Tubes under Bending, Advances
in Structural Engineering, 18, (11), pp. 1807-1817.
[10] Prabu, B., Raviprakash, A. V. and Venkatraman, A., 2010,
Parametric study on buckling behaviour of dented short carbon
FIGURE 12: REDUCTION OF ULTIMATE BENDING steel cylindrical shell subjected to uniform axial compression,
MOMENT AS A FUNCTION OF DENT DEPTH, FOR
SYMMETRIC AND ASYMMETRIC DENT AT MID-LENGTH
Thin-Walled Structures, 48, (8), pp. 639-649.
[11] Prabu, B., Raviprakash, A. V. and Venkatraman, A., 2012,
4. CONCLUSION Neighbourhood effect of two short dents on buckling behaviour
A series of finite element analyses have been performed of short thin stainless steel cylindrical shells, Int. J. Comput.
for intact and dented tubular member, varying dent damage Aided Eng. Technol., 4, pp. 143-164.
location and depth. It may be concluded that as the dent is [12] Saad-Eldeen, S., Garbatov, Y. and Soares, C. G. Ultimate
closer to the mid-length and symmetric with respect to the bending capacity of multi-bay tubular reinforced structures. In:
coordinates its effect on reducing the flexural rigidity as well as Maritime Transportation and Harvesting of Sea Resources, Vol.
the ultimate bending capacity increases as the dent depth 1. G. Soares and Teixeira, editors. London: Taylor & Francis
increases. A relationship between the reduction of the ultimate Group, 2018, pp. 671-678.
bending moment as a function of dent depth, for symmetric and [13] ANSYS, 2009, Advanced Analysis Techniques Guide,
asymmetric dent at mid-length, has been plotted, showing that Southpointe, 275 Technology Drive,Canonsburg, PA 15317:
both relations may be fitted to nonlinear functions and the Ansys, Inc.
deviation increases as the dent depth increases. The developed

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