International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 139-140 (2016) 69e76

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpvp

Study on ratcheting effect of pressurized straight pipe with local wall

thinning using finite element analysis
Xiaohui Chen a, b, Xu Chen b, *
a
School of Control Engineering, Northeastern University, Qinhuangdao, 066004, China
b
School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, 300072, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Ratcheting deformation is studied on straight pipe made of Z2CND18.12 N stainless steel with local wall
Available online 11 March 2016 thinning subjected to constant internal pressure and reversed bending using finite element analysis. The
local wall thinning is located at the center of straight pipe, whose geometry is rectangular cross-section.
Keywords: The effect of depth, axial length and circumferential length on the ratcheting behavior of straight pipe is
Straight pipe studied in this paper. Three-dimensional elastic-plastic analyses with ANSYS employed CheneJiaoeKim
Ratcheting effect
(CJK) kinematic hardening model is carried out to evaluate structural ratcheting behaviors. Results
Local wall thinning
indicate that ratcheting strain is along the center of straight pipe extending to the two ends. The
Constitutive model
FEA
ratcheting strain occurs mainly at hoop direction. Axial ratcheting strain is relatively small. The effects of
the depth, axial length and circumferential length of local wall thinning on the ratcheting response are
discussed by CJK model.
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Carbon steel pipes are commonly used in the piping systems of
power plants and chemical industries. Erosion corrosion can cause
wall thinning due to high-temperature and high-pressure water
and steam flowing at high velocities through these pipes. The
piping fittings employed in nuclear power plants and chemical
industries play a vital role in safe operation. If the pipelines sub-
jected to internal pressure and cyclic loading, they may face pro-
gressive deformation, so-called ratcheting. The ratcheting effect
has been considered in several standards, such as ASME [1], KTA [2]
and RCC-MR [3]. The aforementioned ratcheting behaviors of
straight and elbow pipes have already been extensively studied in
the literature [4e7]. A number of investigators discussed experi-
mental and numerical studies on ratcheting, induced by reversed
bending, of pressurized straight pipes and elbows made of carbon
and stainless steels.
Chen et al. [8] presented an overview of recent progresses in
experimental investigation and finite element analysis (FEA) of
ratcheting behavior of pressurized piping. Based on experimental
and FEA research, ratcheting boundaries have been determined
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: xchen@tju.edu.cn (X. Chen).
with the final aim of aiding the safety design and assessment of
engineering piping structures. The ratcheting behavior of pipelines
with wall thinning has also received considerable previous atten-
tion in the literature. Miyazaki et al. [9] examined carbon steel
pipes with local wall thinning under cyclic pure bending loads to
evaluate their low cycle fatigue life. In load controlled tests on these
pipes, ratcheting deformation was observed, and the fatigue life of
pipes with local wall thinning became lower than that of cracked
pipes. The effect of bi-directional loading on the fatigue charac-
teristics of pressurized 90
piping elbows with local wall thinning
was investigated by Balan and Redekop [10]. The results provided
extensive new information about the fatigue behavior of piping
elbow subject to seismic action. Zeinoddini and Peykanu [11]
studied the strain ratcheting of steel tubes with a rectangular
defect under axial cycling. It was shown that the surface imper-
fections had a very significant effect on the ratcheting response of
the defected tubes. The effects of some factors such as the stress
amplitude, wall thinning and the material hardening properties on
the ratcheting response of steel tubes were also investigated. Shi
et al. [12] studied ratcheting deformation in elbow pipe made of
Z2CND18.12 N stainless steel with local wall thinning subjected to
constant internal pressure and reversed in-plane bending under
load control. Three-dimensional elastic-plastic analyses using
ANSYS incorporated with Chaboche [13,14] and Chen-Jiao-Kim
(CJK) [15] kinematic hardening models were carried out to

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpvp.2016.03.005
0308-0161/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
70 X. Chen, X. Chen / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 139-140 (2016) 69e76

evaluate structural ratcheting behaviors. (2) Strain decomposition

In the present paper, ratcheting behavior of pressurized straight
pipe of Z2CND18.12 N austenitic stainless steel with local wall dε ¼ dεe þ dεp (2)
thinning subjected to studies reversed bending was studied. The
local wall thinning areas are located at outside surface of the center
1þn n
of straight pipe. Ratcheting simulation is performed by elastic- dεe ¼ ds  trðdsÞI (3)
E E
plastic finite element analyses with ANSYS in which modified
Ohno-Wang model (CJK model) are applied. The effect of geometric
dimension such as depth, axial length and circumferential angle of (3) Flow rule
local inside and outside wall thinning on the ratcheting behavior of
straight pipe was indicated respectively.  
1 vf vf
dεp ¼ : ds (4)
H vs vs

2. Kinematic hardening rule rffiffiffi

p 3 vf
dε ¼ dp½M1  (5)
Constitutive model defines the material stress-strain relation- 2 vs
ship in finite element analysis. The rate independent plasticity
models considered in this study has the following common where s is the stress tensor, εe the elastic strain tensor, εp the plastic
features: strain tensor, s the deviatoric stress tensor, a the current center of
the yield surface in total stress space, sy the size of the yield surface,
(1) von-Mises yield criterion (yield surface) n the poisson's ratio, E the elastic modulus and H is the plastic
modulus.

1=2
3
f ¼ ðs  aÞ : ðs  aÞ  sy ¼ 0 (1) (4) With the von-Mises yield criterion, the most important
2
feature of a plasticity model in simulating ratcheting

Fig. 1. (a) Uniaxial tension; (b) Uniaxial cyclic hysteresis loop; (c) Uniaxial ratcheting strain; (d) Ratcheting strain considering multiaxial parameter.
 X. Chen, X. Chen / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 139-140 (2016) 69e76 71

Fig. 2. Sketch of quasi-three point bending apparatus and strain gauge positions [16].

Fig. 3. Schematic illustrations of straight pipe with local wall thinning at position 1: (a) inside surface; (b) outside surface.

responses is the kinematic hardening rule, which determines on ratcheting strain.

the back stress increment:
2.2. Determination of material parameters
da ¼ f ðs; εp ; a; ds; dεp ; //Þ (6)
A kinematic hardening rule dictates the translation of the yield The parameters for the modified Ohno-Wang model [15] were
surface during plastic loading and thereby influencing non-linear determined from uniaxial hysteresis loop, uniaxial and ratcheting
stress-strain and ratcheting responses. experiments of straight pipe of Z2CND18.12 N austenitic stainless
steel. These parameters were sy ¼ 100MPa, M ¼ 6,
2.1. Modified Ohno-Wang model C1 ¼ 4,00,000MPa, g1 ¼ 8000, C2 ¼ 42,000MPa, g2 ¼ 4000,
C3 ¼ 1,24,000MPa, g3 ¼ 2000, C4 ¼ 10,000MPa, g4 ¼ 500,
Chen et al. [15] proposed a modified Ohno-Wang model for C5 ¼ 4200MPa, g5 ¼ 150, C6 ¼ 2200MPa, g6 ¼ 20, mi ¼ 4.5.
multiaxial ratcheting simulation, which states as follows: Note that only six decomposed rules were used for simulating
the material responses. The material simulations with the deter-
X
M mined parameters are shown in Fig. 1. The multiaxial parameter
da ¼ dai (7) was determined by pipe experiments (as shown in Fig. 1(d)).
i¼1

" * +ci !mi * +# 3. Structural simulation

2 0 ai ai ai
dai ¼ gi ri dεp  n : ai dεp : (8)
3 ai ri ai 3.1. Geometric model
0 p
where ci is a multiaxial parameter, n ¼ dε dp
¼ 2s3 y ðs  aÞ, the value of Ratcheting behavior of sound pressurized straight pipe sub-
hn : aaii i is less than one in non-proportional loading and hn : aaii ici is
0 0
jected to reversed in-plane bending under force controlled was
expected to take into account the non-proportional loading effects studied in the reference [16]. Based on sketch of quasi-three point
72 X. Chen, X. Chen / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 139-140 (2016) 69e76

Fig. 4. Typical finite element meshes: (a) Finite element model at outside surface; (b) Meshing at outside surface; (c) Finite element model at outside surface; (d) Meshing at inside
surface.

Fig. 5. Equivalent plastic strain contour: (a) Equivalent stress contour; (b) Equivalent plastic strain contour.

bending apparatus the reference [16], as shown in Fig. 2, ratcheting
deformation of pressurized straight pipe with local wall thinning
subjected to reversed in-plane bending under force controlled was
studied in the paper. Local wall thinning occurred at inside and
outside wall of position 1. According to the symmetry of structure
and loading conditions, ratcheting strain at position 1, 2, 3 and 4 in
2 was mainly studied in the following.
3.2. Finite element model
Fig. 3 showed the schematic diagram of geometric dimension of
straight pipe with local wall thinning. According to Figs. 3 and 1,
finite element model was constructed. Finite element model and
mesh of straight pipe with inside and outside local wall thinning at
position 1 was respectively indicted in Fig. 4. Element type Solid45
in ANSYS and sweep mesh was used. A quarter of the structure is
included due to symmetry of the straight pipe and loading condi-
tions. In addition to the symmetric displacement constraints,
displacement in the y-direction is applied to the central point of the
end plate. Internal pressure is applied to the inside surface of the
pipe and end plate. Reversed bending load or cyclic vertical
displacement in the y-direction is distributed to nodes at the
 X. Chen, X. Chen / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 139-140 (2016) 69e76 73

Fig. 6. The change of axial and hoop strain: (a) Time and ratcheting strain; (b) Axial and hoop strain.

Fig. 7. The evaluation of axial and hoop strain: (a) Hoop ratcheting strain; (b) Axial ratcheting strain.

Table 1
Numerical matrix for the straight pipe with local wall thinning.

No. Depth dt (mm) Axial length tl (mm) Circumferential length a (
) Positions

1 0.5 10 10 inside/outside wall

2 1 10 10 inside/outside wall
3 2 10 10 inside/outside wall
4 1 10 10 inside/outside wall
5 1 20 10 inside/outside wall
6 1 40 10 inside/outside wall
7 1 10 10 inside/outside wall
8 1 10 20 inside/outside wall
9 1 10 40 inside/outside wall

position corresponding to the central line of the clip board of the
upper loading beam.
3.3. Results and discussions
Fig. 5 showed equivalent stress and equivalent plastic strain
contour in the fiftieth cycles of straight pipe subjected to 20 MPa
internal pressure and 30 kN bending loading. The dimensions of
local inside wall thinning at position 1 was 1 mm depth, 10 mm
axial length and 20
circumferential angle. Local wall thinning,
which resulted in stress concentration and accumulation plastic
strain, brought about the structural discontinuity. Stress concen-
tration occurred at position A, as shown in Fig. 5(a). The maximum
equivalent plastic strain occurred at position 1 (Fig. 5(b)). Ratch-
eting strain extended from the center to two ends of straight pipe.
Fig. 6(a) indicated that time-axial and circumferential strain
74 X. Chen, X. Chen / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 139-140 (2016) 69e76
Fig. 8. Hoop ratcheting strain with different local wall thinning depths and positions at
position 1.
Fig. 9. Hoop ratcheting strain with different local wall thinning axial length and po-
sition at position 1.
curve. The relationship of axial and circumferential strain was given
in Fig. 6(b). Fig. 7 showed the evolution rule of axial and circum-
ferential ratcheting strain at position 1, 2, 3 and 4. The maximum
ratcheting strain occurred at the circumferential direction of posi-
tion 1. Axial ratcheting strain was relatively smaller. The order of
ratcheting strain was respectively at position 1, 2, 3, 4, which
showed that ratcheting strain extended from the center to two ends
of straight pipe.
Fig. 10. Hoop ratcheting strain with different local wall thinning circumferential angles
and positions at position 1.
3.3.1. The effect of geometric dimension and position on the
ratcheting behavior of straight pipe
The effect of depth, axial length and circumferential angle of
local wall thinning on the ratcheting behavior of straight pipe was
studied in the paper. The geometric dimension of local wall thin-
ning was listed in Table 1.
3.3.2. The effect of depth on the ratcheting behavior of straight pipe
Fig. 8 showed the effect of different depths of local wall thinning
on ratcheting strain of straight pipe with constant 10 mm axial
length and 10
circumferential angle of local wall thinning. Ratch-
eting strain of straight pipe with local inside or outside wall thin-
ning increased with the increasing of depth. For the same
geometric dimension, the effect of local outside wall thinning on
ratcheting strain was larger than that of inside wall thinning.
3.3.3. The effect of axial length on the ratcheting behavior of
straight pipe
The effect of different axial lengths of local wall thinning on
ratcheting strain of straight pipe was shown in Fig. 9 with constant
1 mm depth and 10
circumferential angle of local wall thinning.
Ratcheting strain of straight pipe with local inside or outside wall
thinning increased with the increasing of axial length. For the same
geometric dimension, the effect of local outside wall thinning on
ratcheting strain was larger than that of inside wall thinning.
3.3.4. The effect of circumferential angle on the ratcheting behavior
of straight pipe
Fig. 10 indicated that the effect of different circumferential angle
of local wall thinning on ratcheting strain of straight pipe with
constant 10 mm axial length and 1 mm depth of local wall thinning.
Ratcheting strain of straight pipe with local inside or outside wall
thinning increased with the increasing of circumferential angle. For
the same geometric dimension, the effect of local outside wall
thinning on ratcheting strain was larger than that of inside wall
thinning.
In summary, the effect of depth, axial length and circumferential
 X. Chen, X. Chen / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 139-140 (2016) 69e76 75

Fig. 11. Ratcheting boundary of straight pipe with different depth of local wall thinning.

Fig. 12. Ratcheting boundary of straight pipe with different axial length of local wall thinning.

angle of local wall thinning on ratcheting strain of pressurized

straight pipe under bending was compared respectively. It is shown Pm þ PKb
that the effect of depth and axial length of local wall thinning on X¼ (10)
Sy
ratcheting strain was larger than that of circumferential angle.
wherePm is primary membrane stress; Pb is primary bending stress;
4. Ratcheting boundary determination Sy is yield stress of the material; K is the ratio of outer and inner
diameter of the straight pipe in this study.
Ratcheting boundary was determined by elastoeplastic finite
element analysis with CJK model and combined with C-TDF method DQ
Y¼ (11)
[17,18] in the study. One criterion of C-TDF method is that ‘Varia- Sy
tions in equivalent plastic strain at the end of each cycle should
have a decreasing trend and should become lower than the whereDQ is secondary stress range.
allowable limit of 10-4/cycle’. The number of cycles required to For a thin walled straight pipe or elbow under internal pressure,
achieve this value is not specified, but usually 5 or 10 cycles are its primary membrane stress was expressed as the following.
needed. The ratcheting rate was based on the values of the first 10
cycles. In order to understand the ratcheting behavior of pressur- KP
Pm ¼ (12)
ized pipes, the applied internal pressure and cyclic bending loading K 1
were represented in the form of non-dimensional parameters X
and Y with the following definitions [19,20]. whereP is the applied internal pressure. So,

Pm KP
X¼ (9) X¼ (13)
Sy ðK  1ÞSy
or Under bending loading rangeDF, the secondary bending stress
76 X. Chen, X. Chen / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 139-140 (2016) 69e76
Fig. 13. Ratcheting boundary of straight pipe with different circumferential angle of local wall thinning.
range for the straight pipe is given by
8DFðlo  l1 ÞDo
DQ ¼   (14)
p D4o  D4i
whereDo andDi are outer and inner diameter of the straight pipe,
respectively; lo andli are the spans of the lower and upper clips in
Fig. 1, respectively. So,
8DFðlo  l1 ÞDo
Y¼   (15)
p D4o  D4i Sy
The ratcheting boundary of pressurized straight pipe with local
wall thinning was shown in Figss. 11e13 in which all data were also
transformed into X and Y by Equations (13) and (15). It was found
that the non-dimensional parameter X was between 0.4 and 0.6,
the parameter Y was between 1.4 and 2 for this work.
5. Conclusions
Ratcheting behavior of straight pipe with local wall thinning
subjected to internal pressure and bending was studied by means
of finite element analysis and CJK model. Results indicated that
ratcheting strain of straight pipe with local inside or outside wall
thinning increased respectively with the increasing of depth, axial
length and circumferential angle. For the same geometric dimen-
sion, the effect of local outside wall thinning on ratcheting strain
was larger than that of inside wall thinning. Moreover, the effect of
depth and axial length of local wall thinning on ratcheting strain
was larger than that of circumferential angle. Moreover, the
ratcheting boundary was determined by elastoeplastic finite
element analysis with CJK model and combined with C-TDF
method. Results showed that non-dimensional parameters X was
between 0.4 and 0.6 and Y was between 1.4 and 2 for this study.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support for this
work from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.
51435012), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Uni-
versities (No. XNB2015001), and Youth Foundation of Hebei
Educational committee (No. QN2015336).
References
[1] ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section III. New York: American So-
ciety of Mechanical Engineer; 2010.
[2] Kerntechnischer Ausschuß; (KTA). Sicherheitstechnische Regel des KTA,
Komponenten des prima €rkreises von Leichtwasserreaktoren, Teil:Auslegung,
Konstruktion und Berchnung, Regela €nderungsentwurf. 1995.
[3] Design Rules for Class 1 Equipment, RCC-mr Codes, Revision. 1985.
[4] Guionnet C. Modelization of ratcheting in biaxial experiments. Nucl. Eng. Des.
1989;116:223e30.
[5] Ranganath S, Hwang H, Tagart SW. Piping and fitting dynamic reliability
program. EPRI Nucl. Power Div. 1989;1.
[6] Rider RJ, Harvey SJ, Charles ID. Ratcheting in pressurized pipes. Fatigue Fract.
Eng. Mat. Struct. 1994;17(4):497e500.
[7] Igari T, Wada H, Ueta M. Plastic buckling and ratcheting of straight pipes
subjected to deformation-controlled monotonic and cyclic bending. ASME PVP
1996;331:47e54.
[8] Chen XH, Chen X, Yu DJ, Gao BJ. Recent progresses in experimental investi-
gation and finite element analysis of ratcheting in pressurized piping. Int. J.
Pres. Vessel. Pip. 2013;101:113e42.
[9] Miyazaki K, Nebu A, Ishiwata M, Hasegawa K. Fracture strength and behavior
of carbon steel pipes with local wall thinning subjected to cyclic bending load.
Nucl. Eng. Des. 2001;214:127e36.
[10] Balan C, Redekop D. The effect of bi-directional loading on fatigue assessment
of pressurized piping elbows with local thinned areas. Int. J. Pres. Vessel. Pip.
2005;82:235e42.
[11] Zeinoddini M, Peykanu M. Strain ratcheting of steel tubulars with a rectan-
gular defect under axial cycling:a numerical modeling. J. Constr. Steel Res.
2011;67:1872e83.
[12] Shi HG, Chen G, Wang Y, Chen X. Ratcheting behavior of pressurized elbow
pipe with local wall thinning. Int. J. Pres. Vessel. Pip. 2013;102e103:14e23.
[13] Chaboche JL, Dang-Van K, Cordier G. Modelization of the strain memory effect
on the cyclic hardening of 316 stainless steel. In: Proceedings of the 5th In-
ternational Conference on SMiRT, Div. L, Berlin, Germany; 1979.
[14] Chaboche JL. Time independent constitutive theories for cyclic plasticity. Int. J.
Plast. 1986;2:149e88.
[15] Chen X, Jiao R, Kim KS. On the OhnoeWang kinematic hardening rules for
multiaxial ratchetting modeling of medium carbon steel. Int. J. Plast. 2005;21:
161e84.
[16] Chen XH, Chen X, Chen G, Li DM. Ratcheting behavior of pressurized
Z2CND18.12N stainless steel pipe under different control modes. Steel Com-
pos Struct. 2015;18(1):29e50.
[17] Asada S, Yamashita N, Okamoto A, Nishiguchi I. Verification of alternative
criteria for shakedown evaluation using flat head vessel. ASME PVP 2002;439:
17e23.
[18] Yamamoto Y, Yamashita N, Tanaka M. Evaluation of thermal stress in plastic
FEA. ASME PVP 2002;439:3e10.
[19] Gao Bingjun, Chen Xu, Chen Gang. Ratchetting and ratchetting boundary
study of pressurized straight low carbon steel pipe under reversed bending.
Int. J. Pres. Vessel. Pip. 2006;83:96e106.
[20] Vishnuvardhan S, Raghava G, Gandhi P, Saravanan M, Goyal Sumit,
Arora Punit, Gupta Suneel K, Bhasin Vivek. Ratcheting failure of pressurised
straight pipes and elbows under reversed bending. Int. J. Pres. Vessel. Pip.
2013;105e106:79e89.