Limit load and reference stress for curved wide plates

Curved wide plates are a valuable tool in the assessment of defective pipeline girth welds under tension. Throughout the years, Laboratory Soete collected an extensive database of curved wide plate test results. In an effort to investigate these results through FAD analysis, the authors recently developed a reference stress equation for curved plates. The approach followed is similar to the development of the Goodall and Webster equation for flat plates. This paper elaborates finite element analyses of the equation's capability to predict plastic collapse. It is found that, although overestimated, the influence of plate curvature is correctly predicted in a qualitative way. For all simulations, the curved plate reference stress equation produced conservative estimations. This indicates that the proposed equation is suited to safely predict the plastic collapse of defective pipeline girth welds. An experimental validation is underway