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Pressurised pipes are ubiquitous in chemical, nuclear and power plants. A sudden failure and release of high-speed fluid cause large inelastic displacements characterised by a whipping-type motion, which can ultimately hinder the surrounding structural and functional systems. In this paper, a beam user element has been developed, implemented and applied to analyse the in-plane flexural dynamic response of pipe whip. The two-dimensional Euler–Bernoulli beam element is based on the corotational kinematic formulation and elastoplastic constitutive models that include metal plasticity and moment–curvature relationships obtained from numerical bending tests, which highlighted the existence of two new dimensionless groups that govern the flexural response of slender pipes and enable the creation of moment–curvature master curves for thick and thin pipes. The corotational beam element formulation is compared against an analytical rigid-perfectly plastic model, numerical simulations employing shell elements and available experimental results, showing very good accuracy in the prediction of the inelastic deformation response of pipe whip and its hazardous area of influence. Furthermore, parametric studies are performed to investigate the effect of load intensity, cross-sectional geometry and concentrated tip mass on the post-failure deformation modes, plastic hinge formation and extension of the hazard zone. The presented results represent valid tools to assess the safety of industrial piping systems undergoing failure, and to optimally design pipe whip restraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]