Probabilistic analysis of bending moment capacity of titanium pipes

Statistical measures of bending moment capacity of titanium pipes exposed to high external pressure differences are developed. Variations in relevant geometry and material parameters are found from laboratory tests. These quantities are input to non-linear finite element shell models of the pipe. Maximum bending moment capacities estimated by the non-linear finite element analyses are compared with some experimental results. A response surface approach is applied in order to reduce the required number of non-linear shell analyses. The bending moment capacity is expressed as a function of the basic parameter. With statistical distributions fitted to the uncertain input parameters, the response surface enables estimation of probability distributions for the bending moment capacity for a titanium pipe subjected to high external pressure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]