Evaluation of Fatigue Characteristic of a Real Waterworks Pipe

The fatigue characteristic of a material or a structure is derived from fatigue tests of standard specimens. However, many researches have reported that test results of standard specimens are very different from those of real structures or components. One reason for this difference is the constraint effects according to the geometrical difference. Therefore, to calculate more accurate fatigue life, the constraint effect must be considered by comparing test results of standard specimens with those of real structures or components. Another reason for this difference is the surface condition. All surfaces of a standard specimen are polished to obtain similar conditions in a fatigue test. However, in a piping system, surface conditions of components are different from each other and very different from that of a standard specimen. Because fatigue life is effected by a surface condition, to evaluate the fatigue life of a piping system, fatigue tests must be conducted with a specimen extracted from a pipe with the same surface condition. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the fatigue characteristic of a real waterworks pipe by conducting fatigue tests with standard specimens and non-standard specimens of base metal and weld metal. Standard fatigue specimens and non-standard specimens were extracted from a steel pipe used in waterworks. Also, fatigue tests of pipes used in water service were carried out and then compared with those of standard specimens and non-standard specimens. From these results the relation between the S-N diagram of a specimen and that of a pipe specimen was evaluated.