An exact analytical method for stress analysis of pipelines

This paper describes an exact analytical method (within the conventional assumptions of stress analysis in Mechanics of Solids) for pipeline stress analysis. The method leads to the solution of a polynomial equation of the fourth order. To apply the method, first a desirable number of design sections in the network is nominated and, using fairly established available methods, the internal loads on each section are determined; then the developed method is applied to determine the maximum stress on each section. The maximum stress in the pipeline network is the simply the greatest value of the maximum stresses on all nominated design sections. The application of the developed method, compared with that of finite element methods, is much simpler, quicker, and therefore more economical.