COMPARISON OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL FINITE ELEMENT AND PHOTELASTIC RESULTS FOR LATERAL CONNECTION@ WC-12B2 (To Purchase Call 1-800-854-7179 USA/Canada or 303-397-7956 Worldwide)
Presented in this report are the results of three dimensional finite element analyses of a 45 degree photoelastic lateral pipehessel connection@ subjected to internal pressure loading. Details of finite element modeling and analyses are described. Comparison of finite element peak stresses with photoelastic results@ available in the literature@ shows that the maximum deviation is twenty percent@ with the photoelastic results being larger than the finite element results. However@ the deviation is found to be less than 10% when the finite element calculations are carried out for a Poisson's ratio value of 0.3 instead of 0.485 applicable to the photoelastic model material.