In the present study experimental data recorded from 226 impact tests on seamless mild steel pipes are reported. The pipe specimens with different geometries were fully clamped at both ends, and impacted transversely by rigid wedge-shaped indenters at the positions of mid-span, one-quarter span and very close to a support, respectively. In order to model the fully clamped boundary conditions, a special clamping system was designed to hold the pipe specimens rigidly at each end to prevent any significant inward displacements from the supports. The impact velocities ranged up to 10.69 m/s and caused large inelastic indentations for the lower values and at higher values a loss of integrity near the supports. Particular attention was paid to obtaining the threshold value of initial impact energy that caused the onset of material rupture. Discussion is made for the influences of pipe geometry, impact position and internal pressure on the critical value of initial impact energy.
1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. static uniaxial rupture strain ΒΈE /(16 RH), dimensionless initial kinetic energy threshold value of for failure static ultimate stress in a uniaxial tensile specimen & static tensile strength converted from H " using Eqn (1) static yield stress pR/H, circumferential stress in a pressurised pipeline