Defining the Plastic Limit Moment for Shell Intersections Based on a New Criterion

In this research, a new method and numerical procedure for determining the plastic limit load in shell intersections using elasticplastic finite-element analysis are presented. The proposed method is based on the maximum criterion of the rate of the change of the relative plastic work. For experimental models of cylindrical vessels with radial nozzles under in-plane moment, the results of comparisons with the twice elastic slope method were considered for determining the plastic limit moment. A parametric study of the nonradial cylindrical shell intersections subjected to in-plane moment on the nozzle was performed to examine the influence of an angular parameter on the plastic limit moment on the basis of the proposed criterion. (C) 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.