Numerical Assessment of Localized Damage in Pipe-on-Wall Impact Under Pipe Whip Failure Conditions

High-pressure pipelines in nuclear power plants (NPPs) are prone to structural failures, and the study of their failure behavior is essential to analyze and minimize damage to the surrounding structures and components. The prediction of the extent of damage is also a key parameter when designing the surrounding structures. This prediction holds significant importance, since a substantial number of NPPs globally are approaching the 60-year mark in their operational lifespan. Consequently, it becomes imperative to formulate sophisticated methodologies for assessing damage behavior of structures and components under dynamic loading conditions with a more realistic representation of the behavior. This study investigates the damage response resulting from the pipe whip phenomenon in high-pressure pipelines of nuclear power plants through numerical simulations that incorporate damage models for both concrete and steel. The proposed modeling approach was also verified with the results of a ballistics impact study. The finite element modeling (FEM) of the pipe-on-wall-impact (POWI) scenario using ABAQUS helps to implement the damage models of Johnson–Cook (J–C) and Cowper–Symonds (C–S) to steel and the Concrete Damaged Plasticity (CDP) model to concrete using a damage-based approach to determine the extent of damage and failure possibilities. The maximum stresses of the pipe attained 450 MPa for the C–S model and 387 MPa for the J–C model, with the C–S model predicting higher stresses due to its high strain rate sensitivity at extreme loads. By incorporating the damage parameters for the POWI model, a better understanding of the mechanical behavior under impact conditions can be attained.