Effective and economical pipe connection systems are fundamental for industrial flow technologies. Applications range from renewable energy and chemical processing to hydraulic systems and oil and gas technologies. They are indispensable for many technologies needed to address today’s environmental and economic challenges. Pipe connectors must remain functional and prevent leakage under various static and dynamic mechanical loads and environmental conditions. 

In order to facilitate the innovation of design and material selection for the pipe connectors required in new applications, the computer simulation of the pipe connectors under various boundary conditions is fundamental. New designs have to pass a series of different tests, many of which are defined by industrial standards. 

The objective of this project is the development of new software based automated workflows which will be centred around finite element simulation and allow for accelerated technical innovation. Scenarios to be investigated include exposure to fire and critical static and dynamic loads. The methodology will be based on finite element and scripting software such as ABAQUS and Python. The project will be supervised jointly by Professor Wulf G. Dettmer (Swansea University) and Dr David Winfield (Freudenberg Flow Technologies).