Determination of a Secant Modulus from Material Tests for the Efficient Simulation of Polyethylene Pipes in Rignstiffness Tests

Pipes made from high density polyethylene subject to the Ringstiffness test to BS EN 1446: 1996 are sought to be simulated by means of the Finite Element Method. Companies often express their interest in simple and very efficient calculations providing results almost instantly. Thus a linear elastic material model will be employed even though for good accuracy the simulation of a viscoelastic material would require a time dependent model. To improve the accuracy of the simulations material tests are conducted and a guideline is developed to extract a secant modulus that takes temperature, strain rate and strain level into account.