Abstract
A theoretical rigid-plastic procedure is developed in order to predict the quasi-static response of a ductile pipeline which is fully clamped across a span and struck laterally by a rigid mass. This theoretical study allows the local or denting deformations to continue during the global deformation phase which has been considered only semi-empirically in previous work. In addition, it is valid for a mass striking at any position on the span, except very close to a support. Good agreement is obtained with the maximum permanent transverse displacements recorded in the experimental tests which are reported in a companion paper (the preceding paper in this issue) on steel pipelines having 11 ≤ D/H ≤ 62.3 and 2L/D ≅ 10 and struck at the mid span and one-quarter span positions.