Purpose This paper aims to present the approximate limit pressure solutions for thin-walled shape-imperfect 90° pipe bends. Limit pressure was determined by finite element (FE) limit analysis with the consideration of small geometry change effects. Design/methodology/approach The limit pressure of 90° pipe bends with ovality and thinning has been evaluated by geometric linear FE approach. Internal pressure was applied to the inner surface of the FE pipe bend models. When von-Mises stress equals or just exceeds the yield strength of the material, the corresponding pressure was considered as the limit pressure for all models. The current FE methodology was evaluated by the theoretical solution which has been published in the literature. Findings Ovality and thinning produced a significant effect on thin-walled pipe bends. The ovality weakened pipe bend performance at any constant thinning, while thinning improved the performance of the bend portion at any constant ovality. The limit pressure of pipe bends under internal pressure increased with an increase in the bend ratio and decreased with an increase in the pipe ratio. With a simultaneous increment in bend radius and reduction in wall thickness, there was a reduction in limit pressure. A new closed-form empirical solution was proposed to evaluate limit pressure, which was validated with published experimental data. Originality/value The influences of structural deformation (ovality and thinning) in the limit pressure analysis of 90° pipe bends have not been investigated and reported.