Offshore Installation of Welded Pipe: Local Buckling Evaluation

Author(s):  
Luciano Mantovano ◽  
Richard E. Bravo ◽  
Sebastian Cravero ◽  
Hugo A. Ernst

Up to the present, most of the pipes used in offshore applications installed with methods introducing plastic deformation have been seamless pipes; however, welded pipes can also be used. Welded pipes offers benefits over seamless pipe in terms of improved lead times, lower project costs, tighter dimensional tolerance and good control of mechanical properties and chemistry resulting in excellent weldability. During installation of welded pipes, failure by fracture, plastic collapse and local buckling may occur. In this work, the occurrence of the local buckling phenomenon, produced during the installation method, was evaluated. Numerical models were developed to study the effect of materials and geometrical parameters on the local bucking of pipes subjected to bending. Specifically, the loads and strains at which the plastic instability occurs were determined for each particular condition. In addition, the influence of longitudinal and girth welds on the local bucking occurrence was assessed.

2011 ◽  
Vol 274 ◽  
pp. 101-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norelislam Elhami ◽  
Rachid Ellaia ◽  
Mhamed Itmi

This paper presents a new methodology for the Reliability Based Particle Swarm Optimization with Simulated Annealing. The reliability analysis procedure couple traditional and modified first and second order reliability methods, in rectangular plates modelled by an Assumed Modes approach. Both reliability methods are applicable to the implicit limit state functions through numerical models, like those based on the Assumed Mode Method. For traditional reliability approaches, the algorithms FORM and SORM use a Newton-Raphson procedure for estimate design point. In modified approaches, the algorithms are based on heuristic optimization methods such as Particle Swarm Optimization and Simulated Annealing Optimization. Numerical applications in static, dynamic and stability problems are used to illustrate the applicability and effectiveness of proposed methodology. These examples consist in a rectangular plates subjected to in-plane external loads, material and geometrical parameters which are considered as random variables. The results show that the predicted reliability levels are accurate to evaluate simultaneously various implicit limit state functions with respect to static, dynamic and stability criterions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yao Ren ◽  
Anna Paradowska ◽  
Bin Wang ◽  
Elvin Eren ◽  
Yin Jin Janin

This research investigated the effects of global (in other words, furnace-based) and local post weld heat treatment (PWHT) on residual stress (RS) relaxation in API 5L X65 pipe girth welds. All pipe spools were fabricated using identical pipeline production procedures for manufacturing multipass narrow gap welds. Nondestructive neutron diffraction (ND) strain scanning was carried out on girth welded pipe spools and strain-free comb samples for the determination of the lattice spacing. All residual stress measurements were carried out at the KOWARI strain scanning instrument at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO). Residual stresses were measured on two pipe spools in as-welded condition and two pipe spools after local and furnace PWHT. Measurements were conducted through the thickness in the weld material and adjacent parent metal starting from the weld toes. Besides, three line-scans along pipe length were made 3 mm below outer surface, at pipe wall midthickness, and 3 mm above the inner surface. PWHT was carried out for stress relief; one pipe was conventionally heat treated entirely in an enclosed furnace, and the other was locally heated by a flexible ceramic heating pad. Residual stresses measured after PWHT were at exactly the same locations as those in as-welded condition. Residual stress states of the pipe spools in as-welded condition and after PWHT were compared, and the results were presented in full stress maps. Additionally, through-thickness residual stress profiles and the results of one line scan (3 mm below outer surface) were compared with the respective residual stress profiles advised in British Standard BS 7910 “Guide to methods for assessing the acceptability of flaws in metallic structures” and the UK nuclear industry's R6 procedure. The residual stress profiles in as-welded condition were similar. With the given parameters, local PWHT has effectively reduced residual stresses in the pipe spool to such a level that it prompted the thought that local PWHT can be considered a substitute for global PWHT.


2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (9) ◽  
pp. 1717-1726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svenja Kemper ◽  
Andreas Schlenkhoff

Abstract Due to an increasing number of heavy rainfall events, the managing of urban flooding requires new design approaches in urban drainage engineering. With bidirectional coupled numerical models the surface runoff, the underground sewer flow and the interaction processes between both systems can be calculated. Most of the numerical models use a weir equation to calculate the surface to sewer flow with unsurcharged flow conditions, but uncertainties still exist in the representation of the real flow conditions. Street inlets, existing in different types, are the connecting elements between the surface and the underground system. In the present study, an empirical formula was developed based on physical model test runs to estimate the hydraulic capacity and type-specific efficiency of grate inlets with supercritical surface flow. Influencing hydraulic parameters are water depth and flow velocity upstream of the grate and, in addition, different geometrical parameters are taken into account, such as the grate dimensions or the orientation of the bars (transverse, longitudinal or diagonal). Good agreement between estimated and measured results could be proven with relative deviations less than 1%.


Author(s):  
You You Wu ◽  
Wen Guo Yuan ◽  
Tse Ven Steven Chong ◽  
Jens P. Tronskar

Fracture toughness is one of the most important input parameters for assessment of pipeline girth weld failure capacity. For many new subsea pipeline projects there is a need to develop flaw acceptance criteria for pipeline installation considering the operation phase which may involve the transport of sour oil and gas and where the pipeline is exposed to large axial strain due to local buckling. Engineering Critical Assessment (ECA) performed using laboratory data based on conservative KISSC testing gives small acceptable flaw sizes which may be below the workmanship criteria for pipeline laying. DNV has conducted extensive research based on the requirements of DNV-OS-F101 and DNV-RP-F108, aiming to establish a method to develop J-R curves applicable for ECA of pipeline girth welds in sour service environment and a methodology to validate the ECA by segment testing in a laboratory-simulated sour service environment as per DNV-RP-F108.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 261
Author(s):  
Przemyslaw Lopato ◽  
Michal Herbko

In the last decade, the application of metamaterials has become a very interesting way of implementing passive devices in microwave, terahertz, and optical frequency ranges. Up until now, selective filters, absorbers, polarizers, and lenses have been designed and constructed using these artificial materials, simultaneously showing the possibility for many other potential applications. Because of the simplified fabrication process, in particular, planar structures called metasurfaces (MS), are developing very fast. In the literature, there are many studies on the properties of various metasurfaces, but there are a lack of papers related to the analysis of the impact of structure deformations on their properties. In this paper, three commonly utilized structures of metasurfaces were designed for the same resonant frequency and on the same substrate. The numerical models were built and verified using the measurements of fabricated structures. During the experiment, the geometrical parameters of the metasurface cells were swept and a mechanical in-plane deformation in orthogonal directions was applied to the examined structures. Finally, sensitivity to the geometry distortions of the analyzed structures was evaluated and discussed.


Author(s):  
Ali Mirzaee Sisan ◽  
Afshin Motarjemi

A numerical study was carried out to quantify the effect of a residual stress field on subsequent fracture behaviour of a girth welded pipe with an internal circumferential long crack when subjected to high applied strain loading. In order to introduce an initial residual stress field similar to a welding process in a pipe, a quenching process was numerically simulated and associated residual stress profiles were modified and mapped into the finite element (FE) models. A detailed comparison between the crack driving force for various cases with and without residual stress and weld strength mismatch was carried out for cases under a high plastic deformation regime. The BS7910 procedure was also used to predict crack driving forces using its current assumption of interaction of residual stress with primary loads. The results obtained from the FE analyses were compared with the BS7910 predictions.


Author(s):  
Philippe P. Darcis ◽  
Israel Marines-Garcia ◽  
Stephen J. Hudak ◽  
Mariano Armengol ◽  
Hector M. Quintanilla

The current work aims to point out the influence of sour brine environment on the fatigue resistance of welded SMLS (seamless) steel pipe used for design and fabrication of risers for oil and gas development. A C-Mn steel X65 pipe 10.75″ (273.1 mm) outside diameter (OD) and 25.4 mm wall thickness (WT) was chosen for this program. The Welding Procedure designed for girth welds manufacturing involved the use of Lincoln STT-GMAW™ process for the root pass and SAW process with twin wire configuration for the fill and cap passes. This welding procedure presents a special post-weld finishing treatment, which consist in flapping the inner and outer weld overfills to produce a flush profile between weld metal and outer/inner pipe surfaces. The experimental approach focused on quantifying the effect of H2S using a sour brine environment. For this purpose, intermediate-scale fatigue data in the sour brine environment, using full thickness’ strip specimens extracted from the welded SMLS (seamless) pipe, have been generated. Intermediate-scale fatigue tests in air have also been obtained to provide a baseline for comparison with the sour brine data. Those results have been compared with full-scale fatigue tests in air environment. Finally, results were statistically analyzed to determine which standard fatigue design curves best represent the measured S-N fatigue endurance in air and sour brine environments. Results were also compared with available literature and results on other seamless’ welded pipe of the same API 5L, Grade X65 steel in comparable environments.


Author(s):  
Timothy S. Weeks ◽  
J. David McColskey ◽  
Mark D. Richards ◽  
Yong-Yi Wang ◽  
Marie Quintana

Curved-wide plate (CWP) tests are frequently used for assessing the quality of pipeline girth welds. Despite a large number of CWP tests having been conducted at great expense over many decades, an industry consensus standard remains unavailable. Considerable effort at several research institutions is focused on the standardization of test protocols. It is widely recognized that comparing results from CWP tests from different institutions is difficult without accounting for all the possible parametric differences. This paper presents the procedural details recently used in testing X100 girth welds. The protocols cover (1) specimen design and dimensions, (2) instrumentation plan and data acquisition, (3) specimen fabrication and preparation, (4) preparing and executing the tests, (5) processing of raw test data and (6) post-test metallurgical examination. The evaluation of specimen deformation, flaw growth, and comparison of test data with model predictions will be presented in a future paper. Selected CWP test data from this program were evaluated and compared to tensile strain models of the girth welded pipe in a recent paper [1].


Author(s):  
Teruki Sadasue ◽  
Satoshi Igi ◽  
Kenji Oi ◽  
Satoru Yabumoto

The reel-lay method is a fast and cost efficient installation process for offshore rigid steel pipelines. Pipelines installed by the reel-lay method are plastically deformed due to reeling, unreeling, aligning and straightening during pipeline installation. Therefore, local buckling is one of the major concerns from a view point of integrity in linepipes, especially around girth welds where strength mismatching arises due to adjacent pipes with different yield strength. One the other hand, the change in mechanical properties of linepipes during reel-lay, including coating process (e.g. 250°C) and long time exposure (e.g. 250°C aging) after installation is also important in order to guarantee safety of linepipes. Furthermore fracture toughness at girth weld Coarse-grain HAZ (CGHAZ) after reeling and aging should be clear to prevent brittle fracture of offshore linepipes in service. In this study, full scale reeling simulation tests of girth welded X60 HFW (High Frequency electric resistance Welded) linepipes with OD; 323.9mm and WT;15.9mm after full body heat treatment (coating simulation) were conducted at 5cycles and 2cycles reeling and straightening situations when yield strength mismatches are present between adjacent pipes around girth welds. Localized strain concentration was observed near girth welds by strength mismatching of adjacent pipes. DNV ovality increased with increasing reeling and straightening cycles, however the ovality did not exceed 10%, which was a criterion value for local buckling, after 5cycles reeling simulation test. The change ratio of wall thickness after full scale reeling simulation tests were about ±2% (within DNV-OS-F101 tolerance) regardless of circumferential and longitudinal direction of pipes. Longitudinal tensile properties could be characterized by axial last introduced plastic strain. That is, in the positive number of last introduced plastic strain, YS and Y/T increased, while uEl decreased by work hardening effect. On the other hand YS and Y/T decreased, while uEl increased at the negative number of last introduced plastic strain by Bauschinger effect. Circumferential tensile properties could be also characterized by axial last introduced plastic strain. Yield strength and Y/T slightly increased while uniform elongation slightly decreased by aging at longitudinal and circumferential direction. Tensile properties did not change irrespective of the number of cycles of reeling simulation tests. After 5cycles reeling simulation test and aging, girth welded CGHAZ CTOD values were over 0.4mm at −20°C and Charpy absorbed energy were over 200J at −30°V, therefore, it was considered that the brittle fracture of the girth welded linepipe unlikely occur at reeling and aging situation in this study.


Author(s):  
Michael Moles ◽  
Simon Labbe´

Ultrasonic phased arrays present major improvements over conventional multiprobe ultrasonics for inspecting pipeline girth welds, both for onshore and for offshore use. Probe pans are lighter and smaller, permitting less cutback; scans are quicker due to the smaller probe pan; phased arrays are considerably more flexible for changes in pipe dimensions or weld profiles, and for different scan patterns. More important, some of the potential advantages of phased arrays are now becoming commercially available. These include: • Compensating for variations in seamless pipe wall thickness. • Wedge temperature compensation. • Improved focusing for thick and thin wall inspections. • Premium inspections for risers, tendons and other components. • Small diameter pipes. • Multiple displays. • Clad pipe. The paper describes the latest phased array UT results for special applications.


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