Creep Analysis for an Unbonded Flexible Pipe Barrier

Author(s):  
Lun Qiu ◽  
John Zhang

The fluid barrier in an unbonded flexible pipe seals the pressure from the internal fluid. Since the barrier is usually made of polymer materials, it is unable to hold the pressure by itself. A metal reinforced hoop layer is usually needed outside the barrier layer in order to resist the pressure. The hoop layer is usually a steel bar with a cross-section of an irregular shape. It is helically wrapped at the outside of the barrier layer. When the pipe is pressurized, the barrier will be supported by the hoop reinforcement layer from outside. However, at the gap between the steel wraps where the barrier layer bridges, material of the barrier will be forced to extrude into the gap. The amount of the extrusion is a function of many parameters such as temperature, material property, and internal pressure and so on. In addition, it is time dependent. The creep effect needs be considered. It is critical to have a proper barrier design for a flexible pipe structure. This article presents a practical finite element method for evaluation of the barrier/gap design. The creep behavior of the polymers is multi-parameter related. Therefore, a series of material tests has been conducted under various stresses and temperatures for nylon, polyethylene and Polyvinylidene Fluoride. In this work a method is given to determine the creep behavior parameters through parameter matching based on the tests. The creep deformation of barrier was analyzed with a finite element model using these parameters.

Author(s):  
Yijun Shen ◽  
Jian Zhao ◽  
Zhimin Tan ◽  
Terry Sheldrake

This paper investigates the influence of bore pressure, combined with the nonlinear behaviour of the polymer material, on the creep behaviour of the polymer barrier layer inside an unbonded flexible pipe. Creep behaviour in the barrier layer may result in its reduction in thickness and is therefore an important design consideration in ensuring the structural integrity of this layer. It is meaningful to study the variation in creep behaviour in an unbonded flexible pipe under different bore pressures and temperatures, especially in high pressure pipelines for deep or ultra-deep sea applications. Creep behaviour in polymer material is complex, as it is governed by a number of variables such as the stress/strain state, temperature, and pressure for example. It is generally time-dependent and often associated with larger strains or states of deformation. Owing to the complexity of polymer material creep, an implicit time hardening creep model, based on the Maxwell viscoelastic model, has been selected to represent the creep behaviour in polymer materials and implemented into the Gap Span model, which is an in-house ANSYS based finite element model. The coefficients of this creep model were initially calibrated according to standard creep tests performed on polymer materials. The study presented in this paper focuses on the influence of bore pressure and high temperature on the creep behaviour of the polymer barrier layer. Comparisons between the simulation results of the calibrated Gap Span creep model and the corresponding small-scale creep tests demonstrate that these model predictions are overly conservative for the polymer material of the barrier layer inside an unbonded flexible pipe. Comparisons between the experimental test results and the finite element modelling results show good correlation.


Author(s):  
Eduardo Ribeiro Malta ◽  
Clóvis de Arruda Martins

Axial compressive loads can appear in several situations during the service life of a flexible pipe, due to pressure variations during installation or due to surface vessel heave. The tensile armor withstands well tension loads, but under compression, instability may occur. A Finite Element model is constructed using Abaqus in order to study a flexible pipe compound by external sheath, two layers of tensile armor, a high strength tape and a rigid nucleus. This model is fully tridimensional and takes into account all kinds of nonlinearities involved in this phenomenon, including contacts, gaps, friction, plasticity and large displacements. It also has no symmetry or periodical limitations, thus permitting each individual wire of the tensile armor do displace in any direction. Case studies were performed and their results discussed.


Author(s):  
Eduardo Ribeiro Malta ◽  
Clóvis de Arruda Martins

In order to study the axial compressive behavior of flexible pipes, a nonlinear tridimensional finite element model was developed. This model recreates a five layer flexible pipe with two tensile armor layers, an external polymeric sheath, an orthotropic high strength tape, and a rigid inner core. Using this model, several studies were conducted to verify the influence of key parameters on the wire instability phenomenon. The pipe sample length can be considered as one of these parameters. This paper includes a detailed description of the finite element model itself and a case study where the length of the pipe is varied. The procedure of this analysis is here described and a case study is presented which shows that the sample length itself has no practical effect on the prebuckling response of the samples and a small effect on the limit force value. The postbuckling response, however, presented high sensitivity to the changes, but its erratic behavior has made impossible to establish a pattern.


Author(s):  
Olaf O. Otte Filho ◽  
Rafael L. Tanaka ◽  
Rafael G. Morini ◽  
Rafael N. Torres ◽  
Thamise S. V. Vilela

In the design of flexible pipes, predict the anchoring behavior on end fittings is always challenging. In this sense, Prysmian Surflex has developed a finite element model, which should help the end fitting design as well the prediction of the structural behavior and the acceptable maximum loads. The current model considers that the contact between armor-resin is purely cohesive and has been suitable for the design of end fittings [1] and [2]. But tests and new studies [3] and [4] indicate that only cohesive assumption would not be the best approach. Experimental data from prototype tests also show that the current model would not predict acceptable results for loads higher than those used in previous projects. This document will describe a study developed considering the friction and thermal contraction, instead of the cohesive phenomenon in the anchoring behavior analysis. Small scale tests were conducted in order to understand the anchoring relation between the resin and the wire used in the tensile armor. For this purpose, a special test device was developed to simulate an enclosure system. A parametric study was also performed to identify the cooling temperatures, coefficients of friction and contact properties parameters taken from small scale tests. The finite element model considers the thermal effects during exothermic curing. Using the new parameters obtained, a second model was developed. This model consists of only one real shaped bended wire inside an end fitting cavity. To validate the model, samples were tested on laboratory according anchoring design. The results of this round of tests were studied and corroborate the argument that use friction and thermal effects is better than use only the cohesive condition.


1991 ◽  
Vol 226 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. G. Burrell ◽  
S. Kapur ◽  
I. Shareef

AbstractA non-linear finite element model has been used to simulate hillock formation in an aluminum interconnect structure. The hillock formation is caused by the thermal expansion mismatch between aluminum and the surrounding SiO2 passivation. Using the ABAQUS software [1], a large strain elastic-plastic-creep analysis was done. The results showed there were stresses large enough to cause yield and permanent deformation of the aluminum interconnect.


1997 ◽  
Vol 224 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 125-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.J. Lim ◽  
J.W. Jung ◽  
D.B. Han ◽  
K.T. Kim

2013 ◽  
Vol 569-570 ◽  
pp. 335-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Cahill ◽  
Nathan Jackson ◽  
Alan Mathewson ◽  
Vikram Pakrashi

This paper investigates the potential use of PolyVinyliDene Fluoride (PVDF) for the purposes of damage detection for infrastructural elements, primarily for bridge elements. PVDF based sensors have been created and characterised in the laboratory in this regard. Finite element analysis of vehicle-bridge interactions with varying damage are carried out. The energy harvesting signatures of realistic trains are assessed and quantified for the modelled bridge. The effect of localized damage on the finite element model and its subsequent relationship with energy harvesting from the calibrated PVDF based sensors are investigated using the harvesting signatures of realistic trains. This approach is useful in terms of designing new generation smart bridge structures and for possible retrofit of existing structures. The use of train-bridge interaction ensures that the damage detection is carried out while the bridge is under operational conditions. Consequently, there is minimal to no impact on the existing operation of the bridge or the transport network during damage detection. The paper is expected to be useful for practicing engineers and researchers in the field of application of new materials in the next generation of bridge structures.


Author(s):  
Krassimir Doynov ◽  
Gabriel Rombado ◽  
Nathan Cooke ◽  
Arya Majed

Abstract The nonlinear kinematic response of a damaged 2.5” flexible pipe under combined tensile and bending cyclic loads is simulated and compared to experimental results. High fidelity finite element model substructures are constructed for intact and broken outer and inner armor wire configurations and assembled in a nonlinear dynamic substructuring (NDS) framework to efficiently simulate the full-scale test configurations. Overall, 12 analysis configurations involving all intact wires, up to 4 broken outer wires, and 2 and 4 broken inner wires combined with 4 broken outer wires are constructed. Each analysis configuration is first preloaded axially and then subject to multiple cycles of (i) pure tension and (ii) combined tension and bending. For each case, tensile armor wire strains are extracted from the simulations and compared to strain measurements from the test. For all cases, numerical predictions and test measurements agree well accurately capturing the redistribution of strains into the adjacent intact wires which result in stress concentration factors. This comprehensive demonstration of accurate capture of flexible pipe damaged wire kinematics by high fidelity finite element models and nonlinear simulations has direct applications to flexible pipe integrity management and remnant life assessments. Given that the NDS framework allows highly efficient computation, it is now feasible to execute real-time irregular wave local fatigue simulations with finite element models that include damaged wire data from physical inspections to more accurately predict remnant life.


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