A Methodology to Predict the Remaining Fatigue Life of a Flexible Pipe With Broken Tensile Armor Wires

Author(s):  
José Renato M. de Sousa ◽  
Fernando Jorge M. de Sousa ◽  
Marcos Q. de Siqueira ◽  
Luís Volnei S. Sagrilo ◽  
George Campello ◽  
...  

In this work, an approach to predict the remaining fatigue life of flexible pipes with damages in their tensile armor wires is proposed. This approach relies on a previous proposed approach to calculate the fatigue life of intact flexible pipes. By relying on results from theoretical and experimental investigations, the previous proposed expressions were modified in order to account for damages in the tensile armor wires of these structures. Furthermore, the computation of the fatigue life was also modified in order to account for results from inspections in these pipes thus allowing the estimative of the remaining fatigue life of the pipe. The use of this methodology is illustrated in the analysis of a 9.13″ flexible pipe considering different conditions in its outer tensile armor wires: intact and with one up to ten wires broken along time. The results obtained indicate that the rupture of the tensile armor wires may significantly reduce the fatigue life of flexible pipes and, consequently, may lead to the premature failure of the pipe.

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Renato M. de Sousa ◽  
Fernando J. M. de Sousa ◽  
Marcos Q. de Siqueira ◽  
Luís V. S. Sagrilo ◽  
Carlos Alberto D. de Lemos

This paper focuses on a theoretical approach to access the fatigue life of flexible pipes. This methodology employs functions that convert forces and moments obtained in time-domain global analyses into stresses in their tensile armors. The stresses are then processed by well-known cycle counting methods, andS-Ncurves are used to evaluate the fatigue damage at several points in the pipe’s cross-section. Finally, Palmgren-Miner linear damage hypothesis is assumed in order to calculate the accumulated fatigue damage. A study on the fatigue life of a flexible pipe employing this methodology is presented. The main points addressed in the study are the influence of friction between layers, the effect of the annulus conditions, the importance of evaluating the fatigue life in various points of the pipe’s cross-section, and the effect of mean stresses. The results obtained suggest that the friction between layers and the annulus conditions strongly influences the fatigue life of flexible pipes. Moreover, mean stress effects are also significant, and at least half of the wires in each analyzed section of the pipe must be considered in a typical fatigue analysis.


2013 ◽  
Vol 758 ◽  
pp. 77-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Santos ◽  
Fabio Pires ◽  
Richard Clements ◽  
Judimar Clevelario ◽  
Terry Sheldrake ◽  
...  

The new offshore areas being explored in Brazil presents higher concentration of CO2 compared with most existing offshore fields. The presence of these more aggressive environments has led to the development of new technologies. Due to the construction characteristics of flexible pipes, any increase in CO2 concentration in the conveyed fluid will, in turn, increase the CO2 concentration in the pipe annulus, subjecting the metallic armor layers to a more aggressive environment. Evaluation of the CO2 effects of corrosion fatigue behavior in tensile armor wires is therefore of vital importance. A comprehensive corrosion fatigue experiment for tensile armor wires in environments up to 10 bar of CO2, has been established and the experimental results have shown a fatigue life reduction in the tensile amour wires due to higher levels of CO2.


Author(s):  
Michelle Davidson ◽  
Upul S. Fernando ◽  
John Hall ◽  
Brendon O’Donnell ◽  
James Latto ◽  
...  

The polymer barrier is the most important component in unbonded flexible pipe, providing the leak-tight boundary for transporting hydrocarbon medium. Premature failure of the barrier during service can be costly and may lead to disastrous environmental consequences. Design of the barrier for 25 years’ service integrity is therefore a major requirement in the flexible pipe design process. However, the API design code does not give a specific procedure for the design of the barrier and is mainly concerned with the design of other layers in the pipe which are intended to provide integrity to the polymer barrier. The selection of barrier material depends on many factors including the service temperature/pressure range and pipe bending requirements. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is used as a barrier material in cases where high pressure and relatively high temperature applications are involved. However, a hard polymer such as PVDF can be susceptible to crazing and cracking under specific conditions and therefore the use of PVDF in flexible pipe barriers requires critical consideration of the above issues. This paper discusses the general design requirements of a single layer barrier, and different barriers in relation to static and dynamic applications. The details of a qualification test program performed to establish service integrity of single layer Solef 60512 PVDF barriers is discussed. The unique testing facilities developed to test the integrity of the barrier are presented.


Author(s):  
Kaien Jiang ◽  
Yutian Lu ◽  
Yong Bai

This paper mainly focuses on a theoretical methodology to calculate the fatigue life of tensile armor of flexible pipes. This approach employs the local model of flexible pipe that converts forces and moments obtained in time-domain global analyses into stresses in the spiral tendons of tensile armor layer. The stresses are then processed by rainflow counting methods, and S-N curves are adopted to evaluate the fatigue damage of tensile armors. Finally, Miner linear cumulative damage theory is used in order to calculate the accumulated fatigue damage. A case study on the fatigue life of a flexible pipe employing this methodology is presented, and the fatigue life of flexible pipe is obtained. The main points addressed in the study are the effect of mean stress and friction coefficients. The results indicate that the inner tensile armor at suspension point is the most prone to fatigue damage, in addition, mean stress correction and friction coefficients strongly influence the fatigue life of flexible pipes.


Author(s):  
Felipe Arêas Vargas ◽  
Diogo Garcia Lopes ◽  
Paulo Pedro Kenedi ◽  
Judimar Clevelario ◽  
Fabio de Souza Pires

Flexible pipes are being installed and operated in more marginal and challenging offshore conditions related to deep-water environments. Especially important is the accurate assessment of the remaining life of a flexible riser so operators can avoid costly premature change outs. So, emerging inspection and monitoring technologies are being several developed to achieve a comprehensive flexible pipes integrity approach. For unbonded flexible pipes, the primary challenges include fatigue life, collapse, axial compression loading of the tensile armor wires and end fitting development. This paper is related to end fitting development area, due to necessary folding/unfolding process on the tensile armor wires during pipe assembling. This mechanical forming generates high levels of plastic strain on the wires, which may therefore reduce the fatigue life of the flexible pipe in the field. This paper presents an analysis of the high strain level involved in the folding and unfolding process along tensile armour wire, using the strain gages and fiber Bragg grating techniques. Besides that, this paper describes a comparison analysis, which correlates the performance of both methods to assess high strain levels.


Author(s):  
José R. M. de Sousa ◽  
Fernando J. M. de Sousa ◽  
Marcos Q. de Siqueira ◽  
Luís V. S. Sagrilo ◽  
George Campello ◽  
...  

This work focuses on a methodology to predict the fatigue life of flexible pipes with wires broken in their tensile armors. Initially, the mechanical behavior of these pipes is discussed. Relying on this discussion, a simple set of equations is proposed in order to calculate the stresses in the armors of these pipes. These equations employ pre-estimated linear coefficients to convert forces and moments that act on the pope into stresses. These stresses are then processed by well-known cycle counting methods and S-N curves are finally used to evaluate fatigue damage at several points in the pipe’s cross section. The use of this methodology is exemplified by the assessment of the fatigue life of a 6” flexible pipe in which 0 up to 5 wires of its outer tensile armor are broken. The results indicate a substantial reduction in the fatigue life of the pipe with the increasing number of wires broken.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Ho Sung Kim ◽  
Saijie Huang

S-N curve characterisation and prediction of remaining fatigue life are studied using polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified (PETG). A new simple method for finding a data point at the lowest number of cycles for the Kim and Zhang S-N curve model is proposed to avoid the arbitrary choice of loading rate for tensile testing. It was demonstrated that the arbitrary choice of loading rate may likely lead to an erroneous characterisation for the prediction of the remaining fatigue life. The previously proposed theoretical method for predicting the remaining fatigue life of composite materials involving the damage function was verified at a stress ratio of 0.4 for the first time. Both high to low and low to high loadings were conducted for predicting the remaining fatigue lives and a good agreement between predictions and experimental results was found. Fatigue damage consisting of cracks and whitening is described.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 155892502199081
Author(s):  
Guo-min Xu ◽  
Chang-geng Shuai

Fiber-reinforced flexible pipes are widely used to transport the fluid at locations requiring flexible connection in pipeline systems. It is important to predict the burst pressure to guarantee the reliability of the flexible pipes. Based on the composite shell theory and the transfer-matrix method, the burst pressure of flexible pipes with arbitrary generatrix under internal pressure is investigated. Firstly, a novel method is proposed to simplify the theoretical derivation of the transfer matrix by solving symbolic linear equations. The method is accurate and much faster than the manual derivation of the transfer matrix. The anisotropy dependency on the circumferential radius of the pipe is considered in the theoretical approach, along with the nonlinear stretch of the unidirectional fabric in the reinforced layer. Secondly, the burst pressure is predicted with the Tsai-Hill failure criterion and verified by burst tests of six different prototypes of the flexible pipe. It is found that the burst pressure is increased significantly with an optimal winding angle of the unidirectional fabric. The optimal result is determined by the geometric parameters of the pipe. The investigation method and results presented in this paper will guide the design and optimization of novel fiber-reinforced flexible pipes.


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