Reeled CRA Clad/Lined Pipeline Installation: Seastate Optimisation From Fatigue and Fracture Perspective

The deformation mechanism in reel-lay of corrosive resistance alloy (CRA) clad/lined pipes can facilitate defect tearing and low cycle fatigue crack growth in the girth welds. Pipe-lay after straightening will subject the CRA welds to high cycle fatigue. The permissible seastate for installation will be governed by failure limit states such as local collapse, wrinkling of the liner, fatigue and fracture. By means of a recently completed offshore project in North Sea, this paper discusses seastate optimisation when installing pipelines with CRA girth welds, from a fatigue and fracture perspective. The additional limiting requirement in CRA welds to maintain CRA liner integrity can lead to significant assessment work since all critical welds shall be examined. AUT scanned defect data were utilised to maximise permissible seastates based on fatigue allowance from a fatigue crack growth calculation. An alternative simplified approach to derive the crack growth based on a superposition method is studied. It enables a straightforward real-time prediction of crack growth and has the potential to be used during the offshore campaign to improve the installation flexibility. Post-installation fracture assessment under more critical seastates is examined for CRA partial over-matching welds. A comparison of CDF between conventional ECA procedure and 3D FE is provided.