Interaction between Upheaval/Lateral and Propagation Buckling in Subsea Pipelines

2014 ◽  
Vol 553 ◽  
pp. 434-438
Author(s):  
Hassan Karampour ◽  
Faris Albermani

Due to high service temperatures and internal pressures in oil and gas pipelines, axial compression forces are induced in the pipe due to seabed friction. Slender trenched pipelines can experience global buckling in the vertical plane (upheaval buckling) while untrenched pipelines buckle in the horizontal plane (lateral buckling). Furthermore, deep subsea pipelines subjected to high external hydrostatics pressures can undergo catastrophic propagation buckling. In this study, the possible interaction between upheaval/lateral buckling and propagation buckling is numerically investigated using finite element analysis. A new concept is proposed for subsea pipelines design that gives higher capacity than conventional pipelines.

Metals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zechao Zhang ◽  
Hongbo Liu ◽  
Zhihua Chen

With the increasing depth of marine oil and gas exploitation, more requirements have been proposed on the structure of deep-sea oil pipelines. The influencing factors of lateral buckling of a pipe-in-pipe (PIP) structure containing initial imperfections and its critical force were investigated in this study by conducting an experiment, a finite element analysis, and a theoretical derivation. The change laws on the influence of initial imperfections of the PIP structure during thermal loading were revealed through an experimental study by using imperfection amplitude and wavelength as parameters. Appropriate finite element models were established, and the influences of initial imperfections, pipe-soil interaction, and the height and the number of centralizers on the global buckling critical force of the PIP structure were analyzed. The formulas of global buckling critical force of inner and outer pipes and that under pipe-soil interaction was obtained by using a theoretical derivation method. A comparative verification with experimental and finite element (FE) models result was conducted, which provided a corresponding basis for steel pipeline design.


Author(s):  
Rafael F. Solano ◽  
Carlos O. Cardoso ◽  
Bruno R. Antunes

Abstract Last two decades have been marked by a significant evolution on the design of HP/HT subsea pipelines around the world. The HotPipe and SAFEBUCK JIPs can be seen as the first deepened developments in order to obtain safe design guidelines for subsea pipelines systems subjected to global buckling and walking behaviors. The adopted design approach have been to allow exposed pipeline buckles globally on seabed in a safe and controlled manner. Otherwise, the walking phenomenon has been in general mitigated constraining axial displacements by means of anchoring systems. After several design and installation challenges concerning lateral buckling and pipeline walking behaviors, nowadays there is a significant amount of deepwater pipelines operating with buckle initiators (triggers) as well as walking mitigation devices in offshore Brazil. Oil and gas pipelines, short gathering lines and long export lines, installed by reeling and J-lay methods, in other words different kinds of subsea pipelines have operated on very soft clayey soils and have formed planned lateral buckles as well as rogue buckles. This paper presents the main characteristics and design challenges of the deepwater pipelines subjected to the lateral buckling behavior, also highlighting mitigation measures to constrain the walking phenomenon of some pipelines. The relevant design results are highlighted as type and number of buckle triggers, buckle spacing, type and locations of walking mitigations. Envelopment of the main design parameters are mapped in order to identify some trends. Finally, survey images of operating pipelines are presented confirming behaviors predicted in the design phase.


Author(s):  
Martin Gallegillo ◽  
Guillaume Hardouin

This paper presents an approach to rock cover design for un-trenched pipelines installed on the seabed and rock-dumped for protection against dropped objects, anchor chain impact and fishing/trawling activities. This is found in some North Sea locations which present challenging conditions for trenching while protection is necessary due to intensive fishing activities. Under these circumstances the pipeline must remain within the rock berm and, hence, it must be designed against global buckling. Whereas there are clear design guidelines addressing upheaval buckling behaviour, the resistance to lateral buckling to maintain a pipeline within the rock berm has received less attention in the literature. The aim of this paper is to present a method to design a rock berm to mitigate against lateral buckling of rock-dumped pipelines based on the horizontal out-of-straightness survey data provided to the designer. The main challenges associated with this activity at different design phases are also introduced, including the use of analytical tools as well as detailed finite element analysis.


Author(s):  
Bruno Reis Antunes ◽  
Rafael Familiar Solano ◽  
Alexandre Hansen

Buckle formation process is a key subject for the design of subsea pipelines laid on the seabed and operating under high pressure and high temperature (HP/HT) conditions. When the controlled lateral buckling methodology is adopted triggers are placed along pipeline route in order to increase the buckle formation probability in specific locations, sharing pipeline expansion between these sites and reducing the level of stress and strain in each buckle. Despite of its importance, buckle formation process is influenced by several parameters such as the seabed bathymetry, engineered triggers, lateral out-of-straightness (OOS) and pipe-soil interaction. While the first two items above can be defined with reasonable accuracy at previous stages of design, lateral OOS will only be known with tolerable confidence after pipeline installation. The level of uncertainty related to pipe-soil interaction is also considerable since pipeline embedment and friction factors are estimated using equations that include empirical correlations and field collected data. In addition these parameters are influenced by the installation process. Due to these uncertainties, conservative premises are usually assumed in order to obtain a robust pipeline thermo-mechanical design. After pipeline installation and/or start of operation an investigation can be performed in order to confirm the assumptions considered in the design. This paper presents a comparison of premises adopted during design stage of a pipeline based on the controlled lateral buckling methodology and the feedback obtained with the post-lay survey performed. After a brief introduction, pipeline embedment, global buckling at crossings, lateral OOS and sleepers’ height are some of the subjects addressed. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are presented in order to support future similar projects.


Author(s):  
Jason Sun ◽  
Han Shi ◽  
Paul Jukes

Offshore industry is now pushing into the deepwater and starting to face the much higher energy reservoir with high pressure and high temperature. Besides the significant impacts on the material, strength, and reliability of the wellhead, tree, and manifold valve; high Pressure (HP) also leads to thicker pipe wall that increases manufacturing and installation cost. High Temperature (HT) can have much wider impact on operation since the whole subsea system has to be operated over a greater temperature range between the non-producing situations such as installation, and long term shut down, and the maximum production flow. It is more concerned for fact that thicker wall pipe results in much greater thermal load so to make the pipeline strength and tie-in designs more challenging. Burying sections of a HPHT pipeline can provide the advantages of thermal insulation by using the soil cover to retain the cool-down time. Burial can also help to achieve high confidence anchoring and additional resistance to the pipeline axial expansion and walking. Upheaval buckling is a major concern for the buried pipelines because it can generate a high level of strain when happens. Excessive yielding can cause the pipeline to fail prematurely. Partial burial can have less concern although it may complicate the pipeline global buckling behavior and impose challenges on the design and analysis. This paper presents the studies on the upheaval buckling of partially buried pipelines, typical example of an annulus flooded pipe-in-pipe (PIP) configuration. The full-scale FE models were created to simulate the pipeline thermal expansion / upheaval / lateral buckling responses. The pipe-soil interaction (PSI) elements were utilized to model the relationship between the soil resistance (force) and the pipe displacement for the buried sections. The effects of soil cover height, vertical prop size, and soil resistance on the upheaval and lateral buckling response of a partially buried pipeline were investigated. This paper presents the latest techniques, allows an understanding in the global buckling, upheaval or lateral, of partially buried pipeline under the HPHT, and assists the industry to pursue safer but cost effective design.


Author(s):  
M. Masood Haq ◽  
S. Kenny

Subsea pipelines are subject to load effects from external hydrostatic pressure, internal pressure, operating temperature, ambient temperature and external reactions (e.g. seabed, structural support). These parameters influence the effective axial force that governs the pipeline global buckling response. Other factors, including installation stress, seabed slope, soil type, and embedment depth, can influence the pipe effective force. Pipelines laid on the seabed surface or with limited embedment may experience lateral buckling. The resultant mode response is a complex function related to the spatial variation in these parameters and kinematic boundary conditions. In this paper, results from a parameter study, using calibrated numerical modelling procedures, on lateral buckling of subsea pipelines are presented. The parameters included pipe diameter to wall thickness (D/t) ratio, pipe out of straightness (OOS), operating temperature and internal pressure, external pressure associated with the installation depth, and seabed lateral and axial friction properties.


Author(s):  
Xu Wu ◽  
Jian Shuai

Nozzle repair is one of the common repair methods for oil and gas pipelines. As a means to test the applicability of the pipeline, the pressure test is widely used in the integrity evaluation of oil and gas pipelines. To avoid possible failure accidents of nozzle repair pipeline, hydrostatic burst tests were performed. The finite element model of the pipeline was established. The effects of nozzle diameter and nozzle wall thickness parameters on the stress-strain response of the nozzle repair pipeline were discussed. The results show that the yield stress of the specimen is about 11.2MPa, and the blasting pressure is 12.9MPa. Due to the effect of nozzle structure, the change of strain for each point with the internal pressure is inconsistent. The ratio of axial strain to circumferential strain decreases with the increase of pressure, which shows that the yield mainly occurs in the hoop direction, and the axial deformation increases with the increase of the pressure. Under the condition of the_constant wall thickness, the stress distribution of pipeline is uniform and the yield pressure increases with the decrease of nozzle diameter. The smaller the nozzle diameter, the better the bearing capacity. The selection for the wall thickness of nozzle should be greater than or equal to the thickness of the pipe wall.


Author(s):  
Nelson Szilard Galgoul ◽  
Julia Carla Paulino de Barros ◽  
Rony Peterson Ferreira

The traditional design approach for most engineering problems, of which pipelines are no exception, is to segment the project and to present design solutions for each of these design items. When setting up a pipeline schedule, therefore, one will find an item called free span analyses and another called global buckling, which covers both lateral and upheaval buckling problems. This has been justifiable so far, because freespan vibrations have traditionally been treated totally dissociated from the axial force on the pipe, while lateral buckling is a problem to which, only recently, the industry has turned its attention. DNV has a tradition of being the regulatory agency, which has a lead on vortex shedding problems. This tradition has recently been confirmed, when they issued a new freespan vibration guideline [1], in which they are now considering the interaction of axial forces in the calculation of the pipeline vibration frequency. Shortly after this code was issued, the authors undertook three large pipeline projects, in which the use of the aforementioned code was a contractual requirement. If on one hand, however, the owner insisted upon the use of the new DNV code, on the other he was not willing to accept the very short free span limits, which were resulting from the calculations. Because of this, the authors were forced to look at the problem in further depth, thus resulting interesting conclusions, which will be presented in this paper. These point out some conservative aspects of the code, and make suggestions as to how this conservatism can be overcome, in order to use the DNV safety approach and still produce larger spans, by properly focusing on the freespan buckling problem. In addition to this, the authors have concluded that the freespan buckling problem cannot be dissociated from global buckling, because, in general, it was found that the pipe not seldom moves from a local span buckling mode to a global lateral buckling mode, thus giving the free span problem a completely different emphasis. The experience gained during these projects will be shared in this paper.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-33
Author(s):  
Khireche Abderraouf ◽  
Labed Zohra

Abstract In the industrial sectors, pipelines have been used as the most economical and safe means of transporting oil and gas (Pipelines). However, the number of accidents has increased considerably as their use has increased. As a result of the operating load and the pressure used, the thickness of the tube must be increased and the mechanical characteristics improved. This approach was applied to predict the growth of crack effect in samples of two pipelines at given thicknesses and pressures. We created cracks with deferential dimensions in both API X80 steel pipelines, with an application of deferential internal pressures. For the simulations, we used the code ANSYS.


Author(s):  
Mark Gershtein

The susceptibility of oil and gas pipelines to seismic damage has been demonstrated in earthquakes everywhere around the world. The latest examples of the dangerous failures are the ruptures of gas pipelines caused by Los-Angeles earthquake 1994 and oil pipelines caused by Sakhalin earthquake 1995. A significant part of oil and gas pipelines were designed some decades ago. Earthquake design specifications acting today are more restrictive than before. That is why pipelines built more than ten years ago are of major concern to managers and engineers. Basic approaches to the aseismic design of new pipelines and retrofitting of buried pipes and above-ground transmission pipelines and piping systems located in high risk seismic regions represent the main topic of the paper. A realistic assessment of earthquake damage potentials is needed to develop construction and retrofitting procedures. Supporting this type of constructing and rehabilitation activity for pipelines requires a better definition of key input parameters like area seismicity, the identification and characterization of ground moving hazards. The nonlinear approach for predicting spatial bending, torsion, and upheaval buckling of curved pipeline is applied for stress and stability analysis of buried pipelines under operational and seismic loading. The example of calculations useful for retrofit design of pipelines is given. An experience of damping devices application to mitigate seismic movement of above-ground pipelines has demonstrated an excellent ability to prevent damages during earthquake and operational dynamic loading. These devices are useful for above-ground pipeline retrofitting. To reduce uncertainty regarding the ability of a pipe to continue to hold pressure after seismic damages and retrofitting measures, it is important to develop the test programs, which should include investigations of buried and above-ground pipeline samples.


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