Continuum FE Modeling of Lateral Buckling: Study of Soil Effects

2D and 3D Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) Finite Element (FE) models are developed to study soil-pipe interaction and lateral buckling problems. A new in-situ testing method to characterize seabed soils and to obtain soil constitutive parameters is proposed. The influence of the soil properties on the soil-pipe interaction and lateral buckling processes are presented. Implications and observations for the design of high temperature and high pressure pipelines are discussed.

Numerical Study of the Wave Impact on a Square Column Using Large Eddy Simulation

This work concerns the numerical investigation of the impact of a wave on a square column. The wave is generated by a dam break in a wave tank. Two turbulence models were used: Large Eddy Simulations (LES) and Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS). The numerical simulations were carried out using a finite volume approximation and the SIMPLE algorithm for the solution of the governing equations. Turbulence was modeled with the standard Smagorinsky-Lilly subgrid-model for the LES and the standard κ-ε model for the URANS. The results are validated against experimental data for the wave impact on a square column facing the flow. The results, especially for LES, show very good agreement between the predictions and experimental results. The overall accuracy of the LES, as expected, is superior to the URANS. However, if computational resources are limited, URANS can still provide satisfactory results for structural design.

Vortex Suppression Efficiency of Discontinuous Helicoidal Fins

Vortex-Induced Vibration (VIV) is one of the most demanding areas in the offshore industry, and detailed investigation of the fluid-structure interaction is becoming fundamental for designing new structures able to reduce VIV phenomenon. To carry on such analysis, and get reliable results in term of global coefficients, the correct modelling of turbulence, boundary layer, and separated flows is required. Nonetheless, the more accurate is the simulation, the more costly is the computation. Unsteady RANS simulations provide a good trade-off between numerical accuracy and computational time. This paper presents the analysis of the flow past a cylinder with several three-dimensional helical fins at high Reynolds number. Flow field, vortical structures, and response frequency patterns are analysed. Spectral analysis of data is performed to identify carrier frequencies, deemed to be critical due to the induced vibration of the whole structure. Finally, helical strakes efficiency in reducing the riser vibrations is also addressed, through direct consideration on the carrier shedding frequency.

ECA Methodology for Fatigue Design of Risers and Flowlines

Engineering Criticality Assessment (ECA) is a procedure based on fracture mechanics that may be used to supplement the traditional S-N approach and determine the flaw acceptance and inspection criteria in fatigue and fracture design of risers and flowlines. A number of design codes provide guidance for this procedure, e.g. BS-7910:2005 [1]. However, more investigations and example studies are still needed to address the design implications for riser and flowline applications. This paper provides a review of the existing ECA methodology, presents a fracture mechanics design method for a wide range of riser and flowline fatigue problems, and shows flaw size results from steel catenary riser (SCR) and flowline (FL) examples. The first example is a deepwater SCR subjected to fatigue loads due to vessel motion and riser VIV. The second example is a subsea flowline subjected to thermal fatigue loads. The effects of crack re-characterization and material plasticity on the Level-2 and Level-3 ECA results of the SCR and flowline examples are illustrated.

Materials Selection for Sandwich Pipes Under the Combined Effect of Pressure, Bending and Temperature

Recent researches point to the great potential of the sandwich pipe conception for ultra deepwater exploitation and production of oil and natural gas. Its configuration is very simple and comprises two concentric metallic pipes with a core material, polymeric or ceramic, in the annulus. The main functions of the annular layer are: to provide satisfactory thermal insulation so as to avoid the formation of wax and hydrates along the pipeline during production shutdown; to improve the overall structural strength of the system. Polypropylene and cement have been recently proposed for these applications. The reason for the choice of these materials was the low cost and the extensive availability in industry. Here a systematic material selection approach is employed in order to assess the applicability of other polymeric materials. The attributes of materials needed to meet the design specification are thoroughly studied. The list of possible materials was enlarged and the modified digital logic approach is used with the purpose to define a top group of materials for further numerical comparative study. Finite element analyses are carried out to assess the structural strength of the sandwich pipe under pure external pressure or longitudinal bending and combined external pressure and bending. Additionally, the effect of thermal gradient is included to the numerical analyses to evaluate each pre-selected material of the top group. Results indicate that other potential materials such as PEEK and polycarbonate can improve the structural performance of the sandwich pipe conception and yet meet other several design criteria.

Computational Tool for the Dynamic Analysis of Flexible Risers Incorporating Bending Hysteresis

Non-bonded flexible-pipe risers provide a structurally compliant solution in offshore floating production systems for the recovery of oil & gas. The bending stiffness of the flexible pipe is an important property in designing the riser system to safely withstand extreme and fatigue loading conditions. These risers have two fundamentally different bending stiffness properties that depend on if the riser system is pressurized or depressurized. A depressurized riser has a comparatively small linear bending stiffness. Most riser designs apply this stiffness as its produces conservative (large) bending responses. In recent years, the bending response predicted from the depressurized bending stiffness has proven overly conservative and there has been an increasing demand to consider the larger hysteretic bending stiffness of the pressurized riser. The objective is to reduce the conservatism and achieve an approved safe design. Recent developments have advanced the modeling of flexible riser bending with hysteresis and this capability has now been incorporated into an industry standard finite-element riser analysis tool. This paper describes the background of hysteresis in relation to non-bonded flexible pipes and outlines the methodology of the riser motions software that incorporates bending stiffness with hysteresis. Riser systems where the dynamic bending response is critical to the success of the design are the main applications that will benefit from this new technology. Examples include: i.) The dynamic bending response at the seabed touchdown of a deepwater catenary riser. ii.) Bending at an interface with the riser hang-off or subsea tie-in.

Assessing the Effects of Impact Forces on Subsea Flowlines and Pipelines

Damage associated with external impact can be a critical component in operating subsea flowlines and pipelines. External damage typically involves impact with anchors, although consideration of dropped objects is also important. Historically, operators assess damage after it occurs in an attempt to determine and establish mechanical integrity. For more than 30 years research has been performed studying the effects of external damage on subsea pipelines. In recent years there has been an interest in proactively addressing the potential for damage and attempting to quantify the severity of damage in terms of impact energies associated with anchors and dropped objects. This paper presents insights garnered in assessing the severity of pipeline damage in the form of dents and gouges. Additionally, research associated with impact forces including experimental work is included as part of the presentation, as well as limit analysis techniques using finite element methods. The primary purpose of this paper is to communicate to offshore pipeline operators a methodology that can be employed to assess the severity of damage and quantify tolerance levels in terms of impact energy.

Vortex Induced Vibration of a Rigid Cylinder Oscillating With a Given Trajectory Profile

Pipeline laid on irregular seabed terrain may have free spans. Due to current, such spans may experiences vortex induced vibrations (VIV), which may lead to fatigue failure. The dynamic properties of free spanning pipelines cause a very complex response pattern and adjacent spans may also have some kind of dynamic interaction. A first set of experiments with flexible pipe model, see Soni & Larsen (2006), showed that the maximum response amplitudes for two interacting spans are higher than for equivalent single span cases. The interaction between IL and CF response will probably have some influence on the response level, in addition to the interaction between adjacent spans. A second set of experiments has been conducted with a motion controlled rigid cylinder in order to find the hydrodynamic coefficients for different flow conditions and also to observe how combination of IL and CF motions will influence the hydrodynamic forces. The cylinder was forced to follow an oscillatory pattern found from the first set of experiments with flexible pipe model. The Reynolds’s number and the dimensionless frequency were kept the same for both types of tests in order to ensure that the flow conditions are identical. The vortex shedding process for the motion controlled rigid cylinder has been mapped using Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) under varying oscillation conditions. Improved understanding of correlation along a flexible beam and the interaction between cylinder motions and vortex shedding is hence obtained. The variation of lift coefficient along the pipe length supports the theory given by the authors; see Soni & Larsen (2005), for energy transfer between the spans. Thus, the spans interact dynamically.

Stability Analysis of Unburied Offshore Pipeline on Carobonate Soil Under Severe Storm Condition

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the stability of an unburied offshore pipeline resting on carbonate sand under severe storm condition. Pore pressure accumulation and pipeline movement during cyclic loading caused by waves and currents are numerically investigated. Both drag and lift forces are numerically obtained for 100 years return period storm condition using the Fourier decomposition method. Non-linear spring element is used to simulate a slip phenomenon between pipeline and seabed. The effects of both bi-linear and tri-linear spring element models on pipeline movement and pore pressure response are numerically investigated. Pipeline movement during cyclic loading greatly depends on the mechanical properties of non-linear spring element. In addition, pore water pressure response as well as shear strain are more sensitive to the initial unit tangential stiffness of spring element.

Hydrodynamic Coefficients for Riser In-Line VIV in Sheared Currents

A methodology for analyzing risers for in-line VIV fatigue damage has been developed that is based on the code SHEAR7, and laboratory in-line VIV coefficients. The in-line VIV fatigue in many instances governs the design of the riser since in-line VIV starts at a reduced velocity of about 1 whereas the threshold reduced velocity for cross flow VIV is about 4. The methodology can treat sheared currents on the basis of the cross flow VIV modeling in SHEAR7. Through the SHEAR7 modeling, the methodology removes conservatism implicit in the present ad hoc procedures for calculating riser in-line VIV response on the basis of the DNV-RP-F105 code. The reduction in conservatism is due to accounting properly for the power-in region in the VIV excitation, the hydrodynamic damping, and competing modal excitation (multiple mode response). The inline VIV coefficients have been derived from laboratory tests at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The paper presents the in-line VIV coefficients, and examples to demonstrate the methodology for riser in sheared currents. The coefficients derived from the NTNU tests are functions of both the in-line VIV response amplitude and the reduced velocity. The coefficients presented in the paper are scaled test coefficients. The scaling of the NTNU coefficients assures that the methodology calculates in-line VIV amplitudes that are consistent with the response amplitudes in DNV-RP-F105 for the case of a simply supported riser in uniform current. This DNV code, although written for pipelines, has been extended to risers in sheared currents on the basis of conservative approaches.