Dynamic Stability Response of Piggyback Pipelines

One of the main aspects of subsea pipeline design is ensuring pipeline stability on the seabed under the action of hydrodynamic loads. Hydrodynamic loads acting on Piggyback Pipeline Systems have traditionally been determined by pipeline engineers using an ‘equivalent pipeline diameter’ approach. The approach is simple and assumes that hydrodynamic loads on the Piggyback Pipeline System are equal to the loads on a single pipeline with diameter equal to the projected height of the piggyback bundle (the sum of the large diameter pipeline, small diameter pipeline and gap between the pipelines) [1]. Hydrodynamic coefficients for single pipelines are used in combination with the ‘equivalent diameter pipe’ to determine the hydrodynamic loads on the Piggyback Pipeline System. In order to assess more accurately the dynamic response of a Piggyback Pipeline System, an extensive set of physical model tests has been performed to measure hydrodynamic forces on a Piggyback Pipeline System in combined waves and currents conditions, and to determine in-line and lift force coefficients which can be used in a dynamic stability analysis to generate the hydrodynamic forces on the pipeline [2]. This paper describes the implementation of the model testing results in finite elements dynamic stability analysis and presents a case study where the dynamic response of a Piggyback Pipeline System was assessed using both the conventional ‘equivalent diameter approach’ and the hydrodynamic coefficients determined using model testing. The responses predicted using both approaches were compared and key findings presented in the paper, in terms of adequacy of the equivalent diameter approach, and effect of piggyback gap (separation between the main line and the secondary line) on the response.

Effect of Lu¨ders Bands on the Bending Capacity of Steel Tubes

In several offshore applications hot-finished pipe that often exhibits Lu¨ders bands is bent to strains of 2–3%. Lu¨ders banding is a material instability that leads to inhomogeneous plastic deformation in the range of 1–4%. It can precipitate structural instabilities and collapse of the pipe. Experiments and analysis are used to study the interaction of the prevalent structural instabilities under bending with Lu¨ders banding, with the objective of providing guidance to the designer. Pure bending experiments on tubes of various D/t values reveal that Lu¨ders bands result in the development of inhomogeneous deformation in the structure, in the form of coexistence of two curvature regimes. Under rotation controlled bending, the higher curvature zone(s) gradually spreads while the moment remains essentially unchanged. For relatively low D/t tubes with relatively smaller Lu¨ders strain, the whole tube eventually is deformed to the higher curvature, subsequently entering the usual hardening regime where it continues to deform uniformly until the expected limit state is reached. For higher D/t tubes and/or for materials with longer Lu¨ders strain, the structure collapses during the inhomogeneous deformation regime. This class of problems is analyzed using 3D finite elements and an elastic-plastic constitutive model with an up-down-up material response. It will be demonstrated that the solution procedure followed can simulate the experiments with consistency.

An Experimental Analysis of the Interaction Between Hanged Pipe and Internal Flow

The pipes are playing an important role in the offshore environment. Risers and pipelines are widely deployed by the petroleum industry for the well drilling and hydrocarbons production. Whereas during drilling, a mixture of drilling mud and solids in suspension (rock cuttings) flows through the drilling riser; during the production, mono or multiphase flow (comprising oil, water and gas) takes place within the production system. However up till now, most of investigations on offshore pipelines and risers have neglected the effects of the internal flow and have focused mainly on the interaction among pipe’s structure, hydro-dynamic forces and offshore platform’s motion. This paper deals with the interaction between the pipe structure and its internal flow. An experimental analysis was carried out, in the Deep Sea Basin of the National Maritime Research Institute (Japan), using a model of 10 m length. In this experiment, a mono-phase fluid of liquid and another bi-phase fluid of liquid and solids in suspension are used as the internal flow fluid and a parametric analysis using the internal flow rate and pipe’s oscillating frequency was carried out. Discussion about the experimental results is also included.

CAD Software for Cable Design: A Three-Dimensional Visualization Tool

The concept and project of umbilical cables and flexible pipes are not simple tasks, due to the great variety of components and possible arrangements. The design of those elements is based on the functions they are intended to perform. Also, some structural characteristics determine which component will be selected, including electrical cables and hydraulic hoses, to control underwater equipment, protective sheaths, helically wounded tensile armors, anti-wear layers, interlocked carcasses; pressure armors and so on. The modeling process consists on defining the cable features and selecting the elements that will compose it. The process should take into account the desired structural characteristics, such as axial stiffness, and must respect some constraints, such as weight. To have an operational cable, one must follow a number of steps from definition to validation of the cable and any tool that provides a easier way to deal with this process is highly desired. In this scenario, Computer Aided Design software was conceived. It enables the definition of cable elements and set its relative arrangements in a cross-section view. Post-processing features are also part of the program, enabling users to visualize the geometry, determining possible interferences only visible in a three-dimensional visualization module. Although a solver is also available to determine stress and displacements and, as a sub-product, the cable weight and equivalent stiffness, the CAD software can be easily integrated to other solvers, to provide pre and post processing resources. This paper gives a general description of the whole CAD system but focus on the three-dimensional module. Through the paper, an overview of the software is shown, pointing out the system requirements. Next, the user interface is described, showing its features and, to conclude, modeled cables geometries and some results are shown.

Using ECA in Structural Integrity of Submarine Pipelines for Optimalization of Intervention Work

The paper deals with the design methodology to define the design loads and determine the maximum allowable size of girth weld defects. The motivation for this work is reduced intervention costs obtained by opening all free spans as these are governing for rock infill volumes. 20–30% reduction of the intervention work is obtained. Structural integrity of the pipeline related to the interference with fishing gear is an important design scenario. Trawling in free span, pull-over loads with clump weight as an ALS condition is the main issue. REINERTSEN observed during detail design a lack of acceptance criteria for ALS conditions in the DNV OS-F101 design code, Ref. [1] for interference between trawl gear and subsea pipelines with low D/t ratio. Curvature in the trawl pull-over point as a function of time is found approximately constant while trawl load is increasing. The membrane forces carry most of the trawl load a few seconds after the trawl impact while bending moment decreases. This is in accordance to the philosophy that the strain and the curvature will be nearly constant for increased loading. The global load bearing mechanism is membrane and less bending. This means that we have control on the strain and that the pipeline system maintains its stiffness against loading for this high axial capacity of the flowline. These observations leads to a deformation controlled trawl load approach where an ECA of the flowline can be used to document structural integrity. Engineering Criticality Assessment (ECA) analysis is applied to evaluate the integrity of the flowlines with respect to risk for unstable fracture in girth welds due to impact from trawl equipment. The fatigue load effects from installation, temporary and operational phases are included in the ECA analysis. Geometric effects and external/internal pressure are included using the tailormade softwares LINKpipe, Ref. [7] and Crackwise4, Ref. [8]. The residual capacity of the flowlines is calculated with emphasis on fatigue during operation after the trawl pull-over. The fatigue life should be within the inspection interval, reflecting the Integrity Management Scheme.

Structural Behavior of Umbilicals: Part II—Model-Experimental Comparisons

A set of tests was performed in a non-armored Steel Tube Umbilical (STU), including pure pressure loading, constant and variable tension loads and combinations of constant and cyclic bending moment and tension. Tests were made for pressurized and non pressurized conditions. Strains were measured with strain gages attached to the external surface of selected tubes. Instrumentation was performed in four windows that were opened on the umbilical outer sheath to provide access to the tubes. Besides the strains, tension, internal pressure and imposed angle were measured. Comparisons with results obtained using the model presented in Part I, [1], are presented for different load conditions.

In-Place FE Modeling of Unbonded Flexible Pipelines Capturing Pressure Stiffening and Decoupled Axial/Nonlinear Bending Stiffness

For fast track pipeline projects the need for costly installation vessels and sophisticated materials for rigid pipeline water injection systems, have made flexible pipelines a competitive alternative. They can be installed with less costly construction vessels, provide a competitive lead time and a corrosion resistant compliant material. Flexible pipelines have relative high axial stiffness and low non-linear bending stiffness which is a challenge to model correctly with FE for in-place analyses of pipelines. Whilst some FE programs can model the non-linear bending behaviour of a flexible pipeline at a given pressure, current FE tools do not include the effect of increased bending resistance as the system is pressurized. Therefore, a 3D FE model in ANSYS was developed to simulate the decoupled axial and nonlinear bending behaviour of a flexible, including the bend stiffening effect for increasing pressure. A description of the model is given in this paper. It will be demonstrated how the FE model can be used to simulate the 3D nonlinear catenary behaviour of an high pressure flexible pipeline tied into a manifold during pressurization. Due to high manifold hub loads during pressurization it is essential that such a model is capable of capturing all effects during pressurization to achieve an acceptable confidence level of the system integrity. It is also described how the FE model is used for upheaval buckling design, capturing non-linearities and load history effects that can reduce the conservatism in the design.

Vibration and Stability Behaviour of Sandwiched Viscoelastic Pipes Conveying a Non-Newtonian Fluid

Internal fluid flow parameters in conjunction with elastomechanical properties of conveyance systems have significantly modulated flow induced vibrations in pipeline and riser systems. Recent advances on the mechanics of sandwich elastic systems as effective vibration and noise reduction mechanisms have simulated the possibility of replacing traditional steel pipes with sandwich pipes in deepwater environment. The dynamic behaviour and stability of sandwich elastic pipes conveying a non-Newtonian fluid are investigated in this paper. For this problem, a set of generalised non-linear equations governing the vibration of sandwich pipes held together in pressurised environment and conveying a non-Newtonian fluid is presented. By linearizing the governing partial differential equation matching the problem physics, under slight perturbation of the internal fluid velocity and other flow variables closed form analytical results for the system dual natural frequencies and stability under external excitation are computed for field designs and applications. Results show that for a given length of pipe, beyond the critical velocity, instability increases with the velocity of conveyance.

Dynamic Optimization of Steel Catenary Risers Based on Reliability Using Metamodel

Reliability based design optimization (RBDO) of a steel catenary riser (SCR) using metamodel is investigated. The purpose of the optimization is to find the minimum-cost design subjecting to probabilistic constraints. To reduce the computational cost of the traditional double-loop RBDO, a single-loop RBDO approach is employed. The performance function is approximated by using metamodel to avoid time consuming finite element analysis during the dynamic optimization. The metamodel is constructed though design of experiments (DOE) sampling. In addition, the reliability assessment is carried out by Monte Carlo simulations. The result shows that the RBDO of SCR is a more rational optimization approach compared with traditional deterministic optimization, and using metamodel technique during the dynamic optimization process can significantly decrease the computational expense without sacrificing accuracy.

Ultimate Strength and Fatigue Durability of Steel Reinforced Rubber Loading Hoses

Loading hoses in an offshore loading buoy system in the North Sea were investigated with respect to extreme load resistance and fatigue durability. Both experimental work and fatigue life analyses were carried out. The FLS test is based on the principle of a service simulation test according to the American Petroleum Institute (API) 17B guidelines. The test results given in number of endured cycles from the laboratory test are scaled to the in-service conditions. Although the life estimate is based on one full scale test only, an attempt has been made to account for the inherent scatter in fatigue life. Furthermore, the results are validated by large test series with small scale test specimens for the critical reinforcement components in the composite structure of the hose wall. Test series with steel wires and samples of the steel helix were carried out. Statistically based S-N curves with characteristic scatter are established. Finally, all experimental facts were assembled and fatigue life predictions made. Redesign is considered and a scheduled inspection and replacement program is presented. The rubber-steel composite structure has sufficient strength for both the ULS and FLS case. For a planned replacement interval of 10 years the thickness of the standard steel end fittings has to be increased and the shape of the fitting should be optimized with respect to fatigue.