Bolted Flange Joint Made of Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) for Oil and Gas Pipelines

The objective of this work is an experimental and numerical investigation for a bol Richard Cullen ted composite flange connection for composite pipes, which are used in the oil and gas applications, and obtain a joint with high strength and high corrosion resistance. For the experimental part, we have designed and manufactured the required mould, which ensures the quality of the composite materials and controls its surface grade. Based on the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section X, this GFRP flange has been fabricated using biaxial glass fibre braid and polyester resin in a vacuum infusion process. Numerically, an investigation is carried out using 3D finite element analysis (FEA) of a bolted GFRP flange joint including flange, pipe, gasket and bolts. This model has taken into account the orthotropy of the GFRP material and the non-linear behaviour of the rubber gasket material for both the loading and non-loading conditions. Furthermore, the leakage propagation between the flange and the gasket has also been simulated in this investigation by using the pressure-penetration criteria PPNC in ANSYS. Finally, the flange has been tested under the internal pressure and the agreement between the experimental and numerical results is excellent.

Structure Integrity Evaluation of Supercritical Water Cooled Pressure Tube Subjected to Accident Conditions

The coolant inside the supercritical water cooled pressure tube operates beyond the critical thermodynamics point of water, and the structure integrity of the pressure tube is of great important to the safety of reactor. Under the accident load, the difference in temperature along the pressure tube wall will cause relatively large thermal stress. Due to the generated high tensile stress, coupled with the internal high pressure load, the defects in the inner surface of the pressure tube may propagate rapidly and even through the wall thickness. This paper investigates the structure integrity of the supercritical water cooled pressure tube based on the deterministic and the probabilistic method of fracture mechanics, and obtains the stress intensity factor and the probabilistic function. It is found that the integrity of the supercritical pressure tube can be maintained from the fracture mechanics analysis under the accident load.

Ductile Tearing Simulation of Circumferential Cracked Pipe Under Cyclic Loading Using Damage Criteria Determined by Monotonic Pipe Test Data

To evaluate the structural integrity of nuclear power plant piping, it is important to predict ductile tearing of circumferential cracked pipe from the view point of Leak-Before-Break concept under seismic conditions. CRIEPI (Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry) conducted fracture test on Japanese carbon steel (STS410) circumferential through-wall cracked pipes under monotonic or cyclic bending load in room temperature. Cyclic loading test conducted variable experimental conditions considering effect of stress ratio and amplitude. In the previous study, monotonic fracture pipe test was simulated by modified stress-strain ductile damage model determined by C(T) specimen fracture toughness test. And, ductile fracture of pipe under cyclic loading simulated using damage criteria based on fracture strain energy from C(T) specimen test data. In this study, monotonic pipe test result is applied to determination of damage model based on fracture strain energy, using finite element analysis, without C(T) specimen fracture toughness test. Ductile fracture of pipe under variable cyclic loading conditions simulates using determined fracture energy damage model from monotonic pipe test.

Pre-Strain Effects on Mixed-Mode Fatigue Crack Propagation Behaviour of the P355NL1 Pressure Vessels Steel

Pressure vessels and piping are commonly subjected to plastic deformation during manufacturing or installation. This pre-deformation history, usually called pre-strain, may have a significant influence on the resistance against fatigue crack growth of the material. Several studies have been performed to investigate the pre-strain effects on the pure mode I fatigue crack propagation, but less on mixed-mode (I+II) fatigue crack propagation conditions. The present study aims at investigating the effect of tensile plastic pre-strain on fatigue crack growth behavior (da/dN vs. ΔK) of the P355NL1 pressure vessel steel. For that purpose, fatigue crack propagation tests were conducted on specimens with two distinct degrees of pre-strain: 0% and 6%, under mixed mode (I+II) conditions using CTS specimens. Moreover, for comparison purposes, CT specimens were tested under pure mode I conditions for pre-strains of 0% and 3%. Contrary to the majority of previous studies, that applied plastic deformation directly on the machined specimen, in this work the pre-straining operation was carried out prior to the machining of the specimens with the objective to minimize residual stress effects and distortions. Results revealed that, for the P355NL1 steel, the tensile pre-strain increased fatigue crack initiation angle and reduced fatigue crack growth rates in the Paris region for mixed mode conditions. The pre-straining procedure had a clear impact on the Paris law constants, increasing the coefficient and decreasing the exponent. In the low ΔK region, results indicate that pre-strain causes a decrease in ΔKth.

Modelling of Dilution Effects on Microstructure and Residual Stress in a Multi-Pass Weldment

Three-pass gas tungsten arc welding in a 20-mm thick SA508 steel plate is modelled using a sequentially coupled thermal-metallurgical-mechanical model. The dilution for each pass is estimated as the proportion of base material in the weld metal, based on an analysis of the cross-sectional area of each fusion zone. The thermal solution of the weld model is validated using thermocouple measurement data and cross-weld macrographs. The predicted microstructure is qualitatively compared with that observed in cross-weld optical micrographs. The measured hardness distribution is used to quantitatively validate the post-weld ferritic phase distribution (e.g. the ferrite, bainite and martensite fractions), based on a hardness-microstructure correlation. The predicted residual stresses are compared with those measured by neutron diffraction. The results show that dilution significantly influences the metallurgical and mechanical properties of weld metal (either as-deposited or reheated), and its consideration notably improves microstructure and residual stress predictions for a multi-pass steel weldment. For the weldment considered, an increase in dilution promotes the formation of martensite, enhances the hardness and leads to lower tensile stresses (or higher compressive stresses) in the weld metal. Such behaviour arises due to the higher hardenability of the base material, coupled with delayed austenite decomposition on cooling.

Optimization of Curing Conditions and Nanofiller Incorporation for Production of High Performance Laminated Kevlar/Epoxy Nanocomposites

Kevlar composite materials are getting scientific interest in repairing of oil and gas pipelines in both offshore and onshore due to their unique properties. Curing is one of the major factor in deciding the final mechanical performance of laminated Kevlar/epoxy nanocomposites. The parameters such as curing time, temperature and applied pressure during the hot pressing will affect chemistry of crosslinking of the epoxy matrix and interaction of epoxy with the Kevlar fiber. The present study is carried out to evaluate the optimal curing conditions of the Kevlar/epoxy nanocomposites. Three different nanofillers (namely Multi walled Carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Aluminum Oxide (Al2O3)) are incorporated in different weight percentage. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) tests are carried out to determine the thermal stability and optimal curing conditions. Mechanical performance is investigated by conducting flexure, and drop weight tests. The results show that, the optimal curing temperature for maximizing the mechanical properties is at 170°C. Peeling off the Kevlar layers are observed for nanocomposite samples cured under 100°C. Mechanical strength of the composites is enhanced by optimizing the curing conditions and nanofiller contents.

Comparison of Two Ductile Crack Propagation Models of GTN and CZM for Pipe Steel Fracture

The ductile crack propagation behavior of pressure equipment has always been the focus of structural integrity assessment. It is very important to find an effective three-dimensional (3D) damage model, which overcomes the geometric discontinuity and crack tip singularity caused by cracking. The cohesive force model (CZM), which is combined with the extended finite element method (XFEM), can solve element self-reconfiguration near the crack tip and track the crack direction. Based on the theory of void nucleation, growth and coalescence, the Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN) damage model is used to study the fracture behavior of metallic materials, and agrees well with the experimental results. Two 3D crack propagation models are used to compare crack propagation behavior of pipe steel from the crack tip shape, fracture critical value of CTOA and CTOD, constraint effect, calculation accuracy, efficiency and mesh dependence etc. The results show that the GTN model has excellent applicability in the analysis of crack tip CTOD/CTOA, constraint effect, tunneling crack and so on, and its accuracy is high. However, the mesh of crack growth region needs to be extremely refined, and the element size is required to be 0.1–0.3mm and the calculation amount is large. The CZM model combined with XFEM has the advantages of high computational efficiency and free crack growth path, and the advantages are obvious in simulating the shear crack, combination crack and fatigue crack propagation. But, the crack tip shape and thickness effect of ductile tearing specimen can not be simulated, and the CTOA value of local crack tip is not accurate.

Fracture Toughness Behaviour of 316L Stainless Steel Samples Manufactured Through Selective Laser Melting

Selective laser melting (SLM) is a relatively new manufacturing technique which offers many benefits. However the utilisation of SLM manufactured components depends on the assurance of their integrity during operation. Fracture toughness testing (JIC) has been performed on as-built compact tension fracture mechanics samples manufactured in three orthogonal directions. When the crack growth plane was transverse to the interface of the build layers, the fracture toughness values were found to be similar to those manufactured using conventional techniques. However, the fracture toughness is significantly reduced when the crack plane is parallel to the interface of the build layers. Simple heat treatments have been performed on Charpy fracture samples and the resulting impact energy values indicate that the fracture toughness of a component may be improved by heat treatment.

Effect of Constraint Induced by Specimen Geometries on Crack Growth Behavior Under Creep-Fatigue Interaction

Creep-fatigue interaction would accelerate the crack growth behaviour and change the crack growth mode, which is different from that presenting in pure creep or fatigue regimes. In addition, the constraint ahead of crack tip affects the relationship between crack growth rate and fracture mechanics and thus affects the accuracy of the life prediction for high-temperature components containing defects. In this study, to reveal the role of constraint caused by various specimen geometries in the creep-fatigue regime, five different types of cracked specimens (including C-ring in tension CST, compact tension CT, single notch tension SENT, single notch bend SENB, middle tension MT) were employed. The crack growth and damage evolution behaviours were simulated using finite element method based on a non-linear creep-fatigue interaction damage model considering creep damage, fatigue damage and interaction damage. The expression of (Ct)avg for different specimen geometries were given. Then, the variation of crack growth behaviour with various specimen geometries under creep-fatigue conditions were analysed. CT and CST showed the highest crack growth rates, which were ten times as the lowest crack growth rates in MT. This revealed that distinctions in specimen geometry influenced the in-plane constraint level ahead of crack tip. Furthermore, a load-independent constraint parameter Q* was introduced to correlate the crack growth rate. The sequence of crack growth rate at a given value of (Ct)avg was same to the reduction of Q*, which shown a linear relation in log-log curve.

Long Term Creep Life Prediction of New and Service Exposed P91 Steel

P91 steels are widely used in high temperature components for power generation. Creep data is often generated through accelerated short term creep tests, for practical reasons, via increasing stress or temperature though this may alter the creep behaviour. Through normalising the creep test stress by tensile strength the Wilshire models reduce the batch to batch scatter in the creep data and enable the prediction of long term creep data from relatively short term test results. In this work it is shown that the Wilshire models fitted to uniaxial creep rupture data can be used to predict failure in both as cast and service exposed multiaxial tests. This is provided that the equivalent stress is the rupture controlling stress, as is the case for the P91 tests examined, and the tensile strength is measured as part of the test programme.