Structural response of a flexible pipe with damaged tensile armor wires under pure tension

This article studies the structural response of a 6.0” flexible pipe under pure tension considering intact and damaged conditions. In the damaged condition, several wires of the tensile armor layers are assumed to be broken. A three-dimensional nonlinear finite element (FE) model devoted to analyze the local mechanical response of flexible pipes is employed in this study. This model is capable of representing each tensile armor wire and, therefore, localized defects, including total rupture, may be adequately represented. Results from experimental tests validate the FE predictions and indicate a reduction in the axial stiffness of the pipe, a non-uniform redistribution of forces among the remaining intact wires of the damaged tensile armor layers and high stress concentrations in the wires near the broken ones. Moreover, the FE model indicates that significant normal bending stresses may arise in the pressure armor and inner carcass due to an uneven pressure distribution on these layers. Finally, the results obtained are employed to estimate the pull out capacity of the studied flexible pipe.     

An investigation on flexible pipes birdcaging triggering

An investigation on triggering mechanisms for the birdcaging failure mode of flexible pipes, used in offshore oil and gas production, is carried out. From previous experimental observations, a conjecture is made: the local axisymmetric instability of the external plastic layer, caused by the high radial loading which is internally applied due to the helical armor wires tendency to expand when the pipe is subjected to compression, would be this trigger. A simple instability onset criterion for the external plastic layer, namely, the polymer intrinsic yielding limit stress, is proposed and assessed, analytically, numerically and experimentally for HDPE tubes. Then, previous birdcaging experimental observations are investigated further, focusing on the flexible pipe external plastic layer, to assess the proposed criterion. Strong evidences of validity are obtained.     

A finite element methodology for birdcaging analysis of flexible pipes with damaged outer layers

Flexible pipes are commonly exposed to damages on the outer layers due to abrasion with seafloor or improper installation and operation, which may render them vulnerable to birdcaging failures. This paper presents a finite element model for the residual axial compressive strength evaluation of a flexible pipe with local damage on the outer layers. The elastoplastic nonlinearity of tensile armour steel layers and hyperelasticity of polymeric outer sheath are taken into account. This model is verified against existing test data. Parametric studies are then performed by varying the damage size in either the pipe axial or circumferential directions. The flexible pipe axial resistance, deformations, as well as the tensile armour wires layers stress states near the damaged section under different damage and axial compression conditions are discussed. The case studies show that damage on the outer layer, especially the anti-birdcage tape layer, is highly detrimental to flexible pipe residual strength against axial compression. The present results and discussions are instructive in understanding the flexible pipe birdcaging mechanism.     

Helical wire stress analysis of unbonded flexible riser under irregular response

A helical wire is a critical component of an unbonded flexible riser prone to fatigue failure. The helical wire has been the focus of much research work in recent years because of the complex multilayer construction of the flexible riser. The present study establishes an analytical model for the axisymmetric and bending analyses of an unbonded flexible riser. The interlayer contact under axisymmetric loads in this model is modeled by setting radial dummy springs between adjacent layers. The contact pressure is constant during the bending response and applied to determine the slipping friction force per unit helical wire. The model tracks the axial stress around the angular position at each time step to calculate the axial force gradient, then compares the axial force gradient with the slipping friction force to judge the helical wire slipping region, which would be applied to determine the bending stiffness for the next time step. The proposed model is verified against the experimental data in the literature. The bending moment–curvature relationship under irregular response is also qualitatively discussed. The stress at the critical point of the helical wire is investigated based on the model by considering the local flexure. The results indicate that the present model can well simulate the bending stiffness variation during irregular response, which has significant effect on the stress of helical wire.     

Local structural analysis of flexible pipes subjected to traction,torsion and pressure loads

Helically armored cables or pipes find a wide range of applications as structural members in engineering. An example of this is the increasing use of flexible pipes in the oil offshore production. Although keeping a geometrical similarity with other helically armored structures such as wire ropes and ACSR conductors, and borrowing from them a useful methodology for the structural analysis, some care must be taken in order not to indiscriminately use an approach which was not thought for a flexible pipe: internal and external pressures, for instance, are a great concern in the analysis of flexible pipes, but obviously not for wire ropes. This work aims at giving some additional contribution to the structural response of flexible pipes when subjected to axisymmetric loads, including the effect of both internal and external pressure in pipe displacements. Derivation of linear operators, relating the stress-resultants to their related displacements or deformations in each of the layers of the pipe, as well as the process of deriving an analogous linear operator to represent the behavior of the pipe as a whole, are clearly presented, highlighting interesting mathematical aspects and their associated physical meaning. A numerical case study of a 2.5″ flexible pipe subjected to traction and internal pressure is also presented and discussed.     

Axisymmetric structural behaviours of composite tensile armoured flexible pipes

To address the weight and corrosion challenge in deep-water, replacing the steel tensile armour in flexible pipes with composite materials is an alternative conceptual approach. An axisymmetric structural responses model is built for this novel composite armoured flexible pipe, with interlayer gaps that may occur in the unbonded structure considered through an iterative algorithm. The tensile strength of steel and composite armoured pipes are predicted based on different constitutive relations of steel and composite. Essential quantities are obtained, such as tensile stiffness, deformations of each layer and interlayer gaps or contact pressures. Considering the helix form of carcass and pressure armour, a finite element model is established for the verification of the theoretical model. Case study shows that the tensile stiffness of flexible pipe is overestimated with the interlayer gap ignored. Compared with steel armoured flexible pipe, the composite armoured pipe, whose tensile stiffness decreases less as external pressure increases, meanwhile has higher values of tensile ultimate strength and torsion stiffness. Some suggestions about fiber types and volume fraction for composite tensile strips are given to ensure good performance of axial tensile strength and stiffness.     

A finite element model for unbonded flexible pipe under combined axisymmetric and bending loads

Flexible pipes are key equipment for offshore oil and gas production systems, conveying fluids between the platform and subsea wells. The structural arrangement of unbonded flexible pipes is quite complex, encompassing several layers with polymeric, metallic and textile materials. Different topologies and a large amount of intricate nonlinear contact interactions between and within their components, especially because of the relative stick-slip mechanism during bending, makes numerical analysis challenging. This paper presents an alternative three-dimensional nonlinear finite element model that describes the response of flexible pipes subjected to combined axisymmetric and bending loads. To simulate the response of a flexible pipe under axial tension or compression combined with uniform curvature, an equivalent thermal loading is employed on the external sheath, which is modelled as an orthotropic thermal expansion material with temperature-independent mechanical properties. To assess the feasibility of the proposed model, the bending moment versus curvature of the finite element solution is compared with experimental results obtained in literature and good agreements are found between them. Detailed finite element results such as contact pressures, armour wire slip displacements and friction, normal and transverse bending stresses are also shown and compared with available analytical models.     

无粘结柔性管抗拉伸层结构分析

柔性管抗拉伸层是复杂的空间螺旋线结构,其结构响应分析对柔性管疲劳分析、强度分析和屈曲分析有重要作用。文章基于曲梁理论,应用斜驶螺旋线假设和测地线假设两种空间曲线公式,以空间细长杆理论及胡克定律本构方程为基础,采用格林应变张量与第二Kirchoff应力张量度量,对深海无粘结柔性管抗拉伸层螺旋形钢缆结构平衡方程进行了推导,编写了分析程序。利用该程序,分析了抗拉伸层钢缆在轴对称载荷下和弯矩作用下的曲率变化和结构响应;同时利用三维直梁有限元模型与曲梁有限元模型建立数值模型,将程序结果与数值模拟模型结果进行了对比,证明了结果可行性。该结果可为柔性管抗拉伸层结构设计提供快速的预估计方法。     

Bending behavior modeling of unbonded flexible pipes considering tangential compliance of interlayer contact interfaces and shear deformations

Rigorous analytical formulations are given to describe the gross slip initiation and progression in tensile armor layers of unbonded flexible pipes. Then two mechanisms are thought to contribute to the decrease of layer stiffness before gross slip begins. The first one considers the micro-slip occurred at the interlayer contact interfaces. The relative displacement between an armor wire and the underlying layer is determined according to the theory of contact mechanics. Shear deformations of the supporting plastic layer are taken into account in the other mechanism where plane sections no longer remain plane. The results of bending moment-curvature relationship from the presented models are compared with the available test data and good correlations are found. The shear model is seen to describe the slip transition better than other models do.     

Finite element study on circular armour wire lateral buckling in umbilicals

The present paper addresses the circular armour wire lateral buckling in umbilicals. An asymmetric non-linear finite element model is developed to analyze a single armour wire subjected to combined constant axial compression and uniform cyclic curvatures. A parametric case study is performed for an armour wire from a nine-hose umbilical cable, where the armour wire pitch number, applied axial compressive load and minimum and maximum curvatures in the applied cyclic bending are varied. The armour wire end shortenings, transverse sliding in cyclic bending, the buckling shapes and equilibrium paths after numerous bending cycles, the critical buckling loads, the stress states at the onset of lateral buckling, and the required number of bending cycles that triggers lateral buckling are obtained and extensively discussed. The critical buckling loads given by the FE model have been compared with an existing analytical formulation, indicating that the analytical model is reliable for small cyclic curvatures. Moreover, an empirical model is proposed for the required number of bending cycles to trigger the lateral buckling and good correlation with the FE results has been observed.     

Dynamic behavior of conveying-fluid pipes with variable wall thickness through circumferential and axial directions

In addition to the traditional hollow circular sections used in marine structures, other hollow sections have attracted the attention of architects and design engineers due to their mechanical characteristics such as torsional rigidity and local strength against impact loading. The purpose of this study is to investigate dynamic response of pipes conveying fluid with variable wall thickness through both circumferential and axial directions. Pipes with variable wall thickness have different flexural rigidities about two different principal axes. This property allows these pipes to be oriented efficiently, meet various design requirements and resist the applied loads. The results of this investigation provide a better insight into the physics and dynamic behavior of non-circular pipes conveying fluid. Two different geometries are studied, (i) the pipe is assumed with a general non-circular cross section with variable wall thickness along the circumferential direction, (ii) both inner and outer boundaries of the pipe cross section are assumed to be circles whereas the wall thickness of the pipe along axial direction is varied with a specified function. The governing differential equations of the problem are derived using Timoshenko beam theory with the effect of shear deformation included in the formulation. The discretization of the problem domain is done using the finite element method. Consequently, a modal analysis is employed to calculate the critical flow velocities of the pipe with clamped-clamped end conditions. The effects of different cross sections on the critical flow velocity are investigated. The importance of Coriolis forces on the presence of coupled-mode flutter and re-stabilization point are also discussed for different values of mass ratio.     

RFID wireless system for detection of water in the annulus of a flexible pipe

Corrosive environments are responsible for the highest degree of degradation and failure in marine structures. The presence of sea water in marine structures such as flexible pipes can cause a significant reduction in their operational life, especially when associated with permeated gases, which could lead to corrosion related failure mechanisms such as corrosion-fatigue and hydrogen cracking. The ingress of sea water into flexible pipes can occur either due to ruptures in their external polymeric sheath or to permeation of condensed water from the pipe bore. This event since flooding of the so-called annular space of flexible pipes is the trigger for all knows corrosion assisted failure modes, it is clear that a system that is able to reliably detect the presence of water in the structure is highly desirable. This work will describe a radio frequency identification (RFID) system designed for this purpose; it relies on the measurement of shifts in the resonance frequency of specially-designed tags which would be inserted within the layers of the flexible pipe during manufacturing. This paper shows the design and validation process of these tags and also of a reader which is meant to be scanned along the outside surface of the pipe by a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV). The study was performed through a finite element analysis and a test in which the tags were inserted within a full-scale mock-up of a flexible riser, which was then flooded with synthetic seawater. Results show that the shift in response due to sea water is clearly identifiable and distinguishable from other effects.     

平衡式弧形体挠性接管的缠绕模型研究

为了保证挠性接管在使用过程中的安全性,需要对其进行平衡性设计。提出一种新型弧形体挠性接管的设计方法。采用直管内部加压、两端向内挤压的方法进行弧形体挠性接管成型,通过对纤维帘线进行建模,确定直管对应于不同帘线缠绕角的长度;采用有限元方法计算确定满足平衡性要求的直管帘线缠绕角。通过合理设计以保证弧形体挠性接管具有足够的平衡性。     

On the effect of the ply stacking sequence on the failure of composite pipes under external pressure

The use of high performance structural composites has become very important over the last decades, especially where weight is an essential factor. Particularly in the oil and gas industry, several designs of composite pipes for deep water applications have been recently proposed as competitive solutions against traditional steel pipes. Thus, it is important to assess the performance of composite pipes under high external pressure in order to avoid pipe failure or overconservative designs. In this paper, experimental tests of different composite pipe configurations are performed and then compared to analytical and numerical predictions. Unlike the case of internal pressure loads, the collapse pressure of composite pipes depends on the initial ovality and on the ply stacking sequence. The collapse resistance of different composite pipes is firstly studied through simplified analytical equations combined with different failure criteria. Then, a finite element model is developed using a progressive failure criterion [1]. Both analytical and numerical failure predictions were compared to experimental tests carried out on four composite pipes produced with different ply stacking sequence by the filament winding method [2]. An experimental-numerical-analytical comparison shows that numerical and analytical models provide results in good agreement with those obtained experimentally. Finally, a parametric analysis is carried out to show the effect of ovality and ply stacking sequence on the failure pressure of composite pipes.     

A model for the biaxial dynamic bending of unbonded flexible pipes

An analytical model is given to investigate the behavior of unbonded flexible pipes under biaxial dynamic bending. The stick-slip conditions of each wire are studied in the framework of incremental analysis by an operator splitting of the time step into a stick-state prediction and a slip-state correction step. The tension gradient is calculated using the classical return-mapping algorithm and the obtained tension gradients are integrated numerically to find the axial tension by imposing appropriate boundary conditions. From the axial tension the bending moments with respect to the principal bending axes of the pipe are obtained. Poisson's effect, bending induced tension in the wire, shear deformations of the supporting plastic layer and the changes of the effective torsion and curvature increments of the wire after slip occurs are taken into account in the model. The results of bending moment–curvature relationship from this model are compared with the test data from simple bending and good correlations are found. The comparison of the biaxial bending moment results between this model and the available model also shows good agreement.     

Thermal expansion of pipe-in-pipe systems

This paper presents a comprehensive mathematical model for the thermal expansion of pipe-in-pipe and bundle systems that are used in the offshore oil and gas industry. The inner pipe and the outer pipes are assumed to have structural connections through bulkheads at extremities and spacers or centralisers to prevent contact of the inner and the outer pipes. The aim is to calculate the displacement and forces on the bulkheads and axial force in the inner pipe.In addition to protective pipe-in-pipes, short and long pipe-in-pipes are defined and the limits between the two are clearly delineated. Analytical methods are extended to study the effects of exponential temperature gradients along both the inner and the outer pipes, the pipe-in-pipe length, tie-in spoolpieces, inner pipe weight, seabed and spacer friction and relative axial stiffness of the inner and the outer pipes on the thermal expansion characteristics. The iterative approach to solve thermal expansion characteristics proposed can be replaced by analytical calculation in most practical situations. Simple analytical formulae are suggested when the outer pipe temperature is constant. Analytical solutions indicate good agreement with finite element numerical results.     

非粘合柔性管破段强度解析分析（英文）

This paper presents an analytical scheme for predicting the collapse strength of a flexible pipe, which considers the structural interaction between relevant layers. The analytical results were compared with a FEA model and a number of test data, and showed reasonably good agreement. The theoretical analysis showed that the pressure armor layer enhanced the strength of the carcass against buckling, though the barrier weakened this effect. The collapse strength of pipe was influenced by many factors such as the inner radius of the pipe, the thickness of the layers and the mechanical properties of the materials. For example, an increase in the thickness of the barrier will increase contact pressure and in turn reduce the critical pressure.     

弧形体挠性接管力学模型及平衡性研究

提出了新型弧形挠性接管结构模型,建立了弧形挠性接管数学模型,对其进行了内压作用下的应力分析;对弧形挠性接管平衡性进行了深入研究,推导出管体骨架缠绕的平衡角公式,并对平衡角公式的正确性进行了验证.     

The impact of periodic axial loads on nonlinear dynamic instability behavior of Inconel 625 pipes

In various engineering fields like aerospace and aircraft structures or marine and offshore platforms, constitutive material of critical components should be made of specific materials that can work properly in the required workspace. Such materials must have excellent properties such as high mechanical strength as well as great resistance to corrosion, oxidation, and creep. Inconel 625 is a superalloy that is chosen as constitutive material of critical components due to its great abilities. On the other hand, since investigating Inconel 625 pipe has not been done yet, different mechanical characteristics of using structures made of Inconel 625 should be assessed. Additionally, doing so would be necessary to gather information for current industrial affairs and also future investigations. Therefore, the nonlinear dynamic instability response of axially loaded Inconel 625 pipes is investigated in the current article. The pipe structure is modeled via the Donnell shell theory and nonlinear von Kármán theory. The motion equations of pipes are established by applying the Hamiltonian approach. Then, in order to alter the nonlinear derived partial differential equations into the Mathieu-Hill equation, both Navier's solution and Airy stress function are implemented. Additionally, the amplitudes of steady-state oscillation of the Inconel 625 pipe are determined by employing Bolotin's method. Eventually, the impacts of various effective parameters on the nonlinear dynamic behaviors of Inconel 625 pipes are evaluated. The results indicate static and dynamic load factors possess a remarkable effect on instability exciting areas and steady-state vibration amplitudes of pipe. Moreover, the dynamic instability response of the pipe is dependent on the radius-to-thickness and length-to-radius ratios, and also how the ratios are affected depends on the wave number.     

钢带软管内压和弯曲研究

复合材料管已成为管道发展的热点和趋势。文中对钢带软管在同时受到内压和弯曲组合载荷作用下的力学性能进行了研究。基于建立的钢带软管的环向和径向力学平衡方程,提出了不同弯曲半径下该种类型管道的爆破压力理论计算方法。文中还进行了有限元数值模拟,并与理论计算结果对比分析,分析结果表明文中提出的爆破压力计算方法可作为此类管在同时受到内压及弯曲组合载荷作用下的通用算法,为解决此类工程问题提供重要参考。