Collapse of Corroded Pipelines under Combined Tension and External Pressure

PLoS One. 2016 Apr 25;11(4):e0154314. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154314. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

In this work, collapse of corroded pipeline under combined external pressure and tension is investigated through numerical method. Axially uniform corrosion with symmetric imperfections is firstly considered. After verifying with existing experimental results, the finite element model is used to study the effect of tension on collapse pressure. An extensive parametric study is carried out using Python script and FORTRAN subroutine to investigate the influence of geometric parameters on the collapse behavior under combined loads. The results are used to develop an empirical equation for estimating the collapse pressure under tension. In addition, the effects of loading path, initial imperfection length, yielding anisotropy and corrosion defect length on the collapse behavior are also investigated. It is found that tension has a significant influence on collapse pressure of corroded pipelines. Loading path and anisotropic yielding are also important factors affecting the collapse behavior. For pipelines with relatively long corrosion defect, axially uniform corrosion models could be used to estimate the collapse pressure.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anisotropy
  • Corrosion
  • Equipment Failure Analysis*
  • Finite Element Analysis
  • Materials Testing
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Oil and Gas Industry*
  • Pressure*
  • Software

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51175454), Key Science-Technology Team of Zhejiang Province (2011R50005) and Zhejiang Science and Technology Plan Project (2012C11002). It is ZJ who received the funding. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.