Prediction of Load-Displacement Curve of Flexible Pipe Carcass Under Radial Compression Based on Residual Neural Network

The carcass layer of flexible pipe comprises a large-angle spiral structure with a complex interlocked stainless steel cross-section profile, which is mainly used to resist radial load. With the complex structure of the carcass layer, an equivalent simplified model is used to study the mechanical properties of the carcass layer. However, the current equivalent carcass model only considers the elastic deformation, and this simplification leads to huge errors in the calculation results. In this study, radial compression experiments were carried out to make the carcasses to undergo plastic deformation. Subsequently, a residual neural network based on the experimental data was established to predict the load-displacement curves of carcasses with different inner diameter in plastic states under radial compression.The established neural network model’s high precision was verified by experimental data, and the influence of the number of input variables on the accuracy of the neural network was discussed. The conclusion shows that the residual neural network model established based on the experimental data of the small-diameter carcass layer can predict the load-displacement curve of the large-diameter carcass layer in the plastic stage. With the decrease of input data, the prediction accuracy of residual network model in plasticity stage will decrease.

Axial mechanical experiments of unbonded flexible pipes

Axial structural damping behavior induced by internal friction and viscoelastic properties of polymeric layers may have an inevitable influence on the global analysis of flexible pipes.In order to characterize this phenomenon and axial mechanical responses,a full-scale axial tensile experiment on a complex flexible pipe is conducted at room temperature,in which oscillation forces at different frequencies are applied on the sample.The parameters to be identified are axial strains which are measured by three kinds of instrumentations:linear variable differential transformer,strain gauge and camera united particle-tracking technology.The corresponding plots of axial force versus axial elongation exhibit obvious nonlinear hysteretic relationship.Consequently,the loss factor related to the axial structural damping behavior is found,which increases as the oscillation loading frequency grows.The axial strains from the three measurement systems in the mechanical experiment indicate good agreement,as well as the values of the equivalent axial stiffness.The damping generated by polymeric layers is relatively smaller than that caused by friction forces.Therefore,it can be concluded that friction forces maybe dominate the axial structural damping,especially on the conditions of high frequency.

Three-Dimensional Stress Concentration Factor in Finite Width Plates with a Circular Hole

The three-dimensional stress concentration factor (SCF) at the edge of elliptical and circular holes in infinite plates under remote tension has been extensively investigated considering the variations of plate thickness, hole dimensions and material properties, such as the Poisson’s coefficient. This study employs three dimensional finite element modeling to numerically investigate the effect of plate width on the behavior of the SCF across the thickness of linear elastic isotropic plates with a through-the-thickness circular hole under remote tension. The problem is governed by two geometric non-dimensional parameters, i.e., the plate half-width to hole radius (W/r) and the plate thickness to hole radius (B/r) ratios. It is shown that for thin plates the value of the SCF is nearly constant throughout the thickness for any plate width. As the plate thickness increases, the point of maximum SCF shifts from the plate middle plane and approaches the free surface. When the ratio of plate half-width to hole radius (W/r) is greater than four, the maximum SCF was observed to approximate the theoretical value determined for infinite plates. When the plate width is reduced, the maximum SCF values significantly increase. A polynomial curve fitting was employed on the numerical results to generate empirical formulas for the maximum and surface SCFs as a function of W/r and B/r. These equations can be applied, with reasonable accuracy, to practical problems of structural strength and fatigue, for instance.