Engineering measures for preventing upheaval buckling of buried submarine pipelines

In-service hydrocarbons must be transported at high temperature and high pressure to ease the flow and to prevent the solidification of the wax fraction. The high temperature and high pressure will induce the additional stress in the pipeline, which results in the upheaval buckling of the pipeline. If such expansion is resisted, e.g., by the frictional effects of the foundation soil over a kilometer or of a pipeline, the compressive axial stress will be set up in the pipe-wall. When the stress exceeds the constraint of the foundation soil on the pipeline, suddenly-deforming will occur to release the internal stress, similar to the sudden deformation of the strut due to stability problems. The upheaval buckling may jeopardize the structural integrity of the pipeline. Therefore, effective engineering measures against this phenomenon play an important role in the submarine pipeline design. In terms of the pipeline installation and protection measures commonly used in Bohai Gulf, three engineering measures are investigated in great details. An analytical method is introduced and developed to consider the protection effect of the anti-upheaval buckling of the pipeline. The analysis results show that the amplitude of the initial imperfection has a great effect on the pipeline thermal upheaval buckling. Both trenching and burial and discrete dumping are effective techniques in preventing the pipeline from buckling. The initial imperfection and operation conditions of the pipelines determine the covered depth and the number of layers of the protection measures.

Finite element analysis on thermal upheaval buckling of submarine burial pipelines with initial imperfection

In-service hydrocarbons must be transported at high temperature and high pressure to ease the flow and prevent the solidification of the wax fraction. The pipeline containing hot oil will expand longitudinally due to the rise in temperature. If such expansion is resisted, for example by frictional effects over a kilometer or so of pipeline, compressive axial stress will be built up in the pipe-wall. The compressive forces are often so large that they induce vertical buckling of buried pipelines, which can jeopardize the structural integrity of the pipeline. A typical initial imperfection named continuous support mode of submarine pipeline was studied. Based on this type of initial imperfection, the analytical solution of vertical thermal buckling was introduced and an elastic-plasticity finite element analysis (FEA) was developed. Both the analytical and the finite element methodology were applied to analyze a practice in Bohai Gulf, China. The analyzing results show that upheaval buckling is most likely to build up from the initial imperfection of the pipeline and the buckling temperature depends on the amplitude of initial imperfection. With the same amplitude of initial imperfection, the triggering temperature difference of upheaval buckling increases with covered depth of the pipeline, the soil strength and the friction between the pipeline and subsoil.

Vertical Upheaval Buckling of Submarine Buried Heated Pipelines with Initial Imperfection

In this paper,a theoretical solution of vertical buckling is proposed with regard to the typical initial imperfection cases of submarine pipelines.Analytical tools are applied to predicting the occurrence and consequence of inservice buckling of a buried heated pipeline in Bohai Gulf.An evaluation is performed to ensure the pipeline structural integrity during operation under loading conditions.Different protection measures are proposed and their validities are analyzed.Analyses show that for the same magnitude of initial imperfection,the upheaval buckling of pipeline with isolated prop model is the most likely to occur.The empathetic model represents a special sub-case of continuous prop model,and the calculated buckle temperature is between the first stage and the second stage of post-upheaval buckling of continuous prop model.And the larger the initial imperfection,the less the axial force required for the upheaval buckling.Meanwhile,it can be seen that a peak point appears on the curves of temperature difference against buckling amplitude for small initial imperfection.Besides,trenching-burial is one kind of protection measures preventing the pipeline from thermal upheaval.The covered depth-to-diameter ratio depends on the design conditions and subsoil properties.For the given pipeline in this paper,the covered depth-to-diameter ratio is recommended to be 5.

防止温度应力下海底管线发生整体屈曲的工程措施研究

为减小油气输送难度和避免原油固化,石油、天然气通常在高温高压下输送.输送过程中的高温和高压导致海底管线中产生较大的附加应力,附加应力的不断累积造成管线发生整体屈曲.对于埋地的海底管线通常会产生竖向屈曲大变形而影响使用甚至破坏.因此,需对有可能产生整体屈曲的管线采取工程防护措施.结合我国海洋工程中管线常用的铺设及保护措施,对处于保护状态下管线由温度应力引起的整体屈曲特性进行理论分析和数值推导,对沟槽保护、沟槽掩埋保护以及压块保护措施的有效性进行了系统分析和对比.

点支撑缺陷下海底埋管热屈曲分析

由于生产工艺的要求,开采的原油经常需要在一定的温度和压力下才能顺利输送,而输油过程中的高温和高压会导致海底管线中产生较大的附加应力。管线受到地基土的约束作用后无法自由变形,附加应力的不断累积,造成管线发生整体屈曲变形,埋地的海底管线通常会产生竖直向的整体屈曲变形而影响使用甚至破坏。基于点支撑初始缺陷形式的海底管线,给出了管线竖直向整体屈曲分析的解析解,结合实际工程中铺设的高温高压输油管线进行了整体屈曲分析,揭示了不同温度条件下埋地管线发生竖直向整体屈曲的规律性,提出挖沟掩埋可以有效地防止管线发生温度应力下的整体屈曲。