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.

Analytical solution for upheaval buckling of shallow buried pipelines in inclined cohesionless soil

Upheaval buckling of pipelines can occur under thermal expansion and differential ground settlement.Research on this phenomenon has usually assumed the pipes are buried in horizontal ground.For long-distance transmission pipelines across mountainous areas,the ground surface is commonly inclined.Based on the Rankine earth pressure theory and Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion,analytical formulae for calculating the peak uplift resistance and the slip surface angles for a buried pipe in inclined ground are presented in this paper.Analyses indicate that the slip surfaces in inclined ground are asymmetric and rotate towards the downhill side.Under a shallow burial depth,the failure plane angle is highly impacted by the ground inclination.When the embedment ratio(H/D)is more than 4,the influence of the ground slope on the failure plane angle is negligible.The peak uplift resistance reduces in inclined ground,especially when H/D is less than 1.Finally,a simple equation considering the impact of ground inclination is proposed to predict the peak uplift resistance.

Model Test Based Soil Spring Model and Application in Pipeline Thermal Buckling Analysis

The buckling of submarine pipelines may occur due to the action of axial soil frictional force caused by relative movement of soil and pipeline, which is induced by the thermal and internal pressure. The likelihood of occurrence of this buckling phenomenon is largely determined by soil resistance. A series of large-scale model tests were carried out to facilitate the establishment of substantial data base for a variety of burial pipeline relationships. Based on the test data, nonlinear soil spring can be adopted to simulate the soil behavior during the pipeline movement. For uplift resistance, an ideal elasticity plasticity model is recommended in the case of H/D （depth-to-diameter ratio）〉5 and an elasticity softened model is recommended in the case of H/D≤5. The soil resistance along the pipeline axial direction can be simulated by an ideal elasticity plasticity model. The numerical analyzing results show that the capacity of pipeline against thermal buckling decreases with its initial imperfection enlargement and increases with the burial depth enhancement.

Experimental study on uplift mechanism of pipeline buried in sand using high-resolution fiber optic strain sensing nerves

Reliable assessment of uplift capacity of buried pipelines against upheaval buckling requires a valid failure mechanism and a reliable real-time monitoring technique.This paper presents a sensing solution for evaluating uplift capacity of pipelines buried in sand using fiber optic strain sensing(FOSS)nerves.Upward pipe-soil interaction(PSI)was investigated through a series of scaled tests,in which the FOSS and image analysis techniques were used to capture the failure patterns.The published prediction models were evaluated and modified according to observations in the present study as well as a database of 41 pipe loading tests assembled from the literature.Axial strain measurements of FOSS nerves horizontally installed above the pipeline were correlated with the failure behavior of the overlying soil.The test results indicate that the previous analytical models could be further improved regarding their estimations in the failure geometry and mobilization distance at the peak uplift resistance.For typical slip plane failure forms,inclined shear bands star from the pipe shoulder,instead of the springline,and have not yet reached the ground surface at the peak resistance.The vertical inclination of curved shear bands decreases with increasing uplift displacements at the post-peak periods.At large displacements,the upward movement is confined to the deeper ground,and the slip plane failure progressively changes to the flow-around.The feasibility of FOSS in pipe uplift resistance prediction was validated through the comparison with image analyses.In addition,the shear band locations can be identified using fiber optic strain measurements.Finally,the advantages and limits of the FOSS system are discussed in terms of different levels in upward PSI assessment,including failure identification,location,and quantification.