Analysis via 3D FEM of the Passing Capacity of Pipeline Inspection Gauges in Bends with Different Curvatures

Abstract

Pipeline inspection gauges easily become wedged in offshore and onshore small-diameter pipelines (where the outer diameter, D, of the pipe is less than 150 mm), particularly at the bends. To reveal the relationship between PIG capacity and bend curvature radius, a quantitative study on the passing capacity of PIG was conducted in this paper from three key perspectives of performance: safe application, sealing, and driving. The results demonstrate that the pipeline inspection gauge exhibits better passing capacity as the curvature radius of the bend increases. To improve the poorest passing capacity, in the case of R = 3D, different numbers of grooves are opened in the cup. The results demonstrate that the cup with 24 square grooves has a substantial impact on optimizing the passing capacity of the pipeline inspection gauge. This enhancement results in improvements in safe application performance (40.8%), sealing performance (12.22%), and driving performance (17%). This research aims to expand our understanding of blockages in small-diameter pipelines and provide a basis for optimizing the structure of the pipeline inspection gauge for small-diameter pipelines.