Corrosion failure analysis of the 45-degree elbow in a natural gas gathering pipeline by experimental and numerical simulation

Abstract

A bursting incident occurred in a 45-degree elbow of a natural gas gathering pipeline in an oilfield. The failure analysis was performed by means of corrosion morphology observation, corrosion products analysis, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The results showed that a radical change in the fluid state at the 45-degree elbow due to its climbing structure and formation a region of low flow velocity, high pressure and high turbulence kinetic energy, which promoted the condensation of water vapor containing CO2. Then the corrosive water droplets flowed back under the action of gravity and accumulated at the junction between the elbow and horizontal pipeline. In such a corrosive medium, electrochemical corrosion was preferred for 20 steel. In addition, the junction of the horizontal pipe and the inclined pipe exhibits higher structural stress concentration, resulting in increased corrosion thinning. Finally, the failure of the pipeline can be attributed to the synergistic effect of electrochemical corrosion and stress accelerated corrosion.