Effect of Crack Depth on Burst Strength of X70 Linepipe With Dent-Crack Defect

Abstract

External interferences cause various defects, which significantly affect the transportation of oil and gas in pipelines. Corrosion, crack, puncture, dent, gouge, and combination of such damages from a variety of external interferences are some common examples of surface damage in pipelines. Gouges, dents, cracks, and punctures that form in the pipe wall as a result of contact and/or impact from foreign objects are often referred to as mechanical damage. Structural integrity of oil and gas transmission pipelines is often threatened by these mechanical damages and as a result, a failure of the pipeline may occur. A defect that contains both dent and crack, often known as dent-crack defect, may lead to a rupture or leak in the pipe wall. This kind of defect is a matter of serious concern for the pipeline operator since a rupture or a leak may occur. Hence, an experimental study was completed at the Centre for Engineering Research in Pipelines (CERP), University of Windsor on 30 inch (762 mm) diameter and X70 grade pipes with D/t of 90. This project was undertaken through laboratory based experimental work and numerical study using non-linear finite element analysis (FEA) method. The purpose of full-scale test was to collect test data to be able to validate finite element (FE) model. The validated FE model was then used to undertake parametric study for determining the effect of the crack depth and operating (internal) pressure on the burst strength of NPS30 X70 grade oil and gas pipe. The parameters chosen in the FE based parametric study are: (1) crack depth which was varied from 0.25 to 0.75 of pipe wall thickness and (2) internal pressure applied during denting process (operating pressure of linepipe) was varied from no internal pressure to 0.75py. This study found that the dent-crack defect with crack depth of 75% of wall thickness could reduce the pressure capacity by 54%.