Pipe Strength and Deformation Capacity: A Novel FE Tool for the Numerical Lab

Abstract

Future offshore pipelines development moves towards challenging operating condition and deep/ultra-deep water applications. Understanding the failure mechanisms and quantifying the strength and deformation capacity of pipelines, special components (buckle arrestors, wye, etc.) and in-line structures (in-line sled, in-line valve, in-line tee, etc.) is a need, under installation and operation loads, taking in account different geometrical characteristics and mechanical behaviors. The objective of this paper is to present and discuss recent FEM approaches integrating global and local analyses to evaluate the pipeline response and local effects, respectively. Thanks to this method the results coming from the global FEM analysis (main loads and driving phenomena) are used as input data for local FE Model with the aim to detect stress/strain intensification and other issues due to the local characteristics. In this paper: • The challenges of future deep water offshore pipelines are briefly presented; • The typical loading scenarios for pipelines during installation and operation are discussed; • The PipeONE 2014 tool, developed to facilitate the input/output data sharing between global and local FEM analyses, is presented and fully described in its main characteristics and capabilities; • An example is presented with the aim to understand and to appreciate the PipeONE 2014 functionality in FE modeling.