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| Project Number | 454 |
| Date of Summary | November 22, 2006 |
| Subject | Safe Design of Hot On-Bottom Pipelines with Lateral Buckling (SAFEBUCK) |
| Performing Activity | Boreas Consultants Ltd. |
| Principal Investigator | David Bruton |
| Contracting Agency | Minerals Management Service |
| Estimated Completion | Completed |
| Description |
Subsea pipelines are increasingly being required
to operate at higher temperatures and pressures. The natural tendency of a
pipeline is to relieve the resulting high axial stress in the pipe-wall by
buckling. Such uncontrolled buckling can have serious consequences for the
integrity of a pipeline. Consequently, to date, the industry has sought to
restrain pipelines by trenching and burying, or relieving the stress with
in-line expansion spools. A far more elegant and cost-effective solution is
to work with rather than against the pipeline by controlling the formation
of lateral buckles along the pipeline. Controlled lateral buckling is an
efficient solution to the relief of axial compression. Indeed, as
temperature and pressures increase further, lateral buckling may be the only
economic solution. Unfortunately, the industry’s understanding of lateral
buckling is not mature enough to deliver a demonstrably safe and effective
lateral buckling solution. The SAFEBUCK JIP has been initiated to address
this issue. The aim of the JIP is to improve understanding of lateral
buckling, to enable the safe design of hot on-bottom pipelines with lateral
buckling as a high integrity, readily applied solution. The workscope involves engineering studies and preparation of a lateral buckling design guideline by Boreas, with assessment and testing of flowline materials performance by TWI and geotechnical testing of pipe-soil interaction by Cambridge University Engineering Department. OTM Consulting is managing the JIP on behalf of the JIP partners. SAFEBUCK JIP will deliver the first ever design guideline for on-bottom lateral buckling (single pipe and pipe-in-pipe), unique predictive models for laterally buckled pipeline behavior, innovative methods for initiating and controlling lateral buckling, investigations into the integrity of single pipe and pipe-in-pipe joints through both engineering studies and full-scale testing and investigations into pipe-soil interaction for large cyclic displacements with full-scale tests, based on engineering studies. |
| Progress |
Project completed in September 2004, marked by the distribution of the final reports and SAFEBUCK software. The final reports/findings and software remain proprietary to the JIP members with no date specified for release to the public. A public version summary (Appendix B) of the project deliverables from Phase II is attached. Although the findings of Phase I were highly encouraging, MMS did not participate in Phase II. |
| Reports | |
AA
(5 pages) |
Appendix B of SAFEBUCK Phase II Final Report by David Bruton, Boreas Consultants Ltd., Aberdeen, United Kingdom, August 30, 2005. |
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