R&D Cold-Water Pipe

Function: Transport cold seawater from a depth of up to 1000 meters.

What do we know?

Materials and fabrication process.
Deployment of large diameter flexible and stiff pipe.
Loading conditions.
Long-term survivability.

What do we need to know?

Fabrication of polyethylene pipe up to 5 feet in diameter.
5-feet diameter, bottom-mounted pipe deployed; scaled test for 8-feet diameter barge suspended fiberglass reinforced plastic pipe successful.
Deployment and operation of smaller diameter cold-water pipes at Keahole Point successful over few years without a major problem.

What are the R&D requirements?

Fabrication processes for larger diameter pipe (10 feet to 17 feet) for a given material.
Analytical tools to predict flexibility and stresses under deployment and in-place loads. Fatigue and risk analysis.
Development issue not resolved.
Long-term reliability.
Operational data for commercial environments.