ASSESSMENT OF EXISTING OFFSHORE GAS TRANSIMISSION PIPELINES IN TERMS OF DUCTILE FRACTURE CONTROL USING A MODELING FRAMEWORK

A modeling framework is established to describe running ductile fracture in vintage API grade X52 offshore pipelines. For the structural model, the plasticity and ductile fracture properties were characterized by various laboratory scale tests. Tensile tests up to strain rates of 1000 1/s were performed to calibrate the strain rate dependent plasticity model. Using notched tensile specimens with a wide range of stress states, a hybrid experimental-numerical procedure was performed to determine the parameters of a ductile fracture (FL) model. The material model was successfully verified against the instrumented Battelle Drop-Weight Tear (BDWT) test results. The decompression of the CO2-rich gas mixture was described by the GERG-2008 equation of state and implemented as an idealized pressure decay model to reduce the computational cost. Finally, the established modeling framework provides a valuable tool for investigating and evaluating ductile fracture propagation and arrest behavior in the vintage offshore pipelines.
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