The Criterion of Lateral Buckling and Axial Walking for HPHT Offshore Pipelines
Publication: Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 14, Issue 1
Abstract
Offshore pipelines that deliver raw fluids usually work under high temperature/high pressure (HPHT) conditions to ease the flow and prevent the solidification of wax fractions. Under HPHT conditions, lateral buckling and axial pipeline walking can occur. Existing studies have shown that axial walking is prone to occur in short pipelines and lateral buckling tends to occur in long pipelines. However, there is no clear definition for distinguishing between short and long pipelines, nor are there criteria to determine the occurrence of these two behaviors under certain conditions. In this study, the relationship between the length of a pipeline and lateral buckling critical temperature was derived based on an analytical solution, considering the influence of tension forces and seabed slope angle. A theoretical analytical solution of axial walking was reviewed and summarized. The two solutions for axial walking and lateral buckling were combined, and a criterion based on critical pipeline length was proposed to estimate the possibility and priority of these two behaviors for a given pipeline under certain conditions. The influence of seabed slope and axial and lateral friction factors on the two behaviors was explored by carrying out parameter analysis, and the influence regularity of these factors on critical pipeline length and critical temperature was obtained.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the discussions with A/Prof. Z. Wang at Xiangtan University, China. The first and corresponding authors acknowledge the support from the State Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Engineering Simulation and Safety (HESS-2011), Tianjin University, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51890913, 51879183).
References
Bruton, D., M. Carr, and M. Crawford. 2005. “The safe design of hot on-bottom pipelines with lateral buckling using the design guideline developed by the SAFEBUCK joint industry project.” In Proc., Deep Offshore Technology Conf. Houston: Offshore Technology Conference.
Bruton, D., D. White, M. Carr, and C. Cheuk. 2008. “Pipe-soil interaction during lateral buckling and pipeline walking—the SAFEBUCK JIP.” In Proc., Offshore Technology Conf. Houston: Offshore Technology Conference. https://doi.org/10.4043/19589-MS.
Carr, M., D. Bruton, and D. Leslie. 2003. “Lateral buckling and pipeline walking, a challenge for hot pipelines.” In Proc., Offshore Pipeline Technology Conf. Houston: Offshore Technology Conference.
Carr, M., F. Sinclair, and D. Bruton. 2006. “Pipeline walking—Understanding the field layout challenges, and analytical solutions developed for the SAFEBUCK JIP.” In Proc., Offshore Technology Conf. Houston: Offshore Technology Conference. https://doi.org/10.4043/17945-MS.
Hobbs, R. 1981. “Pipeline buckling caused by axial loads.” J. Constr. Steel Res. 1 (2): 2–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/0143-974X(81)90027-4.
Hobbs, R. 1984. “In-service buckling of heated pipelines.” J. Transp. Eng. 110 (2): 175–189. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-947X(1984)110:2(175).
Kerr, A. 1974. “On the stability of the railroad track in the vertical plane.” Rail Int. 5 (15): 131–142.
Kerr, A. 1978. “Analysis of thermal track buckling in the lateral plane.” Acta Mech. 30 (5): 17–50. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01177436.
Maltby, T., and C. Calladine. 1995. “An investigation into upheaval buckling of buried pipelines—II. Theory and analysis of experimental observations.” Int. J. Mech. Sci. 37 (Sep): 965–983. https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-7403(95)00005-I.
Michel, J. 2000. “Assessment and recommendations for the oil spill cleanup of Guanabara Bay, Brazil.” Spill Sci. Technol. Bull. 6 (1): 89–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1353-2561(00)00056-6.
Miles, D., and C. Calladine. 1999. “Lateral thermal buckling of pipelines on the sea bed.” J. Appl. Mech. 66 (4): 891–897. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2791794.
Rafael, S., C. Carlos, and A. Bruno. 2019. “Overview of the Lateral Buckling and Walking Designs of Deepwater Pipelines in Offshore Brazil.” In Proc., ASME 2019 38th Int. Conf. on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering. Glasgow, Scotland: Univ. of Strathclyde.
Randolph, M., and S. Gourvenec. 2011. Offshore geotechnical engineering. Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis.
Taylor, N., and B. Gan. 1986. “Submarine pipeline buckling—Imperfection studies.” Thin Walled Struct. 4 (4): 295–323. https://doi.org/10.1016/0263-8231(86)90035-2.
Tian, Y., W. Wu, M. Cassidy, and M. Randolph. 2021. “A complete analytical solution for axial pipeline walking considering seabed resistance as rigid plastic behavior.” Geotechnique 72 (9): 810–824.https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.20.P.135.
Tornes, K., J. Jury, B. Ose, and P. Thompson. 2000. “Axial creeping of high temperature flowlines caused by soil ratcheting.” In Proc., of the ETCE/OMAE 2000 Joint Conf.: Energy for the New Millennium, 1229–1240. New York: ASME.
Torselleti, E., L. Vitali, and E. Levold. 1999. “HOTPIPE Project: Snaking of submarine pipelines resting on flat sea bottom using finite element method.” In Proc., 9th Int. Offshore and Polar Engineering Conf. Mountain View, CA: International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers.
Tvergaard, V., and A. Needleman. 1981. “On localized thermal track buckling.” Int. J. Mech. Sci. 23 (10): 577–587. https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-7403(81)90038-2.
Zhou, T., Y. Tian, D. J. White, and M. J. Cassidy. 2019. “Finite-element modeling of offshore pipeline lateral buckling.” J. Pipeline Syst. Eng. Pract. 10 (4): 04019029. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)PS.1949-1204.0000396.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 14 • Issue 1 • February 2023
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 6, 2022
Accepted: Sep 19, 2022
Published online: Nov 22, 2022
Published in print: Feb 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Apr 22, 2023
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.