Corrosion Fatigue of Stiffened Offshore Steel Tubular Joints
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 120, Issue 7
Abstract
Corrosion fatigue is a complex phenomenon involving many variables. Welded‐steel tubular joints of offshore structures are subjected to corrosion fatigue due to the combined action of corrosive seawater environment and cyclic wave forces. This paper addresses the aforementioned problem, mainly with respect to internally ring stiffened steel tubular joints. The studies were made with respect to tropical seawater environment similar to that in the Bombay High offshore region where bulk of the Indian oil is produced. Corrosion‐fatigue tests were conducted on five welded‐steel tubular T and Y joints under constant amplitude axial‐brace loading at a frequency of 0.2 Hz. The studies have shown reduction in fatigue life when compared to S‐N curves recommended by the codes that are mainly based on air fatigue tests. Based on crack‐growth data obtained from the tests, a model has been proposed to predict the remaining life of stiffened tubular joints under corrosion fatigue.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
American Petroleum Institute. (1984). “Recommended practice for planning, designing and constructing fixed offshore platforms.” (1984). Report No. API RP2a, Amer. Petroleum Inst., Washington, D.C.
2.
American Society for Testing and Materials. (1975). “Standard specification for substitute ocean water.” (1975). Report No. ASTM D1141. American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, Pa.
3.
Design of tubular joints. (1985a). Underwater Engineering Group Publication, Vol. 2, Construction Industry Research and Information Association, London, England.
4.
Design of tubular joints for offshore structures. (1985b). Underwater Engineering Group Publication, Vol. 3, Construction Industry Research and Information Association, London, England.
5.
Dijkstra, O. D., and De Back, J. (1980). “Fatigue strength of tubular T and X joints.” Proc. Offshore Tech‐Conf., Program Department, Richardson, Houston, Tex. 177–186.
6.
Dover, W. D., Sham, W. P., and Peet, C. (1988). “Random load corrosion fatigue of tubular welded joints.” Proc. Conf. on Fatigue of offshore structures, W. D. Dover and G. Glinka, eds., University College, London, England, 1–33.
7.
“Fatigue strength analysis for mobile offshore units.” (1984). Classification Note No. 30.2, Det norske Veritas, Hovik, Norway.
8.
Gaythwaite, J. (1981). The marine environment and structural design. Von Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, N.Y.
9.
Gerald, J., Bignonnet, A., Lieurade, H. P., and Lecoq, H. (1987). “Corrosion fatigue tests on high strength steel tubular X nodes with improved welds.” Proc. Third Int. Conf. Steel in Marine Structures, Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 455–463.
10.
Hara, M., Kawai, Y., Narnmoto, A., and Matsumoto, S. (1986). “Corrosion fatigue strength of 490 MPa class high strength steels produced by the thermo‐mechanical control process.” Proc. Offshore Tech. Conf., Program Department, Richardson, Houston, Tex., 179–185.
11.
Jaske, C. E., Broek, D., Slater, J. E., and Anderson, W. E. (1978). “Corrosion fatigue of structural steels in seawater and for offshore applications.” Corrosion fatigue technology, H. L. Craig Jr., T. W. Crooker and D. W. Hoeppner, eds., American Society for Testing and Materials, 19–47.
12.
Kam, J. C. P., Topp, D. A., and Dover, W. D. (1989). “Fatigue fracture mechanics modelling and structural integrity assessment of offshore welded tubular joints.” J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng., 111, 170–176.
13.
Kerr, J., Holmes, R., and Brown, G. M. (1987). “Fatigue of large tubular joints subjected to cathodic protection.” Proc. Third Intl. Conf. Steel in Marine Struct., Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 479–487.
14.
Kuang, J. G., Potvin, A. B., and Leick, R. D. (1975). “Stress concentration in tubular joints.” Proc. Offshore Tech. Conf., Houston, Tex., 593–612.
15.
Lotsberg, I., and Andersson, H. (1985). “Fatigue in building codes: background and applications.” Fatigue handbook—offshore steel structures, A. Almar Naess, ed., Tapir Publishers, Trondheim, Norway, 459–501.
16.
Lourensson, A. A., and Dijkstra, O. D. (1982). “Fatigue tests on large post‐weld heat‐treated and as‐welded tubular T joints.” Proc. Offshore Tech. Conf., Houston, Tex., 327–336.
17.
Oberparleiter, W. J. (1985). “Corrosion fatigue of welded offshore steels and tubular connections.” J. Theoretical and Appl. Fracture Mech., 4, 97–107.
18.
Pan, R. B., and Plummer, F. B. (1976). “A fracture mechanics approach to non‐overlapping tubular K joint fatigue life predictions.” Proc. Offshore Tech. Conf., Houston, Tex., 317–332.
19.
Paris, P. C., Gomez, R. E., and Anderson, W. E. (1987). “A rational analytic theory of fatigue.” Fracture mechanics retrospective: early classic papers (1913–1965), John M. Barsom, ed., American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, Pa.
20.
Ramachandra Murthy, D. S., Madhava Rao, A. G., Gandhi, P., and Pant, P. K. (1992). “Structural efficiency of internally ring stiffened steel tubular joints.” J. Struct. Engrg., ASCE, 118(11), 3016–3035.
21.
Ramachandra Murthy, D. S. (1993). “Corrosion fatigue behaviour of steel tubular joints of offshore structures,” PhD thesis, Anna University, Madras, India.
22.
Regulations for the structural design of fixed structures on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. (1977). Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, Oslo, Norway.
23.
Rules for the design, construction and installation of offshore structures. (1977). Det norske Veritas, Hovik, Norway.
24.
Sawant, S. S., Wagh, A. B., and Venugopalan, V. P. (1989). “Corrosion behaviour of mild steel in offshore waters of the Arabian Sea.” Corrosion prevention and control, Scientific Surveys Ltd., Bucks, England, 44–47.
25.
Tomkins, B., and Scott, P. M. (1978). “An analysis of the fatigue endurance of tubular T joints by linear elastic fracture mechanics.” Proc. Seminar on European offshore steels research, Cambridge, Paper 20.
26.
Vosikovsky, O., and Tyson, W. R. (1986). “Effects of cathodic protection on fatigue life of steel welded joints in seawater.” Proc. Workshop on “Cathodic Protection: A+ or ‐ in Corrosion Fatigue.” O. Vosikovsky and K. Leewis, eds., Canadian Government Publishing Centre, Ottawa, Canada. 1–43.
27.
Zhou, M., Yao, M., and Shi, L. (1990). “Improvement of fatigue strength of tubular T joint in offshore platforms due to post‐weld treatment.” J. China Ocean Engrg., 4(2), 189–198.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 120 • Issue 7 • July 1994
Pages: 1991 - 2010
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 11, 1993
Published online: Jul 1, 1994
Published in print: Jul 1994
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.