COLLAPSE OF REINFORCED THERMOPLASTIC PIPE (RTP) UNDER EXTERNAL

PRESSURE
Yong Bai
ZheJiang University
HangZhou, China
baiyong@zju.edu.cn
Nuosi Wang
ZheJiang University
HangZhou, China
wns.wns@163.com
Peng Cheng
ZheJiang University
HangZhou, China
chengpeng@163.com
Binbin Yu
ZheJiang University
HangZhou, China
yubinbinqq@163.com
Mohd Fauzi Badaruddin
Petronas Caligali Sdn Bhd
(PCSB),
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Mohd Ashri
Petronas Caligali Sdn Bhd
(PCSB)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Reinforced Thermoplastic Pipe (RTP) is a multi-layered
thermoplastic pipe. It is increasingly used for transporting gas,
oil and water etc. RTP pipe has many advantages compared with
steel pipe, e.g. it is cheaper to produce, easier to install, more
corrosion resistant and so on.
Collapse under external pressure is often the governing
design parameter for offshore pipelines. This paper presents the
recent study result of RTPs capacity under external pressure.
Firstly, the calculation is carried out by mathematical analysis. In
the mathematical analysis, RTP is assumed to be a 3-layered
cylinder. The major factor that affects the collapse pressure is the
flexural stiffness in hoop direction, so the reinforced layer
(anisotropic) is simplified to be an isotropic layer with the same
flexural stiffness as in hoop direction. The stiffness of this
isotropic layer is the same with the RTP pipe. Secondly, Finite
Element Analysis (FEA) method is employed to predict collapse
pressure using ABAQUS. In the model the pipe is established as
a 3-layered pipe with continuum shell element. The model is
extended to take into account the initial imperfection and the
plastic property of materials. Thirdly, to demonstrate the
accuracy of the mathematical analysis and the FE model some
test is carried out.
This paper focuses on the calculation of RTPs collapse
pressure, using three approaches. The results from the three
agree very well. The reasons for the deviations and the factors
which influence the collapse pressure are discussed. The capacity
equations and FEA models can be useful tools for design of
RTP pipe.
1.INTRODUCTION
RTP pipe is a multi-layered flexible pipe developed to meet
the requirements of transporting corrosive fluid at pressures up
to 100 bar. The typical structure of RTP pipe usually consists of
three layers (Fig. 1). The first layer is a thermoplastic liner
(usually High Density Polyethylene, HDPE), whose major
function is serving as a leak free and corrosion resistant
containment for liquid. The second layer is a reinforced layer
outside the liner pipe, and there are some (even number) helical
windings of continuous reinforcement. The reinforcement
usually consists of carbon, glass or aramid fibers that are
embedded in thermoplastic matrix. This layer is mainly used to
hold the internal pressure, outside pressure or longitudinal
stress. The third layer provides mechanical protection of the
reinforced layer from external damage.
Proceedings of the ASME 2011 30th InternationaI Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering
OMAE2011
June 19-24, 2011, Rotterdam, The NetherIands
OMAE2011-49324
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Fig. 1 Typical structure of RTP pipe
RTP pipe can be manufactured using various types of helical
winding processes. The pipe in this study is manufactured using
helical tape wrapping method. The liner pipe, helical tape, and
the cover layer are of the same generic type of plastic material.
These layers are heat bonded together, thus providing a rather
strong connection between two adjacent layers.
The collapse pressure of a pipe is usually the most important
factors to be considered for an offshore pipeline. When a pipe is
installed without internal pressure or it experiences a drop of
internal pressure during service the pipe may collapse due to the
high external pressure. In general, a structure like pipe under
external pressure loses its structural stiffness and shows a large
amount of deflection at the collapse point. The collapse will
cause great trouble for a project and lead to great economic
losses. Therefore it is of great usefulness to find a way to predict
the buckling/collapse pressure of RTP.
Many previous researches focusing on cylinder-type
buckling had been carried out, while the study on the buckling of
RTP pipe was insufficient. The buckling of infinite long pipe
under external pressure has been provided by theory of stability
(Timoshenko
[1]
,1961), and the critical pressure of thin pipe was
calculated using the suggested equation. Hur and his
colleagues
[2]
employed FEA approach and experimental
approach to study the buckling and post buckling behavior of
composite cylinders under external hydrostatic pressure. Yang,
Pang and Zhao
[3]
studied the buckling of thick-walled composite
pipe under external pressure, and they mainly used mathematical
approach and experimental approach with the transverse shear
deformation included in consideration. Papadakis
[4]
suggested a
new analytical expression for critical load of thick cylinder
buckling. A new variable [ was introduced in the expression to
consider the influence of large wall thickness. To calculate the
collapse pressure of RTP, the section stiffness of the reinforced
layer in should be paid more attention because of the irregular
shape of its section.
The motivation of this paper is to inspect the properties of
RTP pipe under external hydrostatic pressure. Both the FE model
and the mathematical equation suggested in this paper can give
good results to predict RTP pipes collapse pressure.
2.LABORATORY TEST
2.1 Introduction of laboratory test
Collapse test of RTP had been conducted to observe the
behavior of RTP when it collapses under external hydrostatic
pressure, and to verify results from mathematical method and
FEA method. The test was following the standard of API RP
17B Recommended Practice for Flexible Pipe.
The main test facility was a pressure chamber with a 70
MPa pressure capacity. (shown in Fig. 2. The external
pressure was applied to the pressure chamber using a pump.
Then the pressure was loaded on RTPs external surface
through water. Apressure gauge on the end of the chamber was
employed to indicate the water pressure and the pressure was
recorded by a digital camera.
Fig.2 Pressure chamber
Fig. 3 The pressure loaded on the specimen
During the test, the chamber was filled with water and
pressurized at a certain rate about 0.5 MPa/min until the
collapse occur in about 5 minutes. During the test, the specimen
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was free from axial support so it was under the loads of lateral
and axial pressure simultaneously.
2.2 Specimen preparation
The typical configuration of the specimen along with the
load condition of the test is shown in Fig. 3. Each end of the RTP
pipe was sealed up with a two-layered steel end fitting which
provided protection against leakage by clamping the wall of RTP.
Table 1 Geometric parameters of RTP
Layer No. External diameter
(mm)
Thickness
(mm)
Material
#1 110 6.3 PE100
#2 119 4.5 Aramid
embedded in
PE80 matrix
#3 125 3 PE80
Eight points were marked on the external surface of the pipe
along the axial to measure the initial geometric imperfections.
The initial external diameters of the pipe were measured at these
points and the initial ovalities are listed below.
0
max min
max min
D D
D D

'

(1)
Table 2 Initial ovality of RTP specimen
Point Dmax Dmin Maximum initial ovality
1 125.00 124.70 0.001201442
2 125.02 124.80 0.000880634
3 125.10 124.52 0.002323532
4 125.10 124.50 0.002403846
5 125.00 124.10 0.003613007
6 124.92 124.32 0.002407318
7 125.10 124.60 0.002002403
8 124.80 124.50 0.001203369
It should be pointed out that significant variations of
thickness may be added to the pipe geometry due to the
manufacture process. The variation of thickness in a certain layer
also brings about asymmetry of the pipe. This asymmetry will
also lead to buckling and can be considered as initial geometric
imperfection. The volume of water pressed in the chamber, value
of pressure and time were recorded on a computer-operated data
acquisition system. In a typical test the collapse will occur with a
sudden pressure drop as well as a low sound.
Table 3 Initial wall thickness of RTP specimen
Layer No. Nominal value
(mm)
Measured value (mm)
Mean value Max/min
#1 6.30 5.65 1.29
#2 4.50 4.30 1.30
#3 3.00 2.95 1.86
2.3 Test results
Table 4 Test result
Collapse pressure (MPa) 2.19
Collapse mode shape m=1,n=2
m: the number of half-wave along the cylinder. n: the number
of full wave around the circumference.
Fig. 4 Time-pressure curve
Fig. 4 shows the relationship between time and pressure of
the laboratory test. At the beginning part of the time-pressure
(the first 50 seconds) the pressure appeared to grow slowly.
This was because some voids existed in the equipment and they
were compressed. After the beginning period, the pressure
increased almost linearly. It indicated that the pipe had
sufficient stiffness to maintain its original configuration. The
decrease of the volume of RTP was small and the materials
work in their elastic region. The speed of pressure increasing
appeared to be slightly lower around the peak value of the
pressure. And it was believed that the changes in the pipe shape
began to accelerate. Shortly after that the collapse occurred and
the pressure dropped sharply.
Fig. 5 Failure mode shape
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Fig. 5 shows the collapse mode shape after the collapse test.
It can be easily observed that the pipe collapse with a mode
shape of m=1, n=2 (one half-wave along the cylinder and two
full waves around the circumference). But it is worth noting that
the two full waves around the circumference seem to have a bad
symmetry in the test. The full wave in one side is obvious but the
one in the other side is far less obvious.
3.MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
3.1 Introduction of mathematical solutions
The buckling pressure of infinite long pipe (m=1, n=2)
under external pressure can be calculated by the following
equation:
cr 2 3
3EI
P =
1- r Q
(2)
cr
P : critical buckling pressure
EI: flexural stiffness of the of the pipe section (E: modulus
of elasticity, I: moment of inertia of the section)
Q : Poissons ratio
r: mean radius of section
The equation (2) is related to the plane strain state. If no
confining in axial direction is considered the buckling pressure
of a structure in plane stress state can be calculated using a
similar equation below:
cr 3
3EI
P =
r
(3)
From the previous study we can conclude that the flexural
stiffness EI in the hoop direction of a pipe is the major
factor that influences the pipes buckling pressure. So in the
following analysis the reinforced layer (anisotropic) is simplified
to be an isotropic layer which has the same EI with the
reinforced layer. Considering the compressive strength of aramid
is much lower than that of HDPE, the compressive strength of
aramid is taken as zero when calculating the flexural stiffness of
the pipe section. Fig. 6 shows details of the simplification of the
reinforced layer (The angle between the pipe axial and the
aramid is 55 so the section of aramid appears to be oval).
muu
|
tlT?
ll80
^um`d
Fig.6 The simplification of the reinforced layer
It is also assumed that there is no relative slip between
layers because the matrix heat bonded together had sufficient
strength to make the connecting layers move together under
external pressure. The flexural stiffness can be considered as
the sum of the flexural stiffness of all the three isotropic layers,
given by equation (4).
eq 1 1 2 2 3 3
(EI) =E I +E I +E I (4)
3.2 Results
Table 5 Mechanical parameters and results of mathematical
solutions
Flexural stiffness Value
EI1 (N*m) 105.20
EI2 (N*m) 3.27
EI3 (N*m) 71.62
Pcr (MPa) 3.07
4.FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction of the model
The finite element model was developed to predict the
collapse pressure of RTP pipe. The analysis was performed
using finite element analysis software ABAQUS. 8-node
continuum shell element with reduced integration (SC8R) was
used to discretize the structure. The geometric parameters were
defined using the measured value (mean value) as in Table 3.
In the model the pipe consists of three layers. The mesh of
the model is shown in Fig. 7. The structure was a three-layered
pipe. The length of the model was 690 mm, equaling to the
length of the specimens in the test. Along the direction of
thickness the pipe section was defined as 3 layers with different
properties. All the three layers were defined as isotropic. The
reinforced layer was simplified using the same method (use
equivalent stiffness in reinforced layer) as mentioned in part
3.1. In the circumferential direction, each layer of the pipe was
discretized to 60 elements and the elements from two adjacent
layers share their nodes.
Fig. 7 Mesh of the model
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Fig. 8 Boundary condition
One of the pipes end surface was fixed in X,Y and Z
direction, representing the end totally fixed by the end fitting.
The second end surface was fixed in X and Y direction,
providing an axially free boundary condition. To make the two
end surfaces remain plane surfaces instead of curved after
collapse the constraint of coupling was applied on the second
end surface. Then the boundary condition of the model was the
same as in the collapse test. The connection between layers was
defined as constraint of tie because each two layers that were
heat bonded together move together without relative slip. Fig. 8
shows the first end surface where boundary condition is applied.
To calculate the collapse pressure and compare it with the
mathematical equations the collapse pressure of two cases were
carried out. The first case was the buckling of RTP pipe, and the
second case was the collapse analysis with imperfections (4.2)
and the plastic properties of material included (4.3).
4.2 Buckling of RTP pipe
Different from what was shown in Fig. 3, the pressure was
only applied on the external surface of the pipe (without end
surfaces) in this case. The mechanical parameters in Table 5
were employed. The pipe collapsed with the mode shape shown
in Fig. 9, two waves in hoof direction and one wave in axial
direction.
Fig. 9 Buckling mode shape in FE analysis
4.3 Collapse with imperfections and material plasticity
The pressure obtained from the buckling analysis was the
collapse pressure for an ideally perfect pipe which did not exist
in application, but the value could be used to estimate the
collapse pressure of the pipe with imperfections and material
plasticity.
The pressure was applied on the external surface and the
two end surfaces simultaneously in this case, which was the
same load condition as in the collapse test.
Prior to the analysis in this case the nodal displacement
after the buckling in 4.1 had been extracted. It was used as the
initial geometric imperfection of the structure. The maximum
initial ovality of the pipe was 0.0036, which was the maximum
measured ovality of the pipe. The data of plastic properties of
the three layers were obtained from the stress-stain curves
below.
Fig. 10 Stress-strain curve of materials
5.COMPARISON OF RESULTS
Table 6 Comparison of results (Mathematical solution & FEA)
Mathematical
solution
3.07 =
Finite element
analysis
Case 1: 2.85 7.7%
Table 7 Comparison of results (Test & FEA)
Collapse pressure
Collapse
pressure (MPa)
Deviation (%)
Test 2.19 =
Finite element
analysis
Case 2: 2.48 12.3%
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Fig. 11 Load proportionalfactor-Maximum nodal displacement
curve
Table 6 shows the collapse pressure obtained from
mathematical solution and finite analysis (Case 1). Both the
mathematical solution and case 1 of the finite analysis give the
result of the buckling pressure of a perfect RTP pipe under
external pressure. It is noteworthy that the deviation of the
buckling pressure given by finite analysis (case 1) and the
mathematical solution is about 7.7%. It indicates that the model
used in the finite analysis is established properly. From Fig. 11
we can find the trend given by finite analysis showed good
agreement with the pressure-time curve in the test. So the model
can be used to simulate the collapse of RTP pipe with a high
reliability. Table 7 shows the collapse pressure obtained from test
and finite analysis (Case 2). The result obtained from case 2 of
finite analysis has a deviation of about 12.3%, compared with the
result get from the collapse test. The deviation may be produced
by the underestimating of initial geometric imperfections (like
nonuniformity of wall thickness) in mathematical calculation and
FEA.
No obvious relative slip has been found after collapse and
the assumption of no slip between layers can be considered
reasonable. The mathematical solutions for the buckling pressure
of a structure only takes into account the elastic properties of the
material. To consider the influence of imperfection and the
plastic properties of material the reduction coefficient is often
used. The reduction coefficients used for calculating the bucking
pressure of thin-walled cylinder under different loads vary from
0.68 to 0.75
[5]
. Considering the test value, a coefficient of 0.72
seems proper here.
6.CONCLUSIONS
In this study, test, FE analysis and mathematical analysis
was used to predict the collapse pressure of reinforced
thermoplastic pipe under external pressure. The FE model and
mathematical solution show good agreement with experiment
result. The predicting method provided in this paper can be
applied to RTP with similar structures. Engineer will gain
greater confidence to use pipes made of composite materials,
although the application of them are relatively uncommon.
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