Raymond Nicholas Burke

In-Field Application of Steel Strip Reinforcement for Pipeline External Rehabilitation

A new technology for external rehabilitation of pipelines, known as XHab™, has been developed. This method involves wrapping multiple layers of ultra-high strength steel (UHSS) strip in a helical form continuously over an extended length of pipeline using a dedicated forming and wrapping machine. The reinforcement afforded by the strip can be used to bring a defective section of pipe (e.g. externally corroded or dented) back to its original allowable operating conditions, or even to increase the allowable operating pressure if the desired operating conditions exceed the original pipeline design limits. This paper describes the design, manufacture and testing process for a self-propelled wrapping machine for in-field rehabilitation. The wrapping apparatus consists of several major components including an opening sufficiently wide to receive the pipe, a movement assembly, a winding head, a preforming device, an accumulator and an oscillating adhesive applicator. The wrapping apparatus uses the winding head to wrap the reinforcing steel strip around the pipe. The movement assembly uses a pair of tracks in contact with the pipe to drive the wrapping apparatus along which enables helical wrapping of the reinforcing strip material. The oscillating adhesive assembly applies structural adhesive to the pipe immediately before the strip is wound. The winding head, motive assembly and adhesive applicator are electronically synchronized to one another to enable precise control of pitch and adhesive volume. The paper also describes the field application of XHab including mobilization/demobilization of equipment and interaction with other rehabilitation equipment, as well as specific aspects such as initiation and termination of wrapping, protection of rehabilitated area and implementation of cathodic protection.Copyright

Code Compliance of a New Metallic Composite Pipeline

The composite pipe system, known as XPipe™, is a steel strip laminate technology which uses high-performance adhesives to manufacture a metallic composite pipe. It offers a new method of low cost pipeline construction suitable for onshore gas and oil pipelines in a variety of configurations. The pipe is based on a thin wall liner that provides the fluid containment, the material of which will vary according to service requirements. Fusion bonded epoxy (FBE) coated martensitic ultra-high strength steel strips are then pre-formed and helically wound around the liner to form a laminated high strength reinforcing layer providing the pipe’s hoop strength. These are bonded using an adhesive. Unlike conventional linepipe that is manufactured in a pipe mill away from the construction site, this lightweight composite pipe can be produced at the construction facility using a portable manufacturing line. All components of the manufacturing process fit within standard ISO containers, each weighing between 5 and 15 tonnes. This allows for easy transportation via truck, and handling or shipping. Existing regulations and codes make no specific reference to metal composite pipes. They are mainly written for steel pipe lines with some mention of plastic pipe. The paper presents a comprehensive review of the following US onshore design codes (ASME B31.4/B31.8) and relevant regulations (CFR (DOT) 49 P192 / P195) in order to establish the applicability of these codes for use on XPipe. The paper describes how XPipe meets the code and regulation requirements with regard to safety, design, material, construction, inspection, testing, operation and maintenance. The paper will identify any areas where XPipe does not meet code and regulation requirements and describe the testing and /or design changes that have been made in order to meet the code requirements. The paper will focus on the how the XPipe can meet the practical requirements of these codes. The paper will describe how the qualification testing is being performed in accordance with DNV-RP-A203 Qualification Procedures for New Technology. The qualification testing focuses on how the XPipe meets or exceeds pipeline safety margins with regard to typical failure modes such as yield, burst, facture, fatigue, collapse, etc. This is a continuous process and is being updated after each step using the available knowledge on the status of the qualification.Copyright

Key Quality Aspects for a New Metallic Composite Pipe: Corrosion Testing, Welding, Weld Inspection and Manufacturing

The composite pipe system, known as XPipe™, uses high-performance adhesives to manufacture a metallic composite pipe. Both technical development and a robust manufacturing quality system are required to ensure the safe use of such novel technology. Several aspects are discussed in this paper. Firstly, the use of ultra-high strength martensitic steels in a buried, cathodically protected environment requires an understanding of their susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement. A series of slow strain rate and constant load tests was performed under polarised conditions to establish any reduction in ductility over samples tested in air. The results are presented and implications for their use in such a system are discussed. Secondly, although the technology to perform quality welds in thin walled austenitic materials using automated orbital techniques is well established, weld inspection by radiographic techniques is not preferred due to the continuous nature of the process and safety considerations. However, the inspection of such welds by ultrasonic techniques is challenging due to the coarse grained nature of the austenitic welds and the thinness of the liner, well below the 6mm normally considered the minimum for conventional weld inspection. Therefore, Automated Ultrasonic Testing (AUT) requires optimized ultrasonic techniques. AUT capabilities and recommendations towards an optimal inspection concept will be discussed in this paper. Thirdly, the manufacture of the liner, ultra-high strength steel strip and adhesive into the XPipe™ composite pipe requires a robust manufacturing control system, which maintains traceability of the incoming materials and controls and records all the essential parameters during pipe production. This is achieved using a sophisticated SCADA system, using feedback from a variety of sensors.Copyright

Testing and Analysis of Steel Strip Reinforcement for Pipeline External Rehabilitation

A new technology for external rehabilitation of pipelines, known as XHab™, has been developed. This method involves wrapping multiple layers of ultra-high strength steel strip (UHSS) in a helical form continuously over an extended length of pipeline using a dedicated forming and wrapping machine. The reinforcement afforded by the strip can be used to bring a defective section of pipe (e.g. externally corroded or dented) back to its original allowable operating conditions, or even to increase the allowable operating pressure if the desired operating conditions exceed the original pipeline design limits. This paper describes the full scale burst testing and analysis of defective pipes which have been repaired using the XHab process. The full scale test sections are 30″ × 0.5″ API 5L X52 DSAW pipe and include the following specimens: • Bare pipe with no defects; • Bare pipe with single machined defect; • Wrapped pipe with single machined defect and designed reinforcement; • Wrapped pipe with single machined defect and insufficient reinforcement; • Wrapped pipe with interacting defect array and designed reinforcement. The above full scale burst tests are supplemented by FEA models using ABAQUS. The material models for the steel pipe, UHSS strip, defect patch material and strip adhesive are based on measured data from the batch tests and tuned against the control burst test results. The structural behavior in the individual metallic and non-metallic elements can therefore be examined more closely, particularly in the region of the defect and where the wrapped strip crosses seam and girth welds.Copyright