Thanks to their exceptional thermal insulation capability, Pipe-in-Pipe (PIP) systems are well suited for the transportation of hydrocarbons at high pressure and high temperatures (HP/HT), preventing hydrate formation and ensuring high discharge temperatures at the arrival facility.

In this whitepaper resulting from a close interaction between Fugro GeoConsulting, Genesis Oil and Gas and different Universities, Filip Van den Abeele reviews and compares different numerical approaches to simulate the structural response of a pipe-in-pipe system. The fully bonded PIP system can be simulated using an equivalent diameter approach, replacing both pipes by a single pipe with an equivalent mass and bending stiffness. This approach has been pursued to evaluate the mechanical response of a PIP system in a free span. A formulation is presented to reconstruct the stress distributions in the inner and outer pipes based on the strains and bending moments calculated for the equivalent cross section. The results show that the equivalent pipe section methodology can be used for on-bottom roughness analysis and free span assessment of fully bonded Pipe-in-Pipe systems.

 Free Spanning Pipe in Pipe: Benchmark between SAGE Profile 3D and Abaqus

 >> Read more – 2014