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A dent is a typical defect found in oil and gas pipelines and poses a significant threat to their safety and integrity. In this study, the buckling behavior and limit strain capacity of pipelines with kinked dents under bending moment loads were investigated. First, four-point bending tests of full-scale pipelines with kinked dents were conducted in a laboratory, and the critical buckling load and strain response of the pipelines during buckling failure were tested. The test results revealed that the existence of kinked dents, specifically those with large depths, could weaken the bending resistance of the pipelines. During the buckling process of the pipeline, a considerable compressive strain was generated at the bottom center of the dent, which was considerably higher than the strain value at the corresponding position of the intact pipeline. However, the strain at both axial sides of the dent gradually changed from compressive strain at the initial bending stage to tensile strain after buckling failure. Then, nonlinear finite element (FE) models of buckling failure for pipelines with kinked dents under bending moment loads were developed, and the reliability of the FE models was verified through comparison with the test results. In addition, a parametric sensitivity study was conducted to determine the effect of parameters, such as dent depth, dent angle, diameter-to-thickness ratio of the pipe, and yield ratio of the pipe steel, on the compressive strain capacity of the pipeline. Finally, based on a large number of FE simulation results, a model for predicting the buckling compressive strain capacity of pipelines with kinked dents was developed, which can be used for evaluating buckling instability failure of pipelines with kinked dents subjected to bending moment loads. • A strain-based assessment method for dented pipelines under bending loads. • A finite element model for buckling analysis on dented pipeline. • A bending test of buckling failure of pipelines with kinked dents. • Dependence of the compressive strain capacity on pipe geometry and steel material. • The critical compressive strain of buckling as a function of dent depth, angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents an investigation on the compressive strain capacity of resisting buckling on an X80 steel corroded pipeline subjected to a bending moment using nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) validated by full-scale tests. The modelling results indicate that the existing strain-based assessment method is not suitable for pipelines with deep corrosion and has certain application limitations. Consequently, a new evaluation method based on far-field strain was developed to predict the buckling failure of corroded pipelines subjected to bending loads. The influence of the corrosion shape type, corrosion size (i.e., depth d , length L , and width w), pipe geometry, and internal pressure on the critical buckling strain capacity and critical buckling moment of the pipeline were studied using parameter sensitivity analysis to verify the proposed strain criteria. The results illustrate that the variation trends between the critical buckling strain and the critical buckling moment with each factor were consistent, indicating that the proposed novel strain-based evaluation method is effective and applicable. In addition, the buckling resistance of a pipeline with rectangular corrosion is relatively weaker than that with a semi-spherical corrosion pit or cylindrical grooved corrosion under the same defect size. Further, the critical compressive strain capacity of a corroded pipeline is primarily affected by the depth and width of the corrosion, whereas the effect of the corrosion length is relatively insignificant. Moreover, the critical length and width of the corrosion defect affecting the bending capacity of resisting buckling were determined as L / D t = 20 and w / π D = 0. 5 , respectively. • A novel strain-based assessment method of local buckling of corroded pipelines. • Determined the effect of defect geometry on critical compressive strain capacity. • Determined the critical defect size that affect the pipe buckling strain capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dents have been identified as among the most common deformation defects in oil and gas pipelines. In this study, the multidimensional mechanical responses, springback, and rerounding behaviors of dents as well as the interaction of multiple dents on pipelines and their effect on pipe integrity were investigated through the three-dimensional finite element method and full-scale burst tests. The burst test demonstrates that a plain dent has a minimal effect on the pipeline burst pressure, and the burst failure position is not located in the dented area. Generally, when a dented pipeline that is subjected to monotonically increasing internal pressure bursts, the dent does not fully reround, and a convex protuberance forms in the axial shoulders on both sides of the dent. During pressurization, the maximum equivalent plastic strain in the dented pipe always occurs on the inner surface near the dent center in which no necking is found in the radial direction of the wall thickness. However, a larger equivalent stress is observed around the edge of the dent center, whereas the stress at the center is relatively small, resulting in the formation of a plastic hinge in the dented area. If internal pressure fluctuations occur, this can easily lead to fatigue failure. Finally, the interaction among multiple longitudinally aligned dents was investigated, and the critical spacing affecting the integrity of the pipeline was determined. The investigation reveals that when the dent spacing exceeds the pipe diameter, the interaction between two dents may be ignored, and the dent effect on the pipe integrity may be separately evaluated. However, if the dent spacing is less than 0.5 times the pipe diameter, then the dents must be treated as a combined dent. Further, if the spacing is 0.5–1.0 times the pipe diameter, then dent interaction must be considered. • Developed a finite element model to assess the integrity of pipelines with multiple longitudinally aligned dents. • The edges of the dent center show highly strain sensitivity to the variations of internal pressure. • API 579 suggests the empirical value of rebound coefficient at 1.43 may lead to non-conservative result. • A circle of plastic hinge was observed around the dent which may cause fatigue of pipe material. • The critical spacing distance of interaction between multiple longitudinally aligned dents on pipelines was determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigated stress response of a corroded X80 steel pipeline repaired by a type-B sleeve to internal pressure by finite element modeling. Firstly, a three-dimensional numerical model of corroded pipeline reinforced with type-B sleeve was developed, and its accuracy and reliability were verified by the burst test results and the theoretical analytical solution, respectively. Second, the von Mises stress of the pipe body, sleeve and fillet weld was simulated under various affecting factors, i.e., internal pressure, corrosion defect dimension (depth, length and width) and sleeve length. Finally, a parameter sensitivity study was conducted to determine the effects of corrosion geometry and sleeve length on the repair efficiency. The main investigation results show that the type-B sleeve repair method is effective to restore the pressure-bearing capacity of the pipeline at the corrosion defect, and the burst failure of repaired pipeline always occurs at the region far away from the defect and sleeve. At the limit state of burst, the local defective region shows the highest stress, followed by the fillet weld, and the repair sleeve has the smallest stress, thus the maximum equivalent stress of the corroded zone is suggested to be used for measuring the repair efficiency of the repaired pipe by type-B sleeve. The sleeve-repair effectiveness is affected by depth of the corrosion defect, a deep corrosion defect reduces the performance of the sleeve repair compared with a shallow defect. The effect of the corrosion defect length on sleeve repair depends on the defect depth. Furthermore, there exist a critical length of the defect that affect the repair efficiency. The corrosion defect width shows limited effect on stress level at the defect of the repaired pipe. At last, a new method based on stress analysis is proposed to optimize the sleeve length for repairing a corroded pipeline. • A FE model for mechanical analysis on a corroded pipeline reinforced with sleeve. • An assessment method of repairing effect of type-B sleeve repair pipeline. • The stress distribution of repaired pipe body, sleeve and fillet weld was determined. • Proposed a new method to select optimal sleeve length for pipeline repair. • Determined the effect of defect geometry on sleeve repair performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]