EG55F2/G2 2010/11

Page 1 of 10
UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN SESSION 2010-11

Degree examination in EG55F2/G2 PIPELINE AND SOIL MECHANICS

Tuesday 31 May 2011 Time 9 am 12 noon



NOTES: (i) Candidates are permitted to use approved calculators.
(ii) Candidates are permitted to use the Course Formulae Handout,
which will be made available to them.
(iii) Candidates should attempt ALL FIVE questions
(iv) All questions carry 20 marks each


PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING
(i) You must not have in your possession any material other than that expressly
permitted in the rules appropriate to this examination. Where this is permitted, such
material must not be amended, annotated or modified in any way.

(ii) You must not have in your possession any material that could be determined as
giving you an advantage in the examination.

(iii) You must not attempt to communicate with any candidate during the examination,
either orally or by passing written material, or by showing material to another
candidate, nor must you attempt to view another candidates work.

Failure to comply with the above will be regarded as cheating and may lead to
disciplinary action as indicated in the Academic Quality Handbook:
(www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/quality/appendix7x1.pdf) Sections 4.14 and 5.







EG55F2/G2 2010/11
Page 2 of 10
1. (a) Explain, briefly, the difference between Flow Theory and Deformation Theory in
the analysis of plastic deformation of engineering materials. Comment on the
suitability of these theories for the analysis of plastic deformation during installation
of subsea pipelines. [6 marks]

(b) A 16 (OD = 406.4 mm) line pipe has a wall thickness of 16 mm and it is made
from a material with Youngs modulus E = 205 GPa and Poissons ratio v = 0.5. The
uniaxial true stress (in MPa) versus plastic true strain response of the material
satisfies the relation
15 0
300
.
c o = . A hydrostatic testing of the line pipe is
conducted by making use of blind flanges at the ends and subjecting the pipe to an
internal pressure of 15 MPa which causes plastic deformation. Determine the
circumferential and longitudinal components of the plastic strains induced in the
pipe during the hydrostatic testing. [14 marks]




2. (a) Describe, briefly, three of the limiting factors that dictate the selection of pipeline
wall thickness assuming the pipeline material is known. [6 marks]


(b) A 6 nominal bore (OD = 168.3mm) X65 (SMYS = 450 MPa) carbon steel pipeline
is required to transport gas from the platform to a gas export system. The system
design pressure is 25 MPa, the water depth is 100 m and the pipeline will be at
seabed ambient conditions. The water density is 1025 kg/m
3
.

Determine the minimum pipeline wall thickness required for pressure containment
based on BS PD8010 thin-walled pipe requirements. [5 marks]

A 6 nominal bore X65 carbon steel spool is to be used to tie the pipeline on to a
riser base. Analysis of the pipeline indicates free-end expansion which develops a
bending moment of 50 kNm in the tie-in spool. Assuming negligible (true wall)
external axial force in the tie-in spool, calculate the von-Mises equivalent stress in
the spool using the calculated wall thickness required for pressure containment.
Comment on the design implications of the level of the equivalent stress.
[9 marks]


EG55F2/G2 2010/11
Page 3 of 10
3. (a) Describe, briefly, the process of reel-lay installation method. List two advantages
and disadvantages of the method. [6 marks]

(b) A 12 (OD = 304.8 mm) pipe with a wall thickness t = 12 mm, made from X70 API
grade steel, is to be installed using the reel-lay method.

(i) Neglecting any strain concentration, derive the expression for the maximum
strain in the pipe during the reeling as a function of the pipes outer diameter
D and the reel drum radius R. [5 marks]

(ii) Hence, determine the minimum radius of the drum that could be used for the
reeling based on DNV limiting bending strain requirement. Comment,
briefly, on the suitability of using DNV approach instead BD PD8010 to size
the drum. [9 marks]


4. (a) Explain, briefly, the difference between effective longitudinal force and true wall
force in a pipeline, and comment on the significance of each in pipeline design.
[6 marks]

(b) A 40 km long pipeline is to be constructed from X70 steel grade for use in 1500 m of
water. The pipe has an outer diameter of 406 mm and a wall thickness of 25 mm.
The installation and operating temperature are 5
o
C and 100
o
C, respectively, while
the internal pressure is 20 MPa. The pipe is fully filled with a fluid with density

f
= 800 kg/m
3
. The other geometric and material parameters are:

Steel Grade X70
s
= 7800 kg/m
3
; E = 205 GPa;
v = 0.33; SMYS = 483 MPa;
o = 1210
-6
/
o
C
Axial pipe/seabed friction coefficient = 0.90
Seawater density
w
= 1028 kg/m
3

Coating Thickness and density t
c
= 40 mm;
c
= 2400kg/m
3


Determine

(i) the effective axial force, [4 marks]

(ii) the anchor location along the pipeline, and [5 marks]

(iii) the free-end expansion of the pipeline. [5 marks]




EG55F2/G2 2010/11
Page 4 of 10
5. (a) Describe, briefly, the types of subsea soil commonly defined as coarse grained and
fine grained. For the purpose of obtaining the geotechnical properties what
classification is used for each? Give a short description.
[6 marks]

(b) A pipeline is to be laid at the seabed floor (sand), at a depth of 100 m below the sea
level. The pipe has an outer diameter of 16 (OD = 406.4 mm), a wall thickness of
22 mm and made from a material with a density of
s
= 7800 kg/m
3
. The pipe is
fully filled with a gas with density
f
= 200 kg/m
3
.

(i) Calculate the total and effective stresses as well as the pore water pressures
at a location 0.5 m below the seabed. Take unit weight of saturated sand as
1700 kg/m
3
and unit weight of water as 1024 kg/m
3
. Assume that force of
the pipeline on the seabed acts over its full diameter.
[6 marks]

(ii) State the equilibrium equation that needs to be met to make a pipeline stable
in the soil. Use a sketch to show the forces identified. Describe, briefly, how
the equilibrium equation differs between steady and unsteady flow.
[4 marks]

(iii) For the case of a steady flow with a flow velocity of 1 m/s, calculate the
forces identified in (ii), indicating if the pipeline is stable. Assume the
friction coefficient between the pipeline and the soil is 0.6 while the drag
coefficient and lift coefficient are C
D
= 0.6 and C
L
= 0.8, respectively.
[4 marks]




EG55F2/G2 2010/11
Page 5 of 10
EG55F2/G2: PIPELINE AND SOIL MECHANICS

FORMULAE HANDOUT


1. Maximum stresses in a thick-walled pipe with end caps and subject to internal pressure P
i

and external pressure P
o

( )
2 2
2 2
2 2
2 2
; ;
i o
o o i i
z o i
i o
i o
i r
D D
D P D P
P P
D D
D D
P

+
= = o o o
u


2. von Mises equivalent stress, o
e
, (in cylindrical polar coordinates)

( ) ( ) ( ) | |
2 1
2 2 2 2 2 2
2
1
/
)
`

+ + + + + =
u u u u
t t t o o o o o o o
z rz r r z z r e


3. Equivalent plastic strain
( ) ( ) ( )
2 1
2
1 3
2
3 2
2
2 1
3
2
/
(

+ + =
p p p p p p p
e
c c c c c c c

where superscript p denotes plastic, and c
1
, c
2
and c
3
are the principal strains

4. Hills anisotropic yield criterion

L z
HL H
z
R H
z
Y
S S S S
=
(
(

+ +
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
2 1
2
2 2 2 2
2
1 1 1 1
1
/
u u u
t o o o o

where
L
HL
HL
L
H
H
L
R
R
Y
Y
S
Y
Y
S
Y
Y
S = = = ; ; ; Y
L
is the yield stress in the longitudinal
direction; Y
H
is the yield stress in the hoop direction; Y
R
is the yield stress in the radial
direction; and Y
HL
is the shear yield stress in the hoop-longitudinal plane.

5. Plastic stress versus strain relation (Deformation theory)
( ) | |
( ) | |
( ) | |
2 1
2
1
3 3
3 1
2
1
2 2
3 2
2
1
1 1
o o o
o
c
c
o o o
o
c
c
o o o
o
c
c
+ =
+ =
+ =
e
p
e
p
e
p
e
p
e
p
e
p

where superscript p denotes plastic, and c
1
, c
2
and c
3
are the principal strains
EG55F2/G2 2010/11
Page 6 of 10

6. Effective longitudinal force for a fully restrained pipe

i i s s
o i
eff
A P T A E A
t
D P
F = . . . . A o v
2


where A
i
in the internal cross-sectional area of the pipe and A
s
is the cross-sectional area of
the pipes wall.

7. Upheaval buckling criterion

( ) 0 =
L w
F u u ,

where
2
eff
w
F H
EI W
.
.
= u is the imperfection download coefficient,
2 1/

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
EI
F
L
eff
L
u is the is
the imperfection length coefficient

0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0 5 10 15 20 25
u
L
u
W



8. Uplift resistance for buried pipeline

|
|
.
|

\
|
+ =
o
rock
o rock rock uplift
D
H
f D H W W 1 . .
where the uplift coefficient f = 0.7 for rock and 0.5 for sand.

9. Design factors (BS PD8010)

Hoop stress design factor, f
h
= 0.72

Equivalent stress design factor, f
e
= 0.96
EG55F2/G2 2010/11
Page 7 of 10
10. Resistance and material factors (DNV)

Safety Class
Low Medium High
Safety class resistance factor,
sc
1.046 1.138 1.306
Strain resistance factor,
c
2.0 2.5 3.3
Material resistance factor,
m
1.15 1.15 1.15
Material strength factor, o
u
0.96 0.96 0.96


11. Elastic buckling external pressure


3
2
1
2
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
o
ec
D
t E
P
v


12. Plastic collapse pressure


t
D
P
P
f
P
P
P
P
o
y
c
o
y
c
ec
c
. =
|
|
.
|

\
|

|
|
.
|

\
|
1 1
2
2

where f
o
is the ovality parameter, and P
y
is the yield external overpressure

5 . 0
2 2
1 1

|
|
.
|

\
|
+ =
ec y
c
P P
P for perfectly circular pipe

o
y
D
t
Y P
2
=

13. Burst pressure

. .
.
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
t D
t Y
P
o
b
2
3
2


14. Fully plastic bending moment
( ) tY t D M
o p
2
=

15. Collapse bending moment M
c
and collapse bending strain c
bc


|
.
|

\
|
=
t
D
M M
o
p c
0024 0 1 . ;
2
15
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
o
bc
D
t
c
EG55F2/G2 2010/11
Page 8 of 10

16. Propagation buckle pressure


5 2
35
.

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
o
pr
D
t
Y P DNV
25 2
7 10
.
.
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
o
pr
D
t
Y P PD8010


17. Strain-based design criterion for external overpressure

1
8 0
s +
|
|
.
|

\
|
c
d m sc
bc
d
P
P
c
c
c
.
DNV


1 s +
c
d
bc
d
P
P
c
c
PD8010
where c
d
is the design compressive (bending and longitudinal) strain and P
d
is the design
external overpressure.


18. Load-based design criterion for external overpressure
1
2
2
2
s
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
c
d sc m
Y
d sc m
c
d sc m
P
P
S
S
M
M


.
DNV

where P
d
, M
d
, and S
d
are the design external overpressure, design bending moment, and
design effective longitudinal force respectively; S
Y
is the yield longitudinal force.

19. Kellogs equation

3 2
16 4
G
M
G
F
P P
d eff
t t
+ + =
where M is the bending moment, F is the tensile force, G is the mean gasket diameter, P
d
is
the system design pressure, and P
eff
is the equivalent flange pressure.

EG55F2/G2 2010/11
Page 9 of 10
20. Maximum Strain in Reeled Pipeline
o drum
o
D R
D
+
=
2
c


21. Soil Unit Weight
Dry unit weight of soil :
e
G
w s
d
+
=
1

. Bulk Unit weight of soil :
( )
e
e G
w s
bulk
+
+
=
1



22. Plasticity (soil mechanics):

P L P
w w I = ;
P L
P
L
w w
w w
I

= ;
) (%clay
I
A
P
=

where I
p
is the plasticity index; I
L
is the liquid index; w
L
is the liquid limit; w
P
is the plastic
limit; w is the water content of the soil; and A is the activity.

23. Specific Volume of Soil
s
wG v + =1 ;
1
1

|
|
.
|

\
|

=
w
s
G
v

where w water content of the soil; G
s
specific gravity of the soil;
w
unit weight of
water; - unit weight of the soil.

24. Morisons equations

a. Steady flow
P D x
A u C F
2
2
1
= ; - drag force
P L y
A u C F
2
2
1
= ; - lift force

b. Unsteady flow
u V C A u u C F
M P D x
+ =
2
1
; - drag + inertia force
P L y
A u C F
2
2
1
= ; - lift force

where:
- density of water; Fx - horizontal force per unit length of pipeline;
F
y
- vertical force per unit length of pipeline; C
D
,

C
M
,

C
L
drag, inertia and lift
coefficients (hydrodynamic coefficients); u velocity of water normal to the pipe axis; A
P

projected area
EG55F2/G2 2010/11
Page 10 of 10
25. Pipeline embedment

Initial penetration due to submerged weight

A Bq Q
u
' + =

where:
submerged unit weight of the soil displaced; s
u
- undrained shear strength;
A cross section area of penetrated part of pipe; q
u
- the bearing pressure;
B width of the pipe at the submerged level

BN q
u
' 5 . 0 = - for sand
u c u
s N q = - for clay

N
c
= 5.14










Additional penetration due to pipe motion in sand


For clay



For sand


where:
z penetration; D pipeline diameter; s
u
- undrained shear strength;
F
z
vertical load per unit length of soil; a amplitude of horizontal movement
E work required to overcome passive soil resistance

26. Anode mass for cathodic protection
fa a
c b e
anode
u i
i f A
M
8760
=
Where A
e
is external surface area of the pipeline; f
b
is the coating breakdown factor; i
c
is
design current density, i
a
is the anode current density and u
fa
is the anode utilisation factor
17 . 0
54 . 0
max
1 . 1
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
|
.
|

\
|
D
a
D
s
Ds
F
D
z
u
u
z

31 . 0
5 . 0
3 2
max
'
28 . 0
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
'
=
|
.
|

\
|

D
a
D
E
D
F
D
z
z