Understanding The Essential Parameters When Buying Flexible Pipes

By Author: Bluesteel Services
Total Articles: 25
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Industries need to to understand the specifications of bounded pipes before sourcing them from suppliers. Internal bore characteristics like pressure, temperature and fluid composition are a few parameters that need to be understood. The article below gives a list of all the essential parameters and guidelines that the pipe operators need to verify when buying flexible pipes from the manufacturers.

One of the first steps in designing a sub-sea production system is to determine the regulatory rules applying to the specification situations. Every oil-production nation has a set of regulations governing the explorations and extraction of its natural resources. The origin of standardization is the petroleum industry has its origin in United States. This is evident by many of the fundamental standards that has been developed by American petroleum institute (API) an organization consisting of America companies involving in petroleum exploration, production, refining and transportation.

API pipes are flexible pipes that are regulated. The early pipes were of bounded types. The ratio bust to design pressure primarily governed ...
... the designs. The design of flexible is according to API specification 17k for bounded pipes.

The specifications of bounded pipes are contained in API spec 17J. In API spec 17J includes parameters that need to be determine before carrying out flexible design. The essential parameters are the internal bore characteristics such as pressure, temperature, and fluid composition. These parameters determine much of the pipe design for instant material selection, and layer thickness.

API 17J lists all the necessities for flexible pipe requirements such as inspection and condition monitoring, gas venting and installation requirements. Another section deals with the allowable loads that can be imposed on the pipe during its lifetime. During design work pipe cross-section is establish and all calculation are carried out to ensure that these allowable loads are not exceeded throughout the design life.

API 17J also describe other conditions and limitations that need to be considered during design work. Among these requirements is the minimum bend radius that the pipe should be able to withstand without unlocking the pressure armor layer. Calculation to ensure that the pipe does not exit it's bend radius under extreme load condition is one of the most important parts of the design work. The two areas of a most susceptible to over-bending are the touch-down zone and the upper region just before the hang-off location. Once the minimum bend stiffeners or bend restriction can be designed to ensure that the pipes does not this exit this minimum bend radius under all possible extreme conditions.

API 17J also includes information the various layers of a flexible pipe. Details are also available on the design of bend restrictors and bend stiffness. Apart from the local cross-section design, the flexible pipes also need to be verified under global static and dynamic analysis. For the reason that unbounded flexible pipes have large damping factor, they do not suffer fatigue damage induced by vortex-induced vibration. Therefore, flexible pipes have not to be installed with fairings to limit vortex-induce vibration. That means that fatigue damage is primarily due to wave or motion and installation damage. The pipe manufacture needs to prove that the pipe fatigue is ten times service life.

Incorrect installation induces a greater risk of exceeding the tensile limits of the armor layer material, over-bending, and may end up in impact damage on the flexible pipes hence procedures are required for installation. Whether sourcing API 5CT OCTG casing and tubing in seamless alloy or carbon grades, make sure you consider all the parameters before purchasing.

The author of this article is associated with BlueSteel Services, LLC., that is renowned as the leading supplier of domestic and offshore steel to North America. They are the topmost choice of industries looking for the best quality API pipe.