TPi October 2011

news business & market

The subsea pipes that Exova will be testing for corrosion fatigue

Investigating corrosion fatigue on subsea flexible pipes

The data generated from the tests will contribute towards the technological advancement of flexible pipelines and risers, which are deployed in hostile locations. Lee Best, general manager at Exova Daventry and Exova’s Corrosion Centre, said, “Corrosion has often been identified as the most common in-service cause of failure in pipelines, causing loss of containment failures of hazardous materials. We have worked closely with Technip to respond to the demanding test requirement and developed a state-of-the-art testing facility that further enhances our corrosion testing capabilities.”

developing bespoke facilities capable of corrosion fatigue testing at elevated temperature and pressure. In increasingly challenging environ- ments, one of the significant concerns regarding flexible pipe integrity is the condition of the annulus. If the annulus becomes flooded by ingress of seawater through the external sheath, this could lead to corrosion and a possible impact on service life. Exova has designed equipment that is able to conduct testing at up to 50 bar and 150°C in simulated sour environments. These new test facilities allow investigation of properties over a wide range of service environments, which includes continuous gas bubbling at pressure to stimulate the annulus environment.

Corrosion testing firm Exova has won a contract to work for Technip to investigate the effect of high-pressure corrosion fatigue on the life of the tensile armour wire component of flexible pipes. Flexible oil and gas pipelines and risers are used to connect subsea installations to floating production facilities. The flexible nature of dynamic riser systems has been a key driver in allowing the industry to move away from traditional fixed platform systems, to develop fields in deeper waters with floating technology. One of the main challenges of operating in deep and ultra-deep water is the challenging environmental conditions for flexible pipe systems. Exova has responded to this challenge by

exova – UK europe@exova.com www.exova.com

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