PREDICTION OF INTERNAL PRESSURE OF FLEXIBLE PIPE

The flexible pipes are widely used in the oil and gas industry to transport petroleum products. The pipe might burst fails when a large internal fluid pressure acts on the pipe, and the consequences are disastrous. In order to ensure the security and reliability of flexible pipes in the application, the mechanical responses of the pipe subjected to high pressure loads should be carefully estimated. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the burst pressure of the pipe. Based on the principle of virtual work, a theoretical model for stress and deformations of the pipe is established, which takes the material plasticity into consideration. In addition, a finite element model is developed by ABAQUS to verify the feasibility of the theoretical model. According to the verified model, it is efficient to predict the burst pressure and design its cross-section economically with its serving conditions.