Internal ring buckle arrestors for pipe-in-pipe systems

A new buckle arrestor concept for pipe-in-pipe systems is introduced and the results of a systematic study of its performance is presented. The concept involves either one single ring or a number of closely packed narrow rings placed in the annulus between the two pipes. Its effectiveness has been studied through a combination of experiments and analyses. The experiments involved two inch carrier tubes of three different D/t values and internal rings of various dimensions. A number of experiments were first conducted using pipe-in-pipe systems. It was found that the inner tube had only a small effect on the crossover pressure of this arrestor and, as a result, in many of the following experiments inner tubes were not included. The crossover pressure of the ring arrestors was studied by varying their length, wall thickness and yield stress. Other parameters varied were the dimensions and properties of the two tubes and the gap between the arrestor and the carrier tube. The process resulted in an empirical design formula for the arresting efficiency expressed as a function of the key nondimensional variables of the problem. Large-scale finite element models which simulate the buckle crossover process have also been developed. They have been shown capable of reproducing experiments accurately. Such models can be used to prove an arrestor design developed through the empirical process described in the report. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.