Fatigue Tests on Buried or Repaired Dented Steel Pipeline Specimens

Abstract

This paper presents the results of fatigue tests performed on dented steel pipeline specimens that were tested under different environmental conditions and subjected to cyclic internal pressure. Thirty-three pipe specimens were divided into three groups and tested under three different conditions. A first set of nine dented specimens was tested in air without any restrictions. A second set of eight specimens was tested while buried in the soil. A third set of sixteen specimens was tested in air, after the dents had been repaired by composite material sleeves. Hot-spot cyclic strain amplitudes were measured using two experimental techniques: Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and Fiber Optic Bragg Strain Gauges (FBSG). At first, all thirty-three specimens were tested in air along five full cycles in order to carry out full-field measurements using DIC to identify and quantify strain concentration at sites that were potential locations for fatigue cracks to initiate. Close to these point-locations, measurements of strains using FBSG were also made, and the results were then compared with the DIC results. FBSG were also used during the cyclic pressure loading process while the specimens were being tested, in such a way as to monitor the influence of the environment in the dented areas. The test results demonstrated that a simple uniaxial Manson-Coffin fatigue equation that uses the universal exponents proposed by Manson, together with the circumferential strain amplitude measured at the hot spots can be used to predict the fatigue life of the dented specimens. Moreover, it was determined that the measured strains at the hot-spot locations were not influenced by the soil coverage, although showing a considerable and beneficial decrease in their amplitudes caused by the composite repair reinforcements.

Study on Mechanical Failure Behavior of Steel-Wire Wound Reinforced Thermoplastic Pipe under Combined Internal Pressure and Soil Landslide Conditions

“…Due to the steel wire’s small diameter of 0.6 mm, it is difficult to use the traditional extensometer to measure the strain of the steel wire during tensile tests, so a digital DIC (Digital Image Correlation) [ 11 , 12 ] was employed. Prior to the test, two small pieces of plastic sheet were glued on the steel wire, and a certain distance between the two sheets was reserved as the gauge length for the strain measurement.…”

“…Prior to the test, two small pieces of plastic sheet were glued on the steel wire, and a certain distance between the two sheets was reserved as the gauge length for the strain measurement. Speckle images were prepared on the two plastic sheets for the relevant algorithms to identify the change in the relative distance of the two sheets [ 11 , 13 , 14 ], as is shown in Figure 2 a. Then the strain of the steel wire during the test was obtained by dividing the change in the relative distance by the gauge length.…”