Repairs offer new lease of life for gas pipeline
A
Furmanite International product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Jan 31, 2008
Fourteen different repair designs were required on a pipeline at Shell's Leman Alpha platform ranging in length from 1m to over 4m and involving various complex geometries.
Replacement of a 762mm hydrocarbon gas pipeline suffering external corrosion in multiple locations on Shell's Leman Alpha platform was established as impractical.
Furmanite was able to provide a repair designed for a substantial life, using the latest carbon fibre composite repair technology.
Furmanite designed and installed a total of over 28m of bespoke-engineered repairs at some 17 locations along the carbon steel export header gas line on the southern North Sea platform, where the corrosion had caused wall thinning.
Fourteen different repair designs were required, ranging in length from 1m to over 4m and involving various complex geometries including elbows, branches and stabbings.
Given the numerous damaged areas, the only other option, to cut and replace the line, would have led to increased safety concerns and logistics issues.
Instead, the carbon fibre repairs, designed against the line's design pressure of 99bar and temperature of -10 to +70C, fully restored pressure containment and structural strength, using repair thicknesses of between 8 and 27mm.
Repairs of this type can provide exceptional strength (up to ten times that of steel) while adding only minimal weight (at less than a quarter the density).
Furmanite's composite repairs are typically applied on-line with no disruption to production, although in this case they were applied during a shutdown which ensured the strength of the composite would be fully used.
Because no hotwork is required, the repairs could be carried out without needing to drain the line.
Tight access restrictions and awkward geometries (requiring more complex design engineering and installation expertise) posed challenges at a number of the repair locations.
The fact that the composite repairs require no prefabrication, involve lightweight materials and are applied in a layering process needing only a hand's width clearance, helped in meeting these challenges.
"Being able to provide repairs to corrosion-damaged lines and infrastructure components and avoid the high cost and logistical issues of cutting and replacing, or providing a solution where replacement is impractical, is one of the primary advantages of this technology", Furmanite Business Manager Graham McKay said.
"Moreover the composite repairs will not corrode and will prevent further corrosion occurring where they are applied".
"Composite repairs are one of a number of technologies and services we can offer to help operators keep ageing assets operating efficiently and safely, while minimising downtime, representing high value".
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