Burst Tests on Pipeline Containing Irregular Shaped Corrosion Defects

A corrosion defect can be considered as being of a regular shape if its defect depth profile is relatively smooth and the longitudinal area of metal loss is approximately rectangular. A corrosion defect can be considered as being of an irregular shape if its defect depth profile presents one or more major peaks in depth. In this paper the burst tests of four tubular specimens are presented. In these tests the tubular specimens were loaded with internal pressure only. The specimens were cut from longitudinal welded tubes made of API 5L X80 steel with a nominal outside diameter of 457.2 mm (18 in) and a nominal wall thickness of 7.93 mm (0.312 in). Each of the four specimens had one external irregular shaped corrosion defect, machined using spark erosion. Measurements were carried out in order to determine the actual dimensions of each tubular specimen and its respective defect. Tensile specimens and impact test specimens were tested to determine material properties. The failure pressures measured in the laboratory tests are compared with those predicted by six assessments methods, namely: the ASME B31G method, the RSTRENG 085dL method, the DNV RP-F101 method for single defects, the RPA method, the RSTRENG Effective Area method and the DNV RP-F101 method for complex shaped defects.