Behaviour of Externally Corroded Pipelines Under Axial Deformation

Corrosion is a major cause for buried gas pipeline failure. Current design guidelines are limited to pressure loading for assessing a corroded pipeline’s integrity. A few studies were conducted by other researchers to determine the remaining bending or pressure strength of the corroded pipelines under combined loading. However, no study was conducted to determine the axial compressive strength and ductility of the corroded pipelines although these could be the major cause of the pipeline failure. Therefore, the current study was undertaken to understand how the corrosion geometry influences the structural behavior of externally corroded line pipes when they are subjected to axial deformation and internal pressure. Three full-scale tests have been completed and it was found that the pipe that was used in this study is highly ductile and do not rupture under monotonically increasing axial deformation. This paper discusses test set up, test procedure, and results obtained from these tests.