Flexible pipes are widely used in the exploration of oil at ultra-deepwater depths due to their properties of resistance to bending forces and ease of installation, compared to rigid pipe lines.
For each specific service application, several tests are required to qualify the flexible pipe’s design. One of the most important is the dynamic tension to tension test, the purpose of which is to qualify the end fitting assembly procedure and evaluate the design methodology used to predict the pipe’s service life.
During the development of the test, several sensors were fitted to the pipe sample to monitor the behavior of the armor wires. In order to monitor this test and identify any possible failure of the tensile armor wires, strain gauges were applied to all the wires of the external tensile armor layer in the area outside of the end fittings. Additionally, strain gauges were also applied to some of the internal and external tensile armor layer wires inside the end fittings. Other sensors, such as inclinometers and a tri-axial accelerometer were also applied to the pipe sample.
Analyses of the signals from the test sample instrumentation enabled detection of rupture of the tensile armor wire while instrumentation redundancy confirmed the tensile armor wire’s failure.
This paper presents the methodology used to identify the first 5 tension armor wire ruptures, which were identified by some of the sensors, i.e., the accelerometer, the inclinometer, and the strain gauges together with a comparison of the data of all the wire ruptures during the test.
