Development of a Closed-Form Expression for the Assessment of the Integrity of Internally Corroded Pipelines

Carbon steel pipelines are renowned for their long-term resistance to the hydrostatic pressure of the transported fluid. Nevertheless, failure of carbon steel pipes can be catastrophic if not predicted or mitigated properly. One of the most common failure causes in carbon steel pipelines is corrosion of the pipeline inner and outer surfaces. The corrosion on pipeline walls will eventually lead to severe loss of material to a point which will cause complete loss of pipeline integrity. The study will assess the burst pressure of predefined internal corrosion-defected carbon steel pipelines through finite element analysis. The mechanical response of the host carbon steel pipeline is empirically estimated. A set of corrosion defect geometrical sizes, such as depth width and length to be considered is carefully developed. Accordingly, a parametric study considering the developed set of defect geometrical parameters, as well as the mechanical response of the pipe material, is conducted. The parametric study is performed through finite element analysis to investigate the influence of the highlighted parameters to the overall burst pressure of the pipe. Based on the results from parametric study of corrosion-defected carbon steel pipelines, the Buckingham π-theorem modelling approach is used to derive an analytical closed-form expression to predict the burst pressure of defected pipes containing internal corrosion defects of an arbitrary size.