Mechanics of Offshore Pipelines, Volume 2

Buckle propagation is a problem unique to offshore pipelines, in which the local collapse of a locally weakened section of the pipe initiates a collapse that propagates at high speed catastrophically flattening the line by kilometers. The lowest pressure that can sustain the propagation of the collapse, the propagation pressure, is only a small fraction of the collapse pressure of the intact pipe. The large difference between these two pressures requires that pipelines be designed on the collapse pressure, and the extent of the potential catastrophic damage suffered is limited by the periodic introduction of buckle arrestors to the line. Volume 2 of the book series Mechanics of Offshore Pipelines addresses the major aspects of buckle propagation including its initiation, establishment of the propagation pressure, and the dynamics of buckle propagation. Buckle propagation under tension, in pipe-in-pipe pipeline systems, and confined buckle propagation in tubulars such as grouted casing are examined in dedicated chapters. Three chapters deal with the performance of the most commonly used buckle arrestors under both quasi-static and dynamic buckle propagation. Each of these problems is studied through experiments, analyses, and large-scale numerical simulations. The results are used to provide empirical design equations and design guidelines on how to mitigate the effects of buckle propagation.

Stelios Kyriakides is currently the John Webb Jennings Chair in Engineering and Professor n Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics for the University of Texas at Austin. He is also the Director of the Research Center for Mechanics of Solids, Structures, and Materials at UT. Stelios has had over 35 years involvement with the offshore oil and gas exploration and production industry world-wide. Previously, he was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard and California Institute of Technology. He earned a B.Sc. (1st Class Honors) in Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Bristol, a MS and PhD, both in Aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology. He is active in many journals including Elsevier's Applied Ocean Research and the International Journal of Solids and Structures. Liang-Hai Lee is currently a Principal Specialist with Genesis/Technip specializing in solid mechanics, computational mechanics, and design of buckle arrestors. Previously, he was a Post-doc fellow and Teaching Assistant at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of ASME, active in journals including Elsevier's Engineering Structures and International Journal of Solids and Structures. He earned a MS in Structural Engineering from Chung Hua University in Taiwan, and a PhD in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Texas in Austin.