Structural integrity assurance of casing pipes in the oil and gas industry

The exploitation of casing steel pipes used in oil and gas drilling rigs typically involves a corrosive atmosphere, high pressures and elevated temperatures. These conditions can affect the initiation and development of defects in the material, which can jeopardize t he s afe s ervice o f t he s ystem. I n t his work, a n assessment of the integrity of a damaged pipe, manufactured by high frequency contact welding (HF) of API J55 steel, is presented. The influence of an initial defect (machined surface crack) on the pipe structural integrity is analysed. Besides the defects at the internal surface, which is in contact with the transported fluid, casing pipes are also exposed to damage at the external surface, which is why such configuration is examined here. The analysed surface crack is in an axial direction, bearing in mind that this type of defect is the most severe for the cylindrical pressurised components. Internal pressure testing is conducted on a pipe closed by dished ends. The values of fracture parameters, crack mouth opening displacement CMOD and J integral, were tracked during the experiment. The applied procedure for J integral determination (so-called direct measurement) can be applied both on standard specimens and on structures. It includes the use of combined experimental - computational procedure. Finite element analysis is used for determining the criteria for the pipe failure, regarding both crack growth initiation and plastic collapse of the ligament. The size of the crack is varied in the finite element models, in order to determine the influence of its size on the maximum loading. Simplified 2D models are also examined, with the aim of determining the applicability of such approach. Based on the obtained results, criteria for the integrity assessment of the pipe are discussed