Finite element analysis on thermal upheaval buckling of submarine burial pipelines with initial imperfection

In-service hydrocarbons must be transported at high temperature and high pressure to ease the flow and prevent the solidification of the wax fraction. The pipeline containing hot oil will expand longitudinally due to the rise in temperature. If such expansion is resisted, for example by frictional effects over a kilometer or so of pipeline, compressive axial stress will be built up in the pipe-wall. The compressive forces are often so large that they induce vertical buckling of buried pipelines, which can jeopardize the structural integrity of the pipeline. A typical initial imperfection named continuous support mode of submarine pipeline was studied. Based on this type of initial imperfection, the analytical solution of vertical thermal buckling was introduced and an elastic-plasticity finite element analysis (FEA) was developed. Both the analytical and the finite element methodology were applied to analyze a practice in Bohai Gulf, China. The analyzing results show that upheaval buckling is most likely to build up from the initial imperfection of the pipeline and the buckling temperature depends on the amplitude of initial imperfection. With the same amplitude of initial imperfection, the triggering temperature difference of upheaval buckling increases with covered depth of the pipeline, the soil strength and the friction between the pipeline and subsoil.