Journal

Technical

August 2012 | www.pipeguild.com

In this
edition >
6 Optimising pipe
fit-up and logistics
to improve weld
productivity by
Hugh Davies
2 Introduction to the Technical Journal &
important dates ahead
3 Mechanically Lined Pipe: Installation by
Reel-Lay by Grgory Toguyeni
4 Illuminating UV CIPP at its cutting edge
by Julian Britton
5 Insulated Pipe-In-Pipe Riser and Spool
Bends by Derek Bish

Technical Journal
It is my great pleasure as this years National
Chairman, to introduce the first Pipeline Industries
Guild Technical Journal to you.
One of the key objectives of the Guild is to share knowledge and
expertise between our members, ensuring that innovations, new
developments and technical excellence on specific projects within the
pipeline industry are highlighted and used as learning experiences for
us all.
The Technical Journal will be published twice-yearly, and I would encourage each and every
one of you to submit any articles that you feel would be suitable to share with your fellow
members.
The Guild are certain that this Journal will be a highly effective method of communicating
technical skills, capabilities and information for our members.

Panel Information
Below you will find contact details and
photographs of each of the panel chairs.
Please do feel free to contact them if you
have any news, require any information
or have any issues that you would like to
discuss.
Offshore Panel
Contact: Robbie Williamson
Email: robbie.williamson@wgim.com
Onshore Panel
Contact: Ian Harrison
Email: ian.v.harrison@uk.ngrid.com

Utilities Panel
Contact: Phillip Clisham
Email: philip.clisham@mouchel.com
International Panel
Contact: Keith Mole
Email: kmole@mcelroy.com
Young Professionals Panel
Contact: Gavin Ware
Email: gavinware@rheadgroup.com

Upcoming
Events:
27 September: Carron Trophy,
Aberdeen
2 4 October: No-Dig Live, Stoneleigh
8 11 October: Gastech Conference &
Exhibition, Excel, London
16 October: Innovation Day, Warrington
7 December: SPIM: Subsea Pipeline
Integrity Management Conference,
London
For more information:
www.pipeguild.com/events

Disclaimer:
The information, opinions and views presented in the Pipeline Industries Guild Technical
Journal reflect the views of the authors and contributors of the articles and not of the Pipeline
Industries Guild or its publishers.
Publication of articles, advertisements or product information does not constitute endorsement
or approval by the journal and/or its publisher.
The Pipeline Industries Guild and/or its publisher cannot be held responsible for any errors or
for any consequences arising from the use of the information contained in this journal.
Although all reasonable efforts are made by the editorial board and the publishers to see
that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement appear in this journal, the data
and opinions appearing in the articles including editorials herein are the responsibility of the
contributors concerned.
The publishers and the editorial board accept no liability whatsoever for the consequences of
any such inaccurate or misleading data, information, opinion or statement.

The Pipeline Industries Guild - Technical Journal

If you would like to submit

an article to be considered
for inclusion in the Technical
Journal, please email
pr@smartideasdesign.co.uk.
Articles should be around 700
words, and up to 2 images can
be included. All information
should be technically sound
although will be proofread for
grammar and spelling.

Technical Journal
Mechanically Lined Pipe:
Installation by Reel-Lay
The exploration
and production
of deeper and
more corrosive
subsea reservoirs
demands from
the industry to
design more
Grgory Toguyeni, Senior of its subsea
infrastructures
Welding & Materials
and pipelines
Engineer, Subsea 7
to cope with
increasing amounts of carbon dioxide and/
or hydrogen sulfide within the hydrocarbon
medium throughout the life of field. A cost
effective solution to transporting corrosive
fluids is the combination of BUTTING
Mechanically Lined Pipe (BuBi lined
pipe) and the reel lay installation technique.
BUTTING lined pipe has been successfully
used in towed pipeline bundle projects by
Subsea 7 over many years and has been
demonstrated to be a viable cost-effective
alternative to more expensive options
such as solid corrosion resistant alloys or
metallurgically clad pipe.
The main challenge behind the installation of
this type of pipe by the reel lay method was
to demonstrate that the liner pipe does not
suffer from local buckling inside the outer
carbon steel pipe during the reeling process,
phenomenon also called wrinkling. Another
challenge was to ensure the integrity of the
weld joining the liner pipe to the outer pipe
at the ends of each joint (or seal weld), as a
failure at this location in service would expose
the outer pipe to the corrosive medium.
A comprehensive development program
was conducted in order to demonstrate the
viability of this technology. It included:
Manufacture of 15 test strings made of
carbon steel grade X65 for the outer pipe
and 316L stainless steel, alloy 825 and
alloy 625 for the liner. The test strings
were made up of BuBi pipe sections
welded together using the mechanized
Hot Wire Pulsed Gas Tungsten Arc
Welding (PGTAW) process with alloy 625
filler metal.
A detailed laser metrology examination
and mapping of the full internal surface of
the pipe at manufacturing stage and prior

Article submitted by Grgory Toguyeni

Senior Welding & Materials Engineer,
Subsea 7
Website: www.subsea7.com
Email: gregory.toguyeni@subsea7.com

and after reeling simulation.

This innovative technique
allowed a close monitoring
of the behavior of the liner
pipe surface throughout the
reeling process down to an
accuracy of 50m on any
surface feature.
A conservative cyclic
bending test or reeling
simulation, using a radius
of curvature of 7.5m. This
allowed testing the specific
Subsea 7 reeling technique
using internal pressurization
of the pipe.
Full scale resonance fatigue testing of the
string post reeling simulation. In order to
determine the fatigue resistance of the
welded joint in the strained condition,
several test pipes, each containing two
test girth welds and four seal welds, were
subjected to resonance fatigue at The
Welding Institute, Cambridge, UK. Four
progressively higher fatigue classes were
selected for the test. Each specimen was
fully inspected after reaching each fatigue
class in order to confirm the absence of
any failure initiation on the carbon steel
outer pipe but also on the corrosion
resistant liner and at the seal welds. The
endurance of the pipe and its welds was
thus confirmed to achieve the target level
of DNV fatigue class C (DNV-RP-C203).
Finite Element Analysis was performed
using ABAQUS to model the behavior
of the pipe in several installation and
service conditions. This detailed analysis
proved itself very efficient to interpret and
predict the complex process of wrinkles
formation. Excellent correlation was
found with reeling tests and confirmed
that no wrinkling occurs during the
installation sequence.
Mechanical and non destructive tests
were done post reeling and fatigue,
including tensile tests, Hardness,
toughness tests, corrosion tests (G48,
G28, ASTM A262), radiography,
ultrasonic and dye-penetrant
examination.

The Pipeline Industries Guild - Technical Journal

S-N curves showing the number of

fatigue cycles reached on three test
strings (RF1, RF2, RF3). No failure of
the pipe or liner seal welds has been
recorded at the DNV class C
An extensive Non Destructive
Examination (NDE) validation program
was conducted between Subsea 7 and
BUTTING to demonstrate the capacity
to detect flaws in the pipe ends overlay
welds and seal welds at the transition
between liner and overlay.
The full program was performed in
accordance with DNV (DNV-RP-A203) and
was awarded the certificate for fitness for
service.
This successful qualification contributed to
the award of the Guar-Lula NE contract
by Petrobras in 2011. This project includes
the worlds first reel-lay installation of several
BuBi pipe Steel Catenary Risers (SCR) and
is the largest contract award of its type to
date in Brazil.
The development program is currently
expended to higher pipe diameters (up to
14 - 16 OD) and high strength carbon steel
outer pipe to further the applicability of the
technology to even greater water depth and
challenging design criteria.
As a result of the qualification of the reelable
mechanically lined pipe, Subsea 7, a global
leader in seabed-to-surface engineering,
construction and services was proud to
receive the Pipeline Industries Guilds 2012
award for significant contribution to subsea
pipeline technology.

Technical Journal
Illuminating UV CIPP at
its cutting edge
A small village car park in the Swedish town
of Vihelmina is identified as the location of the
first UV catalysed Cured in Place Pipeline
(CIPP) in 1985 by Inpipe AB, and yet after
27 years, very few are installed in the UK
compared to hot water cured Polyester
liners.
From the perspective of Wessex Water,
the reason is that the adoption of UV cure
is a balance of cost, availability, transport,
physical installation limitations and fitness for
purpose. However, the last year has seen
Wessex Waters Sewer Rehabilitation Team
based near WestonSuper-Mare, exploit the
benefits of the system to line sewers over
railway lines, to act as bridges.
UV catalysed high glass content (HGC)
linings have an increased strength and
stiffness or Long Term Flexural Modulus
(LTFM), and this is a great attribute, with
corresponding reduced liner thickness.
Along with this comes greater constructional
benefits of safety, reduced environmental
impacts of noise, energy consumption and
the lack of Styrene impregnated boil water
upon completion.
The Exeter to Waterloo Line
The construction of first time sewerage
schemes in rural Somerset in the 1950s
took advantage of masonry railway bridges
to cross cuttings on numerous occasions.
These sewers were bolted to the bridge
on hangers and constructed from cast iron
pipes.
Survey of these sewers had identified
tuberculation which was interfering with
laminar flow and causing blockages. The
ultimate aim of lining these pipes was to
prevent further corrosion of the internal pipe,
re-establish smooth hydraulic conductivity
and provide a support mechanism upon
catastrophic failure, that would allow an
early warning allowing time to take action in
conjunction with Network Rail.
The Rehabilitation Team instigated the design
of the liner to consider the axial bending
moments of the cured liner acting as a
bridge, rather than the usual hoop stresses

Article submitted by Julian Britton

Critical Sewers Manager, Wessex Water
Website: www.wessexwater.co.uk
Email: julian.britton@wessexwater.
co.uk

that would be considered when the pipe

is buried. Senior engineers recognised the
design would aim to utilise and enhance the
orientation of the axial rovings or longitudinal
glass, which are usually incorporated to cater
for drag in forces without overstressing the
liner due to self weight, rather than the hoop
tress which caters for the normal ground
loading.
It was never intended that the lining carry
the long term uniformly distributed load
represented by a complete circumferential
fracture of the host cast iron pipe, which
would eventually be exacerbated by a full
bore hydraulic load trapped in the excessive
deformation of the UV liner, but to allow for a
gradual deterioration of the liner which would
be observed on a planned annual inspection.
The final design called for a Reline Europe
Alphaliner 500 UV liner with a 5.1mm
thickness encapsulated within a 0.6mm
heavy duty PVC pre liner which would limit
the expansion of the UV liner on curing and
maintain a 1-2mm annulus between the
outside of the preliner and the inside of the CI
pipe. With the liner anchored independently
within the manholes at each end, it would
allow the two structures to thermally
expand and contract independently as the
exposed CI pipe could experience thermal
temperatures of -10c and 40c.
The first liner was completed by Onsite Ltd at
Union Drove,
Somerset in
the summer
of 2011, and
the lessons
learned and
the ongoing
better
understanding
of the declared
values of the
Alphaliner 500
lead to the
lining of the
Bridge Cottage
sewer crossing
in early 2012.
This second
design pushed

The Pipeline Industries Guild - Technical Journal

the limits of design to cater for a 10.4m span

across the arch of the bridge as can be seen
in the photograph. This innovative use of UV
liners allows comparable solutions that the
lower LTFM of Polyester would never allow.
The future of UV CIPP?
The Rehabilitation Team believe that UV
HGC liners will only become more frequently
used in the UK when the cost is closer to
that of traditional Polyester liners. This may
occur when the German and Scandinavian
dominance of the market gives way to a
home grown British liner as transport costs
are a major element. Equally, for those
occasions when the high stiffness/strength
of the glass is not required, a UV photocatalysed Pe felt liner would bring speed to
curing that would be equally as attractive,
this along with HGC pressure liners is a vision
of the future.

Bridge Cottage extended span

Technical Journal
Insulated Pipe-In-Pipe
Riser and Spool Bends
Introduction
Increasing demand for energy, matched with
the high commodity price and advances in
technology, is driving operators to extract
whatever reserves remain in the challenging
UKCS. That said, the requirement to transfer
these multi-phase products, from often high
pressure/high temperature (HPHT) wells
back onshore, is an even more demanding
prospect.

Article submitted by Derek Bish

Sales and Applications Engineer, Tata Steel
Website: www.tatasteel.com
Email: derek.bish@tatasteel.com

and operating temperature must be based

and evaluated on criteria such as corrosion,
maintaining structural integrity and thermal
management.

Up until now, the common belief in the

industry was that pipe-in-pipe systems able
to withstand environmental challenges such
as corrosion, structural integrity and thermal
management, would be too costly and
complex to apply to riser and spool systems.
Tata Steel worked closely with supply
partners to engineer, procure and construct
these assemblies to further develop this
innovative technology as a cost-effective
solution to flow assurance issues.

One particular challenge is the management

of pipeline shutdown. Less expensive
solutions for managing the insulation of
bends such as wet coatings compromise
overall shutdown times due to reduced
thermal efficiency. Solutions, such as selfdraining spools, present a significant design
challenge that can be mitigated by the
inclusion of pipe in pipe risers and spools,
including bends, enabling the same thermal
integrity to be maintained in the whole line.
The main challenge with the construction of
pipe in pipe bends is how to pass the inner
flowline bend into the outer casing pipe. It
is important that pipe bends have a straight
portion on the end to enable efficient welding
to the next pipe section and this can present
the insertion of one bend into the other.

Why insulate risers and spool bends?

HPHT fields are technically more complex
to develop because of the inherently higher
energy in the well fluid and its multi-phase
composition. Managing the extreme pressure

The second construction challenge is efficient

insulation. Wrapping or sheathing is simply
not practical here as the insulation would
occupy the annulus of the assembly and
prevent the integration.
Insulation
The system
developed by Tata
Steel overcomes
these problems by
deploying granular
Aerogel insulation
into the annulus
of the pipe in pipe
system. Aerogel
is made by first
forming a silica
gel, then expelling
the water from the
silica matrix. The
resulting material
is granular with
trapped nanopores
of air, inhibiting
heat transfer
by conduction,
convection and
radiation.

The Pipeline Industries Guild - Technical Journal

The deployment of a novel polymeric

bulkhead, cast directly into the annulus,
provides a solid barrier to retain the
insulation, allowing for the relative movement
of the inner and outer bends. The polymer
is a syntactic material, silicone rubber
with glass microspheres dispersed through
the matrix with high strength, flexibility and
thermal efficiency. The tangent ends of
the inner and outer bends are held rigidly,
ensuring that the assembly tolerances
achieved at manufacture are retained
when the unit is transferred to the welding
contractor for incorporation into the pipeline
spool or riser.
In order for the insulation to be effectively
deployed, providing the consistent thermal
performance, the annular gap throughout the
assembly must be uniform. In this instance it
is important the manufacturing tolerances of
the pipe and bends are closely controlled.
Tata Steel has developed a series of controls,
including a process and measurement
system, to ensure all bend dimensions are
closely controlled and mating bends can be
produced, matched and paired to ensure the
most accurate assembly is produced.
In most pipeline applications the critical
dimensions are the positions and attitudes
of the ends of the bends (centre-to-end
dimension) maintaining the overall geometry
of the pipeline. However, with pipe in pipe
bends it is important that the bend radius
is also accurately controlled ensuring the
two bends can be integrated. The precise
dimensions after bending need to also be
maintained following heat treatment.
Conclusion
Tata Steel has expanded capabilities further
with the design and creation of cost-effective
insulated pipe in pipe bends for risers and
spools an accomplishment previously
considered too difficult.
Pipe in Pipe bends, while challenging
technologically, can lead to simplification of
overall pipeline design and can give better
pipeline performance in times of operation
and shutdown.

Technical Journal
Optimising pipe fit-up
and logistics to improve
weld productivity
In oil and gas pipeline projects, the welding
of fatigue-sensitive SCR and flowline
pipes to tight specifications is critical.
Counterboring the pipes might not be a
viable method of controlling pipe geometry
due to cost considerations or to limitations
on pipe wall thickness. So how can pipeline
contractors ensure that pipe fit-up, welding
and pipelaying processes run smoothly with
minimal interruptions?
In order to prevent bottlenecks during
welding and to minimise project delays and
risks, oil industry owners, pipelay contractors
and welders need to capture, record and
analyse pipe end geometry quickly and
accurately. This measurement data, if used
correctly, can help to ensure that pipes
delivered into the bead stall will fit together

In the bead stall, datum marks are

aligned to immediately achieve best
rotational position so that pipe end
misalignment is minimised.

within the welding specification requirements.

Typically, end dimensioning and fit-up
involves two steps: measuring and fit-up.
Measuring involves actually collecting pipe
measurement data. Automatic, laser-based
measurement tools can be used to measure
geometrical features of pipe ends, normally
performed onshore, although this process
sometimes needs to occur on a cargo barge.
Laser-based measurement tools can be used
to measure the IDs and WTs of pipe ends
in rapid time. Typically, several thousand IDs
of a pipe can be measured in less than 30
seconds, enabling hundreds of pipe ends to

Article submitted by Hugh Davies

Director of Client Solutions, Optical
Metrology Services Ltd
Website: www.omsmeasure.com
Email: hugh.davies@omsmeasure.com

be measured in one shift. This means less

time on site, minimal delays and costs for the
pipelay contractor. Laser measurement tools
are also very accurate (typically to 0.05mm).
Being able to measure up to 400 pipe
ends in a single day is at least three times
faster than using regular, conventional
measurement tools (e.g. caliper gauges),
which only measure at a few discrete
locations around the pipe. Pipelay
contractors are therefore able to keep their
project schedules on track and because
some projects involve measuring more than
2,500 pipes, the time and cost savings are
significant.
Data from laser measurement tools can be
made available to pipe optimisation software,
which will include some sort of simulation
or sequencing software. OMS own
SmartFit software, for example, uses pipe
measurement data to predict and control the
fit-up, before the pipes are brought into the
bead stall for welding. This averts production
issues relating to poor fit-up and manages
the assembly of problem pipes in order to
maximise welding productivity.
Measure, mark and fit-up
Each pipe end is measured, identified and
entered into the software. The
software analyses the fit-up of
pipes and allows the operator to
mark the best rotational position
on each pipe end. In the bead
stall, these marks are aligned
to immediately achieve the
best rotational position so that
misalignment is minimised.
Any problem pipes that wont
fit at a specified HiLo are also
indicated and are re-sequenced
or removed completely so that
fit-up problems do not occur in
the bead stall. Production delays
due to mismatched pipes are
avoided.

The Pipeline Industries Guild - Technical Journal

Experience shows that with typical flowline

HiLo limits and using typical seamless line
pipe that has not been counterbored, fit-up
issues can occur regularly depending on
the HiLo requirement. For a HiLo of around
1.0 to 1.2mm, problems are likely to occur
every 10 to 20 pipes (this varies according
to the exact project and the type of pipe).
Using pipe optimisation & simulation software
enables the required HiLos to be achieved
in the bead stall without trial and error. But
when pipes will not fit, this will be indicated
and the problem pipe can be taken out of
sequence, therefore avoiding any problems
in the bead stall. For a HiLo of 0.8 to 1.0mm,
problem fits will occur in 20 to 50% of the
cases.
Many pipelay contractors are benefiting
from working closely with experienced,
independent measurement specialists such
as OMS, helping them to avoid a range
of potential issues such as wall thickness
problems in SCR and flowline pipe,
counterboring of SCR pipes and poor fit up
on board J-lay vessels. OMS has already
completed more than 30 major projects with
customers using SmartFit, which optimises
pipe fit-up and HiLo. SmartFit comprises a
laptop computer system used prior to the
pipe firing line, for example, in a ready rack
on the pipelaying vessel.

OMS engineer on a cargo

barge, sequencing pipe
ends ready for welding