Burst pressure estimation of corroded pipeline with interacting defects using FEA

Failure due to corrosion defects has been the major problem in maintaining pipeline's
integrity. The loss ofmetal due to corrosion usually results in localized pits with various
depth and irregular shapes which occur on its external and internal surfaces. An
interacting defect is one that is located sufficiently close and able to interact with
neighboring defects in an axial or circumferential direction. The maximum allowable
pressure that can be sustained in a pipeline with interacting. defects is lower than it is in
single defects due to interaction of neighboring defects. There are several methods
available to assess the corrosion metal loss defects in order to evaluate Fitness-forServices
(FFS) of the corroded pipeline. In this study, finite element simulations will be
carried out to determine the maximum allowable burst strength of corroded pipeline
with interacting defects. The finite element analysis (FEA) results show that failure
pressure of corroded pipeline with interaeting defects are higher than empirical values
gained from DNV-RP-F!Ol Code,
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