STRESS ANALYSIS OF FLEXIBLE THERMOSETTING PIPE

Carbon steel pipeline is widely used in the offshore industry to transport oil and gas from offshore platforms to onshore. However, the main concern lies in the corrosion and flexibility of the pipe, which led to the development of a flexible thermosetting pipeline. Although the new pipeline is flexible and resistant to corrosion, its performance in terms of strength is yet to be tested for deep water applications. Therefore, the stress analysis was conducted using ANSYS Finite Element Modelling software to determine the strength of the flexible thermosetting pipeline in terms of stress, strain and deflection. The results were compared using different materials, which are graphite epoxy and glass fiber epoxy, polyethylene and carbon steel. The results showed that, although the carbon steel performs better, the thermosetting pipeline, using glass fiber, has almost achieved the same strength with a difference of 10% in equivalent stress, 7% in equivalent strain and 4% in total deformation. Further modifications is suggested such as by adding more layers to the thermosetting pipeline to improve its strength and adding fatigue tool or stress tool in the analysis.