Sensitivity of Defect Geometry in a Combined Dent and Gouge Defected Pipeline

Abstract

Mechanical damage in pipelines that results from contact with a
foreign body has been identified as one of the most common
causes of pipe failure. The combined dent and gouge defect is
considered a severe form of mechanical damage as it can lead to
immediate rupture of the pipeline structure, posing a serious
concern to the pipeline operators. Obtaining a clear
understanding of this defect type and developing its accurate
predictive and assessment models are currently receiving
attention from the scientific community, including parts of the
ongoing research activities at the University of Benin. The
present paper reports the investigation into the influence of the
geometry of combined dent and gouge defects on the loadbearing capacity of pipelines through finite element modelling
developed with experimentally characterized pipe material data.
It has been shown that the combined defects with gouge depth of
up to 50% wall thickness do not result in rupture of the pipeline
structure. And that, the dent plays a less significant role in the
combined dent and gouge defect.