Carbon steel-concrete/cement mortar-stainless steel composite submarine pipeline

The present application is a national phase entry under 35 USC § 371 of International Application PCT/CN2018/113507, filed Nov. 1, 2018, which claims the benefit of and priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201810705266.4, filed Jul. 2, 2018, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

The present disclosure relates to a field of marine structure engineering technologies, and more particularly to a carbon steel-concrete/cement mortar-stainless steel composite submarine pipeline.

The submarine pipeline is an important structural component for offshore oil and gas development, which can protect transmission medium inside the pipeline from influence of the complex environment outside and inside the pipeline by strength and corrosion resistance of materials, guaranteeing uninterrupted transmission of oil, gas, or other resources, and thus undertake most of important tasks of oil and gas field transportation. However, in the course of service, structural damage and material aging of the submarine pipeline can occur due to the effect of the internal or external and human or natural factors. The accumulation of these damages may lead to rupture, breakage, corrosion, leakage or other accidents of submarine pipelines. In recent years, accidents, such as the corrosion and leakage of the pipeline caused by the change of corrosive composition of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) or hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) in oil and gas medium and the structural damage of pipeline caused by anchor falls due to marine activities, are becoming more and more frequent. Submarine pipeline technology has undergone considerable development, but the structural form of the submarine pipeline is difficult to satisfy the requirements of the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance, and the accidents are increasing. For example, traditional single-layer and double-layer submarine pipelines are difficult to satisfy the requirement of the corrosion resistance by means of designing corrosion allowance when transporting the oil and gas medium containing a certain carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) or hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) composition. For a bimetal composite pipe, the structural corrosion resistance can be improved by an inner stainless steel pipe. However, when calculating the mechanical properties of the whole pipeline, the inner stainless steel pipe and outer concrete are generally not considered, because they are connected to a carbon steel pipe by mechanical laminating and external bonding separately, making the bimetal composite pipe difficult to satisfy the requirement of the mechanical properties under the harsh environment.

A carbon steel-concrete/cement mortar-stainless steel composite submarine pipeline proposed by the present disclosure is formed by connecting several composite sub-pipelines arranged sequentially along an axial direction of the pipeline. Each composite sub-pipeline has an identical structure and includes an outer carbon steel pipe and an inner stainless steel pipe, the outer carbon steel pipe and the inner stainless steel pipe each have a circular cross section and are concentrically placed, and concrete or cement mortar is filled between the outer carbon steel pipe and the inner stainless steel pipe to form a sandwiched structure with a circular ring-shaped cross section.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a cross section of a composite sub-pipeline according to embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a connection of two adjacent composite sub-pipelines according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure is further illustrated in detail in combination with the accompanying drawings and the embodiments hereinafter.

A carbon steel-concrete/cement mortar-stainless steel composite submarine pipeline according to embodiments of the present disclosure is formed by connecting several composite sub-pipelines arranged sequentially along an axial direction of the pipeline. Each composite sub-pipeline has an identical structure (a cross section thereof is referenced in FIG. 1 ), and includes an outer carbon steel pipe 1 and an inner stainless steel pipe 3 which each have a circular cross section and are concentrically placed. Concrete or cement mortar is filled between the outer carbon steel pipe 1 and the inner stainless steel pipe 3 to form a sandwiched structure 2 with a circular ring-shaped cross section.

The diameter of the outer carbon steel pipe 1 is between 6 and 60 inches, the ratio of the diameter to the wall thickness is less than or equal to 45, the minimum value of the ratio of the diameter to the wall thickness is determined by economy and product process and is generally greater than 15. A ratio value of the diameter of the outer carbon steel pipe 1 to the diameter of the inner stainless steel pipe 3 is 0.25-0.75. When the filler is concrete or cement mortar, a thickness of the sandwiched structure 2 is greater than or equal to 30 mm, the maximum value of the thickness of the sandwiched structure 2 satisfies the range of the ratio value of the diameter of the outer carbon steel pipe 1 to the diameter of the inner stainless steel pipe 3 . When the concrete is filled into the sandwiched structure 2 , it is generally required that the thickness of the sandwiched structure 2 is greater than or equal to three times of aggregate size in the concrete. A wall thickness of the inner stainless steel pipe 3 is not less than 2 mm. A ratio value D o /t o of the diameter D o of the outer carbon steel pipe 1 to the wall thickness to thereof is less than the ratio value D i /t i of the diameter D i of the inner stainless steel pipe 3 to the wall thickness t i thereof to ensure the outer carbon steel pipe to reach its ultimate axial bearing capacity before the inner stainless steel pipe under the ultimate axial compression load.

Further, a connection mode between two adjacent composite sub-pipelines according to the embodiments of the present disclosure is shown in FIG. 2 . The axial lengths of the inner stainless steel pipes 3 of two composite sub-pipelines at a junction are each beyond the outer carbon steel pipe 1 and the sandwiched structure 2 by about 200-400 mm (determined according to the specific project, the present embodiment is 250 mm), and two inner stainless steel pipes are aligned and then welded in a circumferential direction a. Two connecting structures having a length of approximately 400-800 mm (determined according to the specific project, the present embodiment is 500 mm) cover outer sides of two inner stainless steel pipes 3 at the junction respectively, two connecting structures are each integrally formed by an inner concrete or cement mortar semi-circular ring 4 and an outer carbon steel semi-circular ring 5 placed concentrically (the size of such outer carbon steel semi-circular ring is equal to the size of the outer carbon steel pipes at two sides), and an inner side of the inner concrete or cement mortar semi-circular ring 4 contacts the outer side of the inner stainless steel pipe 3 at the junction tightly. Two outer carbon steel semi-circular rings 5 are aligned and then welded in an axial direction b, finally the two welded outer carbon steel semi-circular rings 5 and the outer carbon steel pipes 1 of the composite sub-pipelines at both sides are aligned and then welded in a circumferential direction c.

The various components according to the embodiments of the present disclosure are obtained by conventional preparation process using commercially available materials, in which, the concrete employs any one of normal concrete, light-weight aggregate concrete or recycled concrete.

The above description are only preferred embodiments of the present disclosure and are not to limit the protection scope of the present disclosure, any modification, equivalent replacement, and improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.