Flexible Pipe Body With Layered Abrasion and Impact Protection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Flexible pipes used in deep and ultra-deep water environments face challenges such as increased pressure and abrasion damage from contact hazards, leading to potential breaches in the outer sheath and damage to internal layers, which existing technologies do not adequately address.
Innovation Solution
A flexible pipe design featuring an inner sheath layer, an outer sheath layer, an abrasion layer for protecting against abrasion, and a reinforcement layer with woven or braided filaments for impact protection, allowing for optimized material selection for both abrasion and impact resistance without increasing stiffness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a single thick abrasion-resistant layer is used to protect against contact hazards, then abrasion resistance is improved, but impact resistance deteriorates and the pipe becomes stiffer
Solution Approach 1:
The protective layer is divided into two separate functional layers: an outer abrasion layer (160) made of wear-resistant polymer material and an inner reinforcement layer (150) made of high-strength filament material (such as aramid, glass, or basalt fibers). This segmentation allows each layer to specialize in its specific protective function without compromising the other, resolving the contradiction between abrasion and impact resistance.
Solution Approach 2:
The pipe body (300) uses a composite structure combining different materials with complementary properties: the abrasion layer uses polymer materials optimized for wear resistance, while the reinforcement layer uses high-strength filaments (aramid, glass, basalt) optimized for impact resistance. This composite approach allows simultaneous achievement of both abrasion and impact protection without the limitations of a single material system.
2Strength
If reinforcement material is added to improve impact resistance, then impact resistance is improved, but flexibility deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The reinforcement layer (150) is positioned locally between the outer sheath layer (108) and the abrasion layer (160) specifically where impact protection is needed, rather than making the entire pipe structure uniformly rigid. The filament arrangement (woven, braided, or stranded) provides localized reinforcement while maintaining overall pipe flexibility for large deflections.
Solution Approach 2:
The combination of flexible polymer matrix material in the abrasion layer with high-strength filaments in the reinforcement layer creates a composite structure where the polymer provides flexibility and the filaments provide impact strength. This composite approach allows the pipe to maintain flexibility for operational deflections while resisting impact forces.
Data Source
AI summary
A flexible pipe body for a flexible pipe for transporting production fluid from a sub-sea location. The flexible pipe body includes an inner sheath layer for retaining fluid within a bore of the flexible pipe body and an outer sheath layer provided radially outwardly of the inner sheath layer. An abrasion layer is provided radially outwardly of the outer sheath layer for protecting the outer sheath layer against abrasion damage. A reinforcement layer is provided between the outer sheath layer and the abrasion layer, for protecting the outer sheath layer against impact damage. The reinforcement layer includes filaments that are woven, braided, knitted or otherwise intertwined.