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Abstract :
In this study, the behaviour of circumferential through cracks in repaired pipe with bonded
composite wrap subjected to bending moment is investigated using three dimensional finite
element analysis. The stress intensity factor is utilized as a fracture criterion. The effects of the
mechanical and geometrical properties of the adhesive on the variation of the stress intensity
factor at the crack front were also analyzed. The obtained results show that the presence of the
bonded composite repair reduces significantly the stress intensity factor, which can improve the
residual lifespan of the pipe. Meanwhile, the stress intensity factor is also reduced as the elastic
and the geometrical wrap properties are improved , particularly when the Young Modulus of the
Key words:
Pipe, Crack; Bonded composite repair; Stress intensity factor; Finite element method.
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1. Introduction
Composite materials have been used to structurally repair piping and other facilities for many
years. However, the original use of composite materials was for repairing corroded pipelines
where the intent was to restore strength to the damaged section of the pipeline. In addition to
repairing corrosion, composite materials have successfully been used to repair dents, wrinkle
bends, induction bends, and pipe fittings including elbows and tees as well as repair of offshore
risers. Today most pipeline companies use composite materials as part of their rehabilitation
programs. However, one of the challenges that confronts the industry is determining when
composite materials can be used and what systems are best-suited for repairing a given damage
mechanism.
Significant body of work has been conducted to assess the use of composite materials in
offshore applications [1 -4], primarily addressing risers, choke and kill lines and spoolable
tubular. In parallel for more than a decade, composites were also considered and adopted to repair
damaged pipelines. The majority of this remediation work focused on the repair of onshore
pipelines to restore hoop strength due to localized wall thickness loss in the steel.
In the last 15 years, glass fiber hoop reinforced composite systems emerged as an
pipelines where the primary load is internal pressure [5]. The feasibility of extending these
repairs to offshore pipes such as risers require a thorough understanding of the complex
combined load profiles; overlay of significant tension, bending, internal and external pressure.
The Gas Research Institute (GRI, now known as the Gas Technology Institute) prepared a
final report, “Development of Fibreglass Systems for Natural Gas Pipeline Service,” for
evaluating the repair system. This document spanned a period of time from January 1987 to
March 1994. In the mid-1990s, industry began using wet lay-up systems. This system has
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undergone extensive testing, including full-scale testing to address its use in repairing mechanical
damage. In 1997, Armor Plate Pipe rap system is started [6]. This system employs a fiber glass
material that is field-impregnated with unique epoxy systems to withstand specific environmental
conditions, including underwater applications, high temperatures, and cold weather. Once the
2000-edition of the Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) ruling came out, use of composite materials
interested in this repair technology also increased. In 2000, started a testing program to assess
the capabilities of Perma-Wrap, which is a system similar to Clock Spring in that it employs a
hard shell with an adhesive installed between layers [6]. Later, the Black-Diamond Composite
Wrap is developed. Although similar in nature to Armor Plate’s Pipe Wrap in its use of epoxy
products, this system has the added strength advantage of using carbon fibers, which on average
have an elastic modulus that is on the order of two times that of conventional E-glass. Numerous
other works continued to pursue the development of products of this repair genre.
At present, both the ASME B31.4, Liquid Transportation Systems for Hydrocarbons,
Liquid Petroleum Gas, Anhydrous Ammonia, and Alcohols and ASME B31.8, Gas Transmission
and Distribution Piping System [7] pipeline codes approved their use to re-rate corroded pipelines
to restore operating pressure partially or fully. Additionally, mechanical damage (e.g. dents with
gouges) has been repaired in situ using composite materials and validated experimentally using
both burst and cyclic pressure fatigue testing. Alexander and Francini [8] present the history of
onshore pipeline repairs using composite materials. Even though the long-term performance of
applications, yet the data reflecting relevant environmental conditions is still sparse [9, 10].
Toutanji and Dempsey [6] worked on establishing fiber reinforced polymer composites as
an effective mean for the repair and rehabilitation of pipelines. They developed a theoretical
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model with stress expressions and circumferential stress curves. This study focused on the
In the design of a composite repair system for offshore pipes, fatigue loads, impact and
the potential for galvanic corrosion form the basis for additional consideration. Factors such as
wave motion and contact with other structures, such as ships and other risers are realistic sources
for impact damage. Galvanic corrosion which may result due to electrochemical coupling of
carbon fibers with steel alloys is another mechanism where design of interfaces, treatment
technology, and environmental conditions are carefully characterized. The effect of cyclic
pressure loads on the performance of a composite repair system is quite important in tailoring its
stiffness and strengths especially for hoop and off-axis fiber reinforcements. Numerous studies
have been performed that address damage initiation and propagation during fatigue of composite.
There is no general agreement on what validation testing a repair system should have
undergone prior to use on a pipeline. It is not the aim of this document to set those standards and
so it is recommended that the method of supply and installation of each system be considered on
its own merits. Each supplier should be able to provide test reports sufficient to demonstrate the
performance of their repair system in a similar situation and application to that being considered.
A track record of use in similar repairs is desirable. These note highlights critical areas that
In this study, A complete finite element model and analysis of the crack repair with
presented. Also, the evaluation of the long-term performance of composite repair systems will be
addressed. Finally, an attempt will be made to provide industry with an overview of the current
state of the art in composite repair technology and how the integrity of pipeline systems is being
This study presents a three dimensional finite element analyses by the code Abaqus for semi
circular complete cracks in pipes repaired with Carbone/epoxy wrap. The pipe is subjected to
bending moment giving an applied stress of =100 MPa, see Figure 1 . Figure 2 presents the
geometrical model of the pipe and the cracks. The geometrical characteristics of the cracked pipe
are :
The size of the crack is represented with the angle. The pipe material is the SA312
Type 304 stainless steel. The wrap repair is bonded to the pipe with the structural adhesive
FM73. Table 1 gives the elastic properties of the pipe, the wrap and the adhesive.
The analysis involved a three-dimensional finite element method to supplement and analyze the
experiments by using a commercially available finite element code ABAQUS [11]. The finite
element model consisted of three subsections to model the cracked pipe, the adhesive, and the
composite wrap. The model consisted of 41526 eight-node brick elements having 62289 nodes
and total number of 103797 degrees of freedom: 17195 in the pipe, 9406 in the adhesive layer,
and 7998 in the wrap subsections. The plate had four layers of elements in the thickness
direction, the adhesive had only one layer of elements through thickness and the wrap had two
layers of elements through thickness. To generate crack front some brick elements are replaced
by « crack blocks ». These crack- blocks are meshes of brick elements which are mapped into the
original element space and merged with surrounding mesh. Boundary conditions and loads are
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transferred to the crack-block elements. The mesh was refined near the crack tip area with an
element dimension of 0.053 mm using at least fifteen such fine elements in the front and back of
the crack front . Figure 3 shows the overall mesh of the specimen and Figure 4 presents the mesh
refinement in the crack tip region. The stress intensity factor (SIF) at the crack front was
extracted using the virtual crack closure technique (VCCT). The VCCT criterion uses the
principles of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) and, therefore, is appropriate for problems
in which brittle crack propagation occurs along predefined surfaces. VCCT is based on the
assumption that the strain energy released when a crack is extended by a certain amount is the
same as the energy required to close the crack by the same amount. In this technique, the stress
intensity factor are obtained for three fracture modes from the equation:
K i2
Gi (1)
E
Where Gi is the energy release rate for mode i, Ki the stress intensity factor for mode i, E the
elastic modulus. When the stress intensity factor increases, the energy at the crack tip increases
too and consequently the crack growth becomes more significant which lead to a reduction of the
residual lifespan of the structure. The residual lifespan of the pipe is defined from the crack
initiation to the critical crack length which require that the damage pipe must be replaced.
SIF calculations were conducted for repaired and un-repaired cracks in pipe under bending
moment in order to estimate the repair performances. Figure 5 presents the distribution of the
stress intensity factor along crack front for repaired and un-repaired cracks. The crack angle is
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taken equal to (30°). It can be seen that, for unrepaired crack, the difference in the stress intensity
factor between the external and the internal crack tips is not sensitive enough. This difference is
about 5%. The presence of the bonded composite wrap reduces significantly the stress intensity
factor at the crack front particularly at the external crack tips. The reduction of the SIF at the
internal crack tip is almost negligible. This behaviour is because the external crack tip is directly
in contact with the adhesive layer and the composite wrap. The stress Transfer from the cracked
pipe to the composite wrap throughout the adhesive layer is maximal at the external crack tip,
what explains the significant reduction of the SIF at this tip. Quantitatively, the SIF id reduced at
the external crack tip from 17 MPa (m)1/2 to 7.8 MPa (m)1/2 , the relative reduction is about 54%.
The rate of reduction of the SIF decreases proportionally to the distance along crack front.
The highest difference in the SIF between external and internal crack tips presents a major
disadvantage for repairing pipe and makes the prediction of the path of crack propagation very
difficult. In the aeronautical application, this problem is solved by the technique of double-sided
composite wrap. This technique allows the equilibrium of stresses transfer between the faces of
the repaired plates. The application of this technique for damaged pipe is practically impossible.
One can confirm that the repair of external cracks in pipe more efficient than the internal cracks.
In addition, the detection of external cracks is simpler. These observations can be generalised to
the case of corroded pipes. Indeed, the repair of corroded pipes with bonded composite wrap is
more efficient for external corrosion under stresses. The composite wrap attenuates the stresses
intensity in the corroded region of the pipe what reduce the risk of crack initiation and
propagation. According to the precedent observations, one can conclude that the repair
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It is known that the durability of bonded composite repairs in damaged structures depends
essentially on the nature of the defects and their sizes. The application of this technique will be
not effective if the size of the defect to be repaired exceeds a critical value. In this section, the
effect of the crack size represented by the crack angle on the SIF variation is analysed.
Figure 6 presents the variation of the SIF at the external crack tip according to the crack
angle for repaired and un-repaired cracks. The reduction of the SIF by the wrap is very
significant for this crack tip , which confirm the results of Figure 5. This reduction is more
significant when the crack angle increases. The rate of reduction of the SIF is about 45% when
the crack angle is less than 25° and about 75% when the crack angle exceeds the value of 45°.
According to the results of Figure 7, one cane note that the variation of the SIF for repaired crack
according to the crack angle is approximately linear with weak slope. This behaviour differs
from the case of repaired plate in tension where the SIF exhibits an asymptotic behaviour as the
crack length increases [12-15]. The difference is due to the fact that for repaired plate subjected
to tension loading there is pure mode I of crack propagation and the SIF at the crack front is very
significant, what allows a high stress transfer from the cracked plate to the composite wrap [16-
17].
Since the extraction of analytical exact solution is very difficult because of the significant number
of parameters which affect the behaviour of repaired cracks and in order to help the designers of
pipe repair we have tried to extract from the FE results a semi-analytical formulations of the
stress intensity factor for repaired cracks in pipe under bending moment.
R
K I F o , ( / ), ( .Ro ) (2)
t
Where :
8
1 1 1
( / ) ( / ) 2 - ( / )
4 3 100
and
E E e
r1 a r p
Gr12 E p ea
Ea and Ep : are respectively the Young modulus of adhesive and the pipe
er and ep : are respectively the thicknesses of the composite and the pipe
The comparison between this semi analytical expression and the finite element calculations
Several calculations were carried out to compute the mode II and the mode III SIFs , all these
calculations showed that the values of KII and KIII are weak compared to the KI values. This is
why our study was limited to the mode I stress intensity factor.
Figure 7 presents a comparison of the SIF variation between the internal and external cracks tips
for repaired pipe. It is shown that the difference in the SIF between the two crack tips is
significant for weak crack angle. The relative difference is about 30%, for =10° and this
difference becomes null when the crack angle is higher then 40°. This behaviour is due to the fact
that for higher crack angle, the stress transfer toward the composite wrap is very significant, what
allow quasi-uniform distribution of the stresses along the thickness of cracked pipes. The Stress
intensity factor at the external crack tip increase with the crack length, reaches a maximum for
40° and decreases beyond this crack angle. This behaviour can be explained by the fact that for
weak crack length the stress transfer between the composite and the cracked pipe is not very
9
significant, the stress intensity factor follow an upward path. When the crack angle reaches the
value of 40°, the stress transfer toward the composite wrap will be more significant and the stress
intensity factor at the repaired crack tip decreases as the crack length increases
It is known that the stronger adhesives are characterised by weak rigidity (weak young modulus),
which make it possible to attenuate the stresses transmitted to the adhesive. In the case of
repaired cracks, the objective is to transmit the maximum of the stresses to the adhesive and
consequently to the wrap in order to reduce them at the crack tip. Thus, theoretically it is
preferable to use adhesives with high shear modulus for repairing cracks or defects. Figure 8
presents the variation of the stress intensity along the crack front for various values of shear
modulus of the adhesive. The results displayed in this last figure confirm what was advanced
previously. Indeed, the stress intensity factor decreases as the Young modulus of the adhesive
increases, but the decrement of the SIF according to Ea tends to be cancelled as Ea increases
indefinitely as shown in Figure 9. Actually, an increase of the adhesive shear modulus reduces
the adhesive strength, which can generate the adhesion failure. The adhesive stresses are related
Ea (U 1 U 2 )
(3)
2(1 )ea
Where U1 and U2 are the displacements in the adherends , is the Poisson ratio and ea is the
adhesive thickness. When the adhesive young modulus increases the stress transfer between the
repaired pipe and the composite wrap increases which reduce the stress around the crack front,
the stress intensity factor at the crack front decreases. The increase of the adhesive young
modulus can improve the residual lifespan of repaired pipes. The choice of the adhesive
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(characterised by its shear modulus) for repairing cracks in pipe under bending must be
optimised in order to allow the transmission of the stresses towards the wrap and to avoid the
adhesive failure due to the increase of the stresses in the adhesive layer.
The adhesives used in bonded repairs are often required to carry a high level of stresses. The
effect of the adhesive thickness on the distribution of the stress on the adhesive layer is very
important. This effect will have a significant incidence on the repair performances. Figure 10
shows the variation of the stress intensity factors versus the adhesive thickness at the external
crack tip. It can be seen that a reduction in the adhesive thickness decreases the stress intensity
factor, when the adhesive thickness varies between 0.1 and 0.14 mm. This means that lower
adhesive thickness is desirable for repairing crack. Bachir Bouiadjra et al [12] highlighted this
effect for repaired aircraft structures. When the adhesive thickness exceeds the value of 0.14 mm,
its effect on the SIF variations becomes insignificant. In addition, it is recommended by the
designers of the bonded composite repair that the adhesive thickness must be ranged between 0.1
and 0.2 mm in order to avoid the increase peel stresses. This norm eliminates the effect of the
Figure 11 illustrates this effect by displaying the SIF variation along the crack front for various
wrap thicknesses. It can be seen that the increase of the wrap thickness reduces significantly the
stress intensity factor at the crack front. For example, the relative reduction of the SIF is about
30% when the wrap thickness varies between 2 and 7. These results allow us to confirm that the
choice of thicker wrapes makes it possible to increase significantly their performances. For a
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better distribution of the stresses, it is preferable to use a multiple layers of bonded composite
5. Conclusion
The reduction of the stress intensity by the composition wrap repair in pipe is very significant at
the crack tip, which improves the residual lifespan of repaired pipes. The main disadvantage of
the technique of bonded composite repair in pipe is the impossibility to bond double sided
composite wrap in order to equilibrate the stress transfer between the internal and external crack
tip. The optimization of the mechanical properties of the adhesive can improve significantly the
repair performances and durability. This optimization must equilibrate between the reduction of
the stress intensity at the repaired defect and the reduction of the risk of adhesive failure. The use
of multiple composite layers for repair can also improve the repair performances. In this case the
ply orientations must be optimized. A semi-analytical expression of the stress intensity factor
for repaired cracks was extracted from the FE calculation. The maximal difference obtained
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Figure 1 repaired pipe under moment
2c
crack
Crack propagation θ
direction
Ri
t
Rm
Figure 2 Geometrical m
Re
13
Figure 3 Typical mesh model of the global structure
14
External crack tip Internal crack tip
22
20
18
16
14
12
1/2
KI MPa.m
10
4 (without patch)
2 (with patch)
0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
e
Normalised distance along the crack front
Figure 5 Distribution of the SIF along the crack front for repaired and un-repaired cracks
15
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11 % (With wrap)
10 % (Without wrap)
C
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
10 20 30 40 50 60
A
16
14
12
10
)
1/2
KI (Mpa.m
4
Internal crack tip
2 Extrernal crack tip
0
10 20 30 40 50 60
Figure 7 SIF vs crack angle at the internal and external tips of the crack
17
12.0 ECT ICP
Ea = 1000 MPa
11.5 Ea = 1500 MPa
Ea = 2000 MPa
11.0
Ea = 2550 MPa
10.5 Ea = 3000 MPa
Ea = 3500 MPa
10.0
K1 (MPa m )
1/2
9.5
9.0
8.5
8.0
7.5
7.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Normalised dsitance along the crack front
Figure 8 SIF distribution along the crack front for various Young modulus of the adhesive
18
12.0
11.5
11.0
Internal crack tip
External crack tip
10.5
K1 (MPa m )
1/2
10.0
9.5
9.0
8.5
8.0
1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
Ea (MPa)
19
14
13
12
11
KI(MPa(m) )
1/2
K1 (MPa m )
1/2
10
6
0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.20
ea(mm)
20
11.0
10.5
10.0
9.5
K1 (MPa m )
1/2
9.0
8.5
8.0
7.5
7.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
er (mm)
21
Table 1. Materials properties
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