Avaliação de modelos de Virtual Anchor Spacing (VAS) para análise de flambagem lateral em flowlines rígidos submetidos a altas pressões e altas temperaturas (HP/HT)

Abstract

The exploration of off-shore fields in ultra-deep water and increasingly severe operational conditions (HP/HT), associated with a wide use of rigid subsea pipelines by the global industry and, more recently, in Brazil, due to the SCC-CO2 phenomenon, has presented several technical challenges for subsea engineering, notably in the evaluation of thermomechanical buckling in flowlines. Therefore, in this work, a literature review of the topic, in its state of the art, is presented. Through several simulations carried out using the Safebuck spreadsheet, which contains analytical models, a sensitivity study of the relevant variables to the phenomenon is presented, based on a defined simulation matrix covering the usual range of HP/HT production pipelines, applied in a VAS model, with the aim of identifying the degree of influence on the results of the main parameters. The results obtained analytically for a flowline, called pilot, were compared with those found by a pipeline specialist, who used a simplified FEA model of VAS, for a defined boundary conditions case. Finally, were compared the results from matrix with those extracted from response surfaces.