Authors : N. Abdelbaki , E. Bouali , R. Bouzid and M. Gaceb
Abstract: The various sections of a pipeline used for hydrocarbons transportation over great distances cross several different natural obstacles, amongst which one can name water saturated swampy grounds. The practice shows that the pipeline sections which are laid down on such grounds are submitted to a process of destabilisation in the direction of their principal axis. Under the action of several factors these sections change continuously their position with respect to their initial position which affects their reliability and can even lead to their rupture with disastrous consequences. The working reliability of the pipeline sections is given by their geometrical characteristics and their stress states. The latter vary with the positions occupied by the principal axis of the pipeline section in space, the longitudinal efforts in the wall of the pipes, the temperatures of the pipe and the ambient medium, the internal pressure, the physic-mechanical soil characteristics and their distribution along the principal axis of the pipeline under consideration. In order to formulate the problem of the reliability of the pipeline sections laid down in water saturated grounds we use in this work the renewal theory and we assimilate each pipeline section into a system with a variable working regime. At the end of the study we give an application to a concrete case.
N. Abdelbaki , E. Bouali , R. Bouzid and M. Gaceb , 2007. Reliability of an Unstable Pipeline Used for Natural Gas Transportation. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 2: 263-270.