Adhesive-Reinforced Mechanically Lined Pipe Response Under Bending and Internal Pressure

Abstract Mechanically Lined Pipes (MLPs) offer corrosion resistance for offshore pipelines, but their relatively thin liners risk wrinkling during reeling installation. Traditional solutions, like thicker liners or internal pressure, increase costs. An industry-proposed alternative is to introduce an adhesive layer between the liner and carrier pipe (Adhesive-reinforced Mechanically Lined Pipe - ARMLP), potentially preventing wrinkles and reducing installation expenses. This method’s effectiveness depends on factors such as adhesive properties and the residual contact pressure resulting from the manufacturing process. This work employs a three-dimensional finite element model to analyze the effectiveness of employing the adhesive to avoid wrinkling under bending. Three dimensional solid elements discretize a 12’’ pipe with a contact surface for the adhesive and considering initial axisymmetric imperfections for the liner. A nonlinear isotropic/kinematic hardening model is employed for both the X70 outer pipe and 316L liner. The model initially simulates the hydroforming fabrication process to take into account the liner residual stress distribution and interlayer contact pressure in the bending simulation with and without installation internal pressure. The results indicate that the while the MLP case study analyzed presents liner wrinkling, when the adhesive is employed, wrinkling does not occur even for very large levels of rotation applied to the ARMLP.