“The Spiral Arrester”—A New Buckle Arrestor Design for Offshore Pipelines

Abstract

If a pipeline buckles in the presence of sufficiently large external pressure, a propagating buckle is initiated. The buckle propagates along the pipeline until it encounters a region of low pressure or an arresting device. This paper suggests a new buckle arrestor design. It is comprised of a rod tightly wound around the pipe to form a number of turns. Its main characteristic is that it can be used in continuous pipelaying methods (reel pipelaying). It can also be used in the case of pipes coated with concrete where it can be inserted into the concrete. Due to its design, it restricts the stress concentration at the discontinuity when bending is applied to the pipe arrestor assembly. Experiments have shown that its efficiency is comparable to other arrestors. An empirical expression for the arrestor efficiency is presented.