Improved Folias Factor and Burst Pressure Models for Corroded Pipelines

Abstract

Burst pressure models are used for the fitness-for-purpose assessment of energy pipelines. Existing burst pressure models for corroded pipelines are unable to predict the pipe capacity correctly. In this paper, an improved burst pressure model is developed for corroded pipelines considering the burst pressure of flawless pipes and a reduction factor due to corrosion separately. The equation for the burst pressure of flawless pipe is revised based on the theory of the thick wall cylinder. A new model for the Folias factor is proposed for calculating the reduction factor. The new model for the Folias factor incorporates the depth of corrosion defect, whereas the existing models do not account for the effect of the defect depth. The authors' earlier work revealed that the Folias factor depends on the depth of defect. The proposed burst model reasonably predicts the burst pressures obtained from finite element (FE) analysis conducted in this study and the burst test results available in the published literature.