Wed, 27 November, 2024
The recording of a recent webinar held by the Non-metallic Innovation Centre (NIC) is now available to watch online.
The event, ‘Lessons Learnt from Non Metallic Failure Investigations,’ was relevant as pipes for use in oil and gas extraction and transfer are increasingly being made from flexible high-pressure composite pipe such as Reinforced Thermoplastic Pipe (RTP), Thermoplastic Composite Pipe (TCP) and Reinforced Thermoset Resin (RTR).
Although composites are damage tolerant, there are variabilities in production and in-service defects that can develop and alter their performance. The most significant phenomena that affect composite performance include delamination (de-bonding), impact damage (localised), matrix cracking (overstress), weepage (leaks), environmental ingress (swelling), thermal damage and lightning strike (de-bonding), and joints or repair applications. 90% of the failures that occur are reported to be related to joints, making these of particular significance to industry.
Understanding the causes of failures, their repair and rehabilitation are vital to mitigating against costly shut-downs and safety hazards.
This webinar, which you can watch below, presented a case study of the findings from one such pipeline failure, along with a discussion on mitigation against failure: