The oil and gas industry is currently drilling into and producing from wells in high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) environments. This has created a greater demand to develop more advanced tools and new technology to safely overcome the challenges in these operations. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) requires equipment operating in HPHT environments to pass a design verification analysis. The design verification shall be evaluated using finite element analysis (FEA) per ASME Boiler Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC), Section VIII, Division 3 [1] and API 17TR8 [2].
The objective of this study is to generate a pressure-bending-tension (PBT) capacity chart per the elastic-plastic analysis methodology (global collapse criteria) outlined in KD-230 [1] for a subsea tree connector. The PBT capacity chart covers a wide range of normal operating conditions. Results indicate that the structural capacities from the elastic-plastic analysis methodology are higher than those determined by the standard elastic analysis methodology.
