Chapter 4 BURST FAILURE MODELS AND PREDICTIONS OF BURIED PIPELINES

The oil and gas transmission pipelines are made of carbon steels and usually buried underground. They are susceptible to external corrosion that is a big threat to the integrity of aging pipelines. Different corrosion assessment methods have been developed for managing the aging pipeline integrity. This paper reviews and evaluates the existing burst failure models and their predictions for buried aging pipelines, and both pipes and elbows are considered. The review is first given to the burst failure prediction models for defect-free pipes, including strength solutions and flow solutions of the burst pressure as well as their experimental validations. Followed are evaluations on the corrosion assessment methods that are categorized as three-generation models for corroded line pipes from low to high strength steels. After then, the burst pressure models are briefly discussed for the pipeline elbows with and without corrosion defects. On this basis, the better burst failure models are recommended, and the major challenges are discussed.