FAILURE OF GLASS FIBER REINFORCED EPOXY PIPES IN OILFIELDS. A DECADE OF EXPERIENCE

PABLO MONTEMARTINI; ANTONELA OROFINO; GUILLERMINA CAPIEL; PABLO FAYÓ

Handbook of Materials Failure Analysis: Case Studies from the Aerospace, Chemical, and Oil And Gas Industries

Editorial Elsevier

Año: 2015; p. 100 - 132

Theuse of glass fiber reinforced polymers pipes (FRP) has been explored bypetroleum operators as an alternative to stainless steel, duplex/super duplexand chrome alloys mainly due to the resistance of FRP to electrochemicalcorrosion. Moreover, their relative light weight allows handling andinstallation that is particularly beneficial for retrofit applications.Maturereservoirs are characterized by increased water cut (i.e. increased producedwater) and reservoir depletion which requires water injection to maintainreservoir pressure. The produced and injected water is highly corrosive,resulting in premature failure of traditional materials. As a result, the useof FRP based on epoxy seems to be an alternative for applications in thosecorrosive environments.Despitethe advantages of FRP pipes, their application is still limited mainly due toinadequateknowledge of failure mechanism and unsatisfactorymethods of evaluating the deterioration. Long-term durability of glass-epoxy composite pipeline in service is anindustrial important issue mainly because the consequences of failure aresevere in oil and gas applications; and it is also a scientific challengebecause it includes many variables (resins, fibers, design, manufacturing, andenvironment). It is important to determine how the resin, fiber and interfaceare affected in terms of long-term property degradation by chemicals anddownhole thermal conditions. In addition, the effect of hydrodynamic andcomplex multiaxial loads on degradation needs to be addressed.