A pipe coater needed a more environmentally friendly surface treatment to replace its current chromate based solution. The MSC was asked to screen greener adhesion promotors enabling durable steel/fusion bonded epoxy (FBE) primer interfaces for 3-layer polyethylene (3-LPE) pipe coatings.
Using different in-house tools, initial friction tests were carried out on the coated metal components. 3D-roughness measurements were used to compare wear performance.
To use S355 steel plate for offshore applications, a full qualification is needed according to the appropriate standard EN 10225:2009. This standard specifies a whole host of investigations to be performed, from welding with pre-defined heat input levels and full testing of the welds to specific tests to assess the hardenability and cold cracking sensitivity.
The pull bar of a heavy machine suddenly failed. The fracture surface analysis showed a brittle failure initiated on an intergranular failure. Characterisation of the bulk material demonstrated that the toughness of the material was insufficient.
To assure adequate toughness in the heat affected zone, a steel component manufacturer requested assistance with the steel selection. MSC organised sampling of industrial materials, complemented by laboratory cast samples. Guidelines were issued.
A pipeline constructor asked to check and validate the design of PU spacers protecting a 3LPE (3-layer polyethylene) coating during the pulling of a pipeline section through a concrete tunnel.
The question was raised under which condition of weather and leg height, resonance of a jack-up barge could occur. A safe operational window to avoid lock-in of the legs was identified and critical conditions have been determined.
The stability of subsea pipelines, marine risers and offshore structures can be compromised by fluid-structure interaction. Vortex induced vibrations lead to fatigue of flow lines under free span and risers. It was possible to determine the loading pattern and compare it to the pipeline’s characteristics.
Fatigue analysis of a mid-size wind turbine hub at various load conditions was requested. Furthermore, a comparison between welded and cast hubs was needed. The computation demonstrated that it was possible to use a welded hub
Cost reduction is an important topic in the offshore wind sector. However, in view of the move to larger turbine sizes and deeper waters, costs of foundation structures will rise. It is now possible to test tubular joints having the dimensions of offshore wind turbine jacket structures at millions of cycles within a week and with low energy consumption.
As threaded connections are submitted to variable loading they can suffer from fatigue. The critical locations for fatigue were determined and confirmed by experiments. The large scale resonant bending test proved to be valuable test equipment.
Reeled pipelines are submitted to cyclic deformation during reeling and unreeling operations. The behaviour of the plastic deformed pipe needed assessment. The ultra-low cycle fatigue characteristics of the pipe were determined as well as the feasibility of the pipe to multiple bending cycles.
