Composite repair of sub-sea pipelines*
C. Wood A , K. Kozielski A , W. Tian A , S. Gao A , J. Hodgkin A , K. Leong B and A. Leong BA CSIRO.
B PETRONAS.
The APPEA Journal 51(2) 729-729 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ10109
Published: 2011
Abstract
The development of new deepwater oil and gas fields provide an opportunity for increased use of new materials. Conventional infrastructure is constructed using significant quantities of steel and concrete, which is becoming less practical in comparison to new light weight, easy to handle composites. When infrastructure needs to be repaired, there is often a requirement for underwater welding, which carries considerable occupational health, safety and environment (OHSE) risks.
For this reason, moving away from traditional metal structures or repair technologies is increasingly attractive. In recent years a number of new water activated composite wrap materials have been developed for use in underwater applications. The materials properties that are required can be difficult to achieve and maintain over an extended period of exposure to the marine environment, though, so many research groups are working on this challenge.
A comprehensive literature review has been undertaken to identify present state of the art ideas for the development of improved underwater materials and this will be discussed in the context of adhesive applications. Preliminary material characterisation work will be described where new resins have been formulated to perform well in marine environments and survive prolonged exposure to seawater. Experiments were carried out in artificial seawater and samples left to cure at a range of temperatures.
DSC and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMTA) were used to evaluate the crosslink density of the network and the glass transition temperature respectively, while FTIR was used to determine the chemical structure in the cured systems. Preliminary mechanical test results have shown significant improvement in strength for the new formulations compared to a set of control samples of commercially available materials.
Dr Colin D. Wood joined CSIRO Material Science and Engineering (CMSE) as a research scientist in 2009 and is leading and working on projects developing novel polymers for use in oilfield applications and as advanced composites. Colin obtained his PhD in 2003 for the study of polymer synthesis in compressed fluid solvents. Since then, he has worked in laboratories in the USA, UK and Australia developing polymers for a range of applications including gas storage, composites, biomedical applications and for use in the microelectronics industry. |
Dr Kozielski was awarded a BSc (Hons) in 1987 and a PhD in 1992 for the characterisation of cure in epoxy resins from the University of Sussex in the UK She subsequently worked for Ciba Composites as a development chemist designing new materials for aerospace applications. Since joining CSIRO in 2002, she has worked on a range of materials-related projects. She is stream leader in the development of technologies for flow assurance to improve off-shore oil and gas extraction. |
Wendy Tian was born in Shen Yang, China. She obtained a BSc and a BEng from Beijing University of Aeronautics and subsequently worked at Shen Yang Aircraft Company as a polymer materials engineer for eight years. She obtained her PhD (composite materials science) from UNSW before joining CSIRO in 2000 to carry out postdoctoral research on composite degradation, fabrication and development. She is working on several materials-related projects for industrial application in the oil and gas industry. |
Ms Song Gao, born in China, migrated to Australia in 2003 with an MEng (biochemical engineering) from Nanjing University of Technology, China. Since qualifying, she has worked as a molecular biochemist in China and analytical chemist in Australia for three different companies. In 2008, Song joined CSIRO as an experimental scientist and has been working on projects involving the preparation and application of polymers and composites for industry. |
Dr Jonathan Hodgkin completed a BSc (organic chemistry) at UWA in 1959, received his PhD from ANU in 1963, then completed two years of post-doctoral studies at the National Research Council Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Before joining CSIRO in 1971, Jonathan spent six years in the US working for Stanford Research Institute; then, later at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratories in California. His long and varied career has involved the study and characterisation of many materials for numerous applications and in 1982 was seconded to the Reserve Bank of Australia to manage the transfer of CSIRO’s technology on polymer banknotes. Among his achievements, Jonathan was also the co-inventor of the anti-cancer Sirtex SIR-microspheres™, which have recently received FDA approval for use in liver cancer treatments. He has more than 80 publications in refereed journals along with 20 patents or patent applications. |
Dr K. H. Leong is a principal composites engineer in PETRONAS. KH attended graduate school in the UK, graduating from Manchester and Cambridge Universities in 1988 and 1992, respectively. On completing his PhD, KH moved to Australia to join Techsearch Inc. in Adelaide, where he was involved in industrial composites consultancy and some teaching at the University of SA. In 1994, he moved to the Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composites Structures Ltd. in Melbourne where his research has mainly been on aerospace composite materials and structures. KH has been with PETRONAS since 2000 and, during that time, has headed up the composites research and development activities at PETRONAS Research. His composites research interests include process-structure-property relationship, metal-composite substitution and certification. He is a UK-registered chartered engineer and chartered scientist, and is a fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IoM3), UK. |
Alan Leong graduated with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and has been working with composite materials since 2000. After completing his first degree, he worked at Queen Mary University of London on composite materials for wind turbines where he specialised in composites testing and low cost composites manufacturing techniques. Alan joined PETRONAS Research in 2007 and has been working on the application of composites materials in oil and gas, specifically in the field of repair and rehabilitation. |
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