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Announcements
Posted by: anonymous on 05/13/2009 08:24 PM
Updated by: anonymous on 05/13/2009 08:24 PM
Expires: 01/01/2014 12:00 AM
Furmanite wins ‘Most Significant Contribution to Subsea Pipeline Technology’ award
Furmanite, the specialist engineering and technical services company, has won a prestigious Pipeline Industries Guild award for the ‘Most Significant Contribution to Subsea Pipeline Technology’, amid stiff competition, with its ultra high pressure subsea pipeline repair clamp design.
The clamp is believed to be a world first as the highest pressure repair clamp ever produced, and the award – presented to Furmanite engineering manager Adam Thistlethwaite at the Pipeline Industries Guild national awards ceremony in March – was made in recognition of the advance that this represents in subsea contingency leak sealing and clamp design.
This technological advancement was developed in response to a requirement for high pressure 16 and 18 inch sea water injection pipeline and riser systems, to be held as a contingency repair measure for emergency deployment. Furmanite is a well-respected provider of FurmaSeal high pressure repair clamps for rapid and economical on-line leak sealing, consisting of a split sleeve fitting installed to cover the damaged section and bolted to seat and compress the elastomer seals. In this instance, the design pressure of 520 bar required a successful hydro-test at almost 800 bar – an unprecedented pressure loading on a split repair clamp. Additionally, the need to accommodate a variation in pipe diameter of 7mm presented a further challenge.
Thistlethwaite explains: “Designing a split joint to withstand a test pressure of 780 bar is a significant challenge as a balance must be achieved between code compliance, flexibility, and manufacturing cost and feasibility. Elastomeric seals are prone to extrusion under load, and given the high pressures involved it was necessary to carry out detailed analysis of the clamp body.
“A double seal system was used to allow safe testing of the pressure boundary by pressurising the inter-seal annulus,” he adds. “This allows a pressure test to be carried out on installation to ensure the seals are correctly activated, without having to pressure test the entire clamp cavity and pipeline along the length of repair, which can cause problems.”
Extremely high mechanical forces are required in the seal system to withstand a 780 bar test pressure, with seal compression pressures of over 1,800 bar needed, demanding a complex high strength anti-extrusion system. The anti-extrusion system is also capable of supporting the seal over the entire variation of pipe diameters – a feature that is key and unique to this product.
The repair clamp is hinged and hydraulically actuated, to aid diver installation. Anodes are fitted to provide corrosion protection.
The Pipeline Industries Guild technology awards are judged on a range of criteria, including whether the submission provides the industry with something it did not have before; extends current technology; provides possible future applications in cost reduction, improved safety or environmental protection; and overcomes a challenge in application on new or existing technology in a new or existing area. In raising the bar in subsea pressure leak sealing with what is believed to be a new record in pressure containment by a leak sealing clamp, this development from Furmanite meets a number of these criteria and represents a valuable advancement in subsea pipeline technology.
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