Global Pipeline Buckling Symposium - Perth, Australia

Lateral Buckling and Pipeline Walking Overview of the SAFEBUCK JIP

David. A.S. Bruton - Atkins, Malcolm Carr - Votadini Consultants

ABSTRACT
This paper summarizes key areas of research and development undertaken by the SAFEBUCK Joint
Industry Project (JIP), including the development of engineering models and the testing of pipe-soil
interaction, fatigue and local buckling.
The SAFEBUCK Joint Industry Project set out to address one of the key design challenges for
pipelines - buckling due to the compressive forces created by internal pressure and temperature - by
supporting and guiding a design approach that deliberately encourages pipelines to buckle, but in a
controlled way. By controlled initiation of lateral buckles at regular intervals, the loads are shared
and reduced at each buckle site. Early application of this idea was hounded by problems due to a
lack of know-how, which led to a number of failures, including three full-bore ruptures and one
abandonment, mostly due to the issue not being addressed correctly in design. A related challenge
addressed by the JIP, is pipeline walking, which has been observed on a number of pipelines,
leading to one failure and a number subsea interventions to prevent future failure.
With the JIP now entering its third and final phase, the design guideline and research findings have
been applied on a number of projects. This is therefore a good opportunity to present the
SAFEBUCK design methodologies and research to a wider audience, and outline work underway
now, in the final phase.

Figure 1 Side scan sonar image of a lateral buckle

INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND
Subsea pipelines are increasingly being required to operate at higher temperatures and pressures.
The natural tendency of such a pipeline is to relieve the resulting high axial stress in the pipe-wall by
buckling. Uncontrolled buckling can have serious consequences for the integrity of a pipeline. An
elegant and cost-effective design solution to this problem is to work with rather than against the
pipeline by controlling the formation of lateral buckles (Figure 1) along the pipeline. Controlled lateral
buckling is an efficient solution to the relief of axial compression. Indeed, as temperature and

Subsea Australasia Conference 2011

Global Pipeline Buckling Symposium

Lateral Buckling and Pipeline Walking

Overview of the SAFEBUCK JIP

pressures increase further, lateral buckling may be the only economic solution. With the increase in
deepwater developments, where pipeline trenching is uncommon, even low temperature pipelines
such as water injection flowlines become susceptible to lateral buckling. This challenge has led to a
radical advance in pipeline engineering with a greater need for a robust lateral buckling design
solutions.
Prior to the launch of SAFEBUCK, the industrys understanding of lateral buckling was immature;
many projects had undertaken research work and considerable engineering with the aim of
developing a robust solution. However, project timescales frequently necessitated alternative
fallback solutions and this approach led to some high profile project issues, in some cases risks were
not identified early enough, leading to late design changes that incurred considerable project costs.
This immaturity in knowledge was sadly demonstrated by the occurrence of unexpected lateral
buckles in a number of pipelines, leading in some cases to pipeline failure. These failures included
three catastrophic full-bore pipeline ruptures in the North Sea, West Africa and Brazil. In the first two
cases, lateral buckling was not addressed correctly in design; in the last case, buckling was caused
by the unexpected exposure and global instability of a pipeline buried in very soft clay.
The SAFEBUCK JIP was initiated in 2002, with the support of key operators in the industry to
address these uncertainties and deliver a demonstrably safe and effective lateral buckling design
approach, based on targeted experimental research and the development of Design Guidance.
Groundbreaking research was carried out by a world-class team, of leaders in their field, to contribute
to the design guidance and research programs including fatigue, local buckling, buckle initiation and
pipe-soil interaction. The sharing of knowledge and data by participants within the JIP has also been
exceptional. Many novel test-methods developed for the JIP are now used routinely for oil and gas
projects.
JIP SCOPE OF WORK, TECHNOLOGY AND DATA SHARING
The scope of work for the SAFEBUCK JIP is summarised in Figure 2 and discussed in this paper,
which highlights key findings, design methodologies and test results.

Figure 2

Scope of Work for the SAFEBUCK JIP

The starting point of the JIP was to assemble a knowledge base of participants and contractors
experience, including test data and lessons learned from lateral buckling design and operating