Asian International Journal of Science and Technology in Production and Manufacturing (2008)

Vol. 1, No.2, pp. 41-50

Puncture Resistance of Pressurized & Unpressurized Glass Reinforced Epoxy (GRE)

Pipes – A Phenomenological Model of Failure Mechanisms

J. Griffiths and P. Gudimetla

School of Engineering Systems, Queensland University of Technology, Gardens Point Campus,
P. O. Box 2434, 2 George Street, Brisbane Q4001 Australia

Abstract
Glass reinforced ethylene (GRE) pipes are widely used in the oil and gas sector in Australia owing to their
economical/competitive life cycle costs. However, as with all pipelines, GRE pipes face significant risks of
external interference by earthmoving equipment where mechanical insult is the result of approximately 50% of
pipeline failures. Mechanical tests on un-pressurised pipes were conducted on thick and thin walled GRE pipe
samples rated to ANSI Class 600 at different loading rates to study the failure mechanisms. Localised failures
due to combined bending and shear with severe delamination under the indenter were observed in thick wall
GRE whereas thin walled GRE pipes failed due to buckling away from the point of impact. The finite element
analyses results show that GRE pipes fail due to a combination of bending and direct shear at the p oint of
impact. Further, the failures are functions of the angle of impact and the tip geometry. The magnitude of
puncture resistance as well as the location of failure and failure mechanisms were all found to be highly
dependent on the pipe wall thickness and applied internal pressure. GRE pipes exhibited 55 to 75% less
resistance to puncture as compared with steel pipes of same wall thickness. Hence, most commercially
available excavators have the potential to penetrate GRE pipes, so alternative methods must be employed to
reduce this risk.

Keywords:
GRE Pipes, Puncture Resistance, Penetration, Internal Pressure, Point Loading, finite element analysis

1 INTRODUCTION
Glass-Reinforced Epoxy (GRE) pipelines have been
in use by the oil and gas industry in Australia for
over 20 years. There are now more than 1200
kilometres of high pressure fibreglass composite
pipelines in operation throughout the country.
Fibreglass pipes are commonly implemented in
corrosive environments due to performance
deficiencies of traditional materials such as steels.
For instance, in transmitting well production fluids,
wet or sour gas, hydrocarbon production flowlines,
field gathering systems and waterflood applications.
Add to this the growing list of potential applications,
such as dry gas and high pressure wet gas
transmission as well as Coal Seam Methane (CSM)
and Coal Mine Methane (CMM) gathering systems,
and one can see that fibreglass piping will be
implemented more frequently in the near future
(Kirk-Burnnand, 2006).
Among the many benefits that GRE brings to the
pipeline industry, the most significant is its corrosion
resistance. Companies incur huge costs annually on
combating pipeline corrosion through the use of
exterior coatings (i.e. paint), repairs to corroded
sections of pipe work, and the substantial costs of
performing Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) on the
piping networks. Thus for the majority of fluid
handling applications, GRE reduces the level of
resources necessary to perform day-to-day operations

41
J.Griffiths and P.Gudimetla
both efficiently and safely. Additionally, unlike
carbon steel pipelines, the pumping power
requirements in GRE pipelines remain constant over
time. This is because the surface roughness on the
internal surface does not significantly change and as
such the Hazen- of life-cycle cost of fibreglass
Williams coefficient remains around 150. Hence, the
whole is often substantially lower than that of
traditional piping materials.
(a) Underground (b) Free surface
Figure 1: GRE Piping in Australia
Other benefits which fibreglass composites offer
include a high strength to weight ratio, light weight
material (which significantly reduces transportation
costs to remote sites during construction and
maintenance operations), dimensional stability and
moderate tooling costs during installation.
Depending on the type of resin used to manufacture
the pipes, GRE also has the potential to be resistant
to chemical attack such as hydrolysis, oxidation,
pyrolysis or solution attack. Figures 1a and 1b show
typical applications of GRE in the oil and gas
industry for both aboveground and underground fluid
transmission lines respectively. To date GRE has
been limited to relatively low pressure applications
(typically up to 10 MPa). This is due to several
unresolved issues relating mainly to the weeping
characteristics of composites such as GRE when
placed under internal pressure as well as the risks
associated with external interference. According to
Cosham & Hopkins (2001), the major causes of
pipeline failure around the world are external
interference and corrosion, of which, corrosion
generally does not negatively affect fibreglass
pipelines. This research is backed up by other
sources who have calculated that mechanical
interference has caused approximately 50% of
recorded failures in Europe (Bolt, 2001) and 53.5%
in the United States (Jones, et al. 1986). Bolt (2001)
also found that earth moving operations, specifically
by excavator and/or backhoe style equipment, are the
major cause of such external interference incidents.
42
An understanding of the puncture resistance of GRE
is therefore vital given that this material is now being
implemented more frequently by industry. This will
ensure that pipeline designers understand the risks
associated with their designs as well as the
consequences of failure and help mitigate and even
avoid losses of life and/or severe harm to people,
property and the environment.
2 BACKGROUND
Prior research into external interference of pipelines
has predominately focused on steel. Various studies
have been conducted into topics ranging from stress
configurations under loading, fracture mechanics,
denting characteristics and analysis of puncture
resistance of thick and thin-walled GRE pipes.
Recently, the research focus has shifted towards
utilising finite element software packages to analyse
what would generally have been considered too
complex to study previously. Primarily two
researchers have recently performed detailed studies
on the cause and effects of pipeline punctures in
typical Australian pipelines. These studies were
conducted by Andrew Stewart and Daniel Brooker in
conjunction with the Cooperative Research Centre
(CRC) at the University of Western Australia
between 2000 and 2004. As Brooker’s research was
more results based, his work was used as the basis of
this investigation into the puncture resistance of
GRE.
In contrast to the prior experiments performed by the
European Pipeline Research Group (EPRG),
Brooker’s research focused primarily on thinner
walled steel pipes and much smaller tooth penetration
geometries more typically representative of
Australian operating conditions. Brooker’s results
also indicated that the material’s failure point was
significantly dependent on the bending stresses
acting beneath the corners of the penetrating tooth.
This is in combination with membrane and/or shear
stresses previously found in the pipe wall by Driver
& Zimmerman (1998). Brooker’s derived equation
has now been incorporated into AS2885 as a means
by which the puncture resistance (Rp) (see equation
1) of steel pipelines can be assessed. The puncture
load was found to be highly dependent on tooth size
(L & W), pipe wall thickness (t) and pipe material
grade (σu).
⎡ W ⎤
R p = 0.701(t )(σ u + 410)(L + 22.4)⎢ ⎥
(1)
⎣W + 3.14 ⎦
Puncture Resistance of Pressurized & Unpressurized Glass Reinforced Epoxy (GRE) Pipes – A
Phenomenological Model of Failure Mechanisms
Puncture loads calculated using equation 1 were
found to be consistent with the experimental data
obtained from thick walled puncture tests performed
by the EPRG and other tests at Batelle Columbus
Division in the mid-eighties. Thus, this equation has
a wider range of applications (i.e. for various tooth
and pipe dimensions) than any other previously
derived equation.
It is important to note that the current Australian oil
and gas pipeline standard AS2885 does not provided
designers with any guidance on quantifying the
puncture resistance of fibreglass. Hence, it is
intended that this particular study will provide
designers with some insight into the risks and
potential consequences of implementing GRE pipes.
Much of the research into the failure mechanisms of
filament wound composite pipes to date has focused
on biaxial loading. Several papers have also
analysed impact damage on thin walled fibreglass
pipes but have not gone as far as analysing the actual
puncture resistance of pipes commonly found in the
Australian pipeline industry (Li, et al. 2005, Curtis, et
al. 2000 and Christoforou & Swanson, 1991). Nor
has any prior research taken into account the tooth tip
geometry of common earthmoving equipment
coming into contact with a fibreglass pipe. This paper
presents the mechanical testing of thick and thin
walled GRE pipes with a view to accurately develop
a Phenomenological model that describes the
deformation and failure mechanisms of GRE pipes.
A preliminary finite element material model is
developed using available orthotropic properties and
the numerical results are compared with experimental
test data to establish trends and likely failure
mechanisms of various thickness GRE pipes.
3 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Puncture testing with a 50mm spherical indenter on
short lengths of GRE pipe procured from Fiberglass
Systems was performed at QUT. It must be noted
that the material properties used in this study were
specified by the manufacturers and are considered to
be nominal values. Previous material testing
performed by Brooker found that the material
properties of steel were often considerably higher
than the minimum guidelines set down in the
Australian Standards (AS4041-2006). Likewise, the
wall thickness of the pipes tested had a significant
variation amongst specimens with many of the GRE
samples having a measured wall thickness of up to 12
mm. It was therefore expected that the puncture
loads would be higher than expected since material
properties and pipe wall thickness have a significant
influence on puncture resistance. The pipe diameters
chosen for the testing were typical of what is used in
the oil and gas sector. Samples shorter than 10 times
the pipe diameter have previously been found by
Brooker and other researchers to give inaccurate
results. Consequently, pipe lengths were specified to
be 2 metres for the steel and 1.83 metres for the GRE
as this ensured the pipes were of a sufficient length to
negate end effects. This is due to deformation being
present along the entire pipe length resulting in
excessive ovalisation of the pipe and axial pull-in of
the ends.
The aim of this testing was to experimentally resolve
several issues which were unearthed during the
literature review and analysis of UWA’s data. A
small off-cut of GRE pipe manufactured by
Fiberglass Systems was sourced directly from the
field. This specimen was cut from a 3.6mm thick
pipe but tapered up to 12mm at one end to allow for a
machined thread to be cut for joining pipe lengths.
The pipe was cut into 5 sections with only two of the
samples being suitable for comparison. These
included two 175mm long samples of 12mm and
3.6mm wall thickness and an internal diameter of
164mm. The other three shorter (90, 113, 122mm
length) specimens with thicknesses varying from
5.1mm to 12mm would have ideally been machined
to an equal thickness but unforeseen circumstances
prevented this. Instead these three samples were
utilised to gauge the effects of higher impact speeds
on the acquired puncture loads. Since no information
about the material properties of this pipe was
available, the results were only used to establish
trends between the different data sets. Tooth
displacement was maintained at a quasi-static speed
of 0.2 mm/s for all tests. Although earthmoving
equipment operates at much higher rates, past
research had found that quasi-static loading gave
sufficiently accurate results of impact against steel
and GRE pipes (Curtis, et al. 2000). Loads were
applied by a 60 tonne Instron machine (Figure 5) and
were sustained until either a maximum displacement
of 100mm was reached or a full puncture had formed
in the pipe. Measurements of the puncture load and
relative tooth displacement were recorded via a
digital data acquisition system and saved for
subsequent analysis. A 50mm spherical indenter was
chosen as this was consistent with previous thin
walled GRE impact studies (Li, et al. 2004) and
testing was performed on unpressurised GRE pipes.
Two impact speeds were used throughout the testing
43
J.Griffiths and P.Gudimetla

to validate the assumption that impact speed has little
influence on the results. A speed of 0.2mm/s was
again used on the 3.6 and 12mm uniformly thick
sections as well as one of the tapered specimens (5.1
– 9.3mm). The other tapered specimen (9.3 – 12mm)
and threaded end (6.4 – 9.4mm) were subjected to an
impact speed arbitrarily chosen to be 4.0mm/s. It
was assumed that any influence speed had on the
results would be evident with the speed being 20
times higher. Testing was performed on an Instron
5500R universal testing machine (Figure 2) with the
pipes being supported directly on the test bed. Force
and displacement curves were obtained from the
Instron load cell via Bluehill computer software.
puncture load and tooth displacement for the
pressurised tests ranged from 0.9 to 94.7% and -13.0
to 71.6%. Figure 4 shows the upper, lower and
average loads required to puncture the GRE pipes. It
can be seen that pressurising GRE pipes does
increase their puncture resistance but wide variations
in the experimental results do not allow a more
specific conclusion to be drawn.
These large variations in obtained results were not
expected since consistency in manufacturing quality
should have resulted in similar results for each of the
three repeated tests. Although prior research (Park &
Jang, 1998) has found that a slight change in the
adhesion between layers can have a significant effect
on a composite’s impact resistance.

GRE Pipe - Average Max. Load & Displacement

50 46.6
42.6 43.4
45 41.4 40.5
39.7 40 40.6
40
33.8
35
28.2 30.8 30.7 29.8 29.3
30
26.3
25
20
13.3 13.2 13.0 12.7 13.0
15 10.8 11.3 11.7
10.0
10
5
0

r
Lo er
su r

in n
Tw tion
in n
ed

g
ne ng
ne ng

ed

P
P
P

ed

ge
es ige

Tw tio
Tw tio

n
G
G
G

g
ris

Lo
Lo

ad
Lo

ris

Ti
E n Ti
T

tra
tra
tra
su

in

P
P
P

ne
es

G
G
G

Pe
Pe
Pe
r

Pr
np
U

Max Load [kN] Max Displacement [mm]

Figure 3: Comparison of maximum load v maximum

displacement in GRE pipes for various types of teeth.

Puncture Resistance Disparity (%) - Un/Pressurised GRE

100 94.7
90 84.8
80 74.1
Figure 2: Top - Ingstron Machine setup at QUT 70
60
67.5
63.9
66.3 64.2

51.1 53.6 51.3

Bottom - Indenter teeth used for puncture testing 50
40
38.9 36.5
43.6
35.2 36.2
48.1

(below). 30
29.0 28.9
21.5
31.3

18.6
20 13.0
8.9
10
0.9
0
4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS & ANALYSIS
r

r
n

n
g

g
P

P
ed

ed
ge

ge
tio

tio
n

n
G

G
Lo

ad

Lo
ris

Ti

Ti
ra

ra

All tests on the GRE piping resulted in puncture. It

su

Lo
in

in
t

t
P

P
ne

ne
G

G
Tw

Tw
es

d
Pe

Pe
En
Pr

can be seen in Figure 3 that the puncture loads and Upper Limit (%) Average % reduction in resistance for GRE Lower Limit (%)

tooth displacements were again dependant on the

boundary conditions used during testing. That is, the
average puncture loads were between 28.9 and 51.3% Figure 4: Puncture Resistance Disparity in GRE
higher when an internal pressure was applied while pipes
the average tooth displacement reduced by 18.4 to
64.0%. The maximum and minimum load and
displacement values observed between the
unpressurised and pressured GRE puncture tests were
well outside of these ranges. That is, the increase in

44
Puncture Resistance of Pressurized & Unpressurized Glass Reinforced Epoxy (GRE) Pipes – A
Phenomenological Model of Failure Mechanisms

Exp. Load - Unpressurised (GP Long Tooth)

(a) (b)
35
30
25
Load [kN]

20
15
10
5
0
(c) (d)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75
Tooth Displacement [mm]

GP Long - Test 1 GP Long - Test 2 GP Long - Test 3

Figure 5: Load-Displacement curves of GRE Pipes

Figure 6: Deformation mechanisms in GRE pipes

5 GRE FAILURE MECHANISMS
Additional testing was performed to analyse the
damage at different stages of loading. In Figure 6, it Knowledge of these failure modes is of great
can be observed that there are two distinct peaks in importance to industry because a number of current
the typical GRE load-displacement curve. Tracking methods employed to repair GRE pipelines
the failure mechanisms of the material was made subsequent to impact damage do not return the pipes
possible by conducting five tests and stopping them back to their original ‘as manufactured’ condition.
at various stages of impact. These tests were set-up The photos in Figure 6 show why common ‘band-
in the same manner as previous tests with the General aid’ solutions, where additional fibreglass is wrapped
Purpose Long tooth was used to puncture the around the pipe or similar methods (e.g. couplings),
unpressurised GRE pipes. Tests were terminated at are not recommended for repairs of impact damage.
deflections relating to the: 1) top of the first peak – This is because delamination of the pipe transpires
4mm, 2) base of the second peak – 8mm, 3) halfway with relatively small impact forces and propagation
up the second peak – 22mm, 4) top of the second of this delamination axially along the pipe is highly
peak – 40mm, and 5) full penetration. Each sample probable. Hence, failure of the pipe some distance
was then cut through the centre of the impact zone away from localised repairs becomes a threat to the
for subsequent analysis of the pipe wall under the pipeline’s structural integrity even after considerable
point of indentation. Figure 6 shows the outer time has passed due to fatigue effects.
surface and side of the GRE pipe wall, respectively, A difficult issue to resolve is in developing a
for the test terminated at the top of the first peak. It practical means by which the extent of impact
can be seen that although the surface of the pipe is damage can be assessed once a minor excavator
relatively undamaged, delamination through the wall strike or even a rock fall as occurred in the field.
of the composite has occurred. These delaminated That is, small impacts frequently have enough energy
layers become more visible as the tooth displacement to induce matrix cracking on the surface of the pipe.
increases further (Figure 6c) and continue to form There is also a very real possibility that rock falls
due to the induced bending well before a breach of from the side of a trench could induce through
the outer fibres is evident (Figure 6d). Failure thickness delamination of the pipe wall depending on
mechanisms from this point on are a combination of the mass of the rock and/or the height from which it
delamination, as the inter-lamina shear stresses fell (potential energy).
continue to flow around the circumference of the The problem is that both scenarios will show up as
pipe, and fracture of the fibres. These failure whitening on the outer surface of the pipe and there
mechanisms match those found previously within is little indication as to whether delamination has
other composite structures (Shyr & Pan, 2003, and occurred or simply inconsequential matrix cracking.
Davies & Zhang, 1994). Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) methods such as
acoustic emissions may detect if delamination has
taken place but is outside of the scope of this report.

45
J.Griffiths and P.Gudimetla
It should be noted that ideally the images in Figure 6
would have been images of the pipe wall under the
ends of the tooth. This is because bending stresses
are highest at these points and material under the
mid-section of the tooth is at a significantly lower
state of stress. Hence, delamination should be more
visible in all images, especially 15b. These photos
were taken using a Leica DC 200 microscope camera
connected to a Leica MZ8 microscope set at 0.63
times zoom. The images were captured using the
Leica DC Viewer computer software.
6 THIN WALL AND HIGHER SPEED
IMPACT TESTING
Experimental results from the tests performed at
QUT (Figure 16) confirmed that impact speed has
little effect on puncture load and incident energy
(Curtis, et al. 2000). It also confirmed that thickness
does have a significant influence on the critical
damage initiation load (i.e. load to the first peak) and
varies in accordance with Sjőblom’s (1987)
relationship. That is, the puncture load required to
cause either Hertzian failure (Shyr & Pan, 2003) or
delamination (Davies & Zhang, 1994) varies with
pipe wall thickness (t) by the ratio of load verses t3/2.
So it can be seen that GRE’s resistance to impact
damage is greatly enhanced by increasing the
laminate thickness. However, the capital expenditure
costs also increase since more materials are required
and the pipes become bulkier to transport, thus
reducing their commercial viability.
(a) (b)
Figure 7: Deformation mechanisms in thick- (left)
and thin- (right) walled GRE pipes
Comparisons between the thin (3.6mm) and thick
(12mm) walled GRE pipes showed that their failure
modes do differ. Figure 7a shows localised failure in
the thick walled pipe whereas the thin walled pipe
(Figure 7b) experienced buckling in the side walls
before the test was terminated at 120mm of indenter
displacement. Even with this amount of indentation,
46
the thin wall pipe had delaminated but still had not
punctured through. Figure 8 below shows the
comparative load-indenter displacement curves for
the thick and thin walled GRE pipes.
50mm Spherical Indentation Tests
35
30
25
Load [kN]
20
15
10
5
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
Indentor Displacement [mm]
Test 1 - 7.2mm w all, 0.2mm/s Test 2 - 10.65mm w all, 4mm/s Test 3 - 7.9mm w all, 4mm/s
Test 4 - 12mm w all, 0.2mm/s Test 5 - 3.6mm w all, 0.2mm/s
Figure 8: Load-Displacement curves of thick and thin
walled GRE Pipes
Excessive pipe deformation due to the short
specimen length means these results are indicative
only but prior research by Curtis et al. (2000) shows
similar failure mechanisms in 1mm GRE. Hence,
thick walled unpressurised GRE pipes experience a
localised failure under the point of impact due to
bending stress. Thin walled unpressurised pipes on
the other hand fail due to local axial shell buckling at
approximately 52 degrees around the pipe
circumference from the point of impact. This is due
to the high compressive shear stress at this point and
appears to coincide with the location where reverse
bending in the pipe wall ceases to exist.
This has significant ramifications on current
inspection procedures given that an impact has
occurred on a field pipeline. The results show that
inspection of the impact zone plus 90 degrees either
side (i.e. around the circumference) must be
undertaken for all suspected impacts. Although thick
wall pipes do not require this attention, it is still
recommended for all incidents since accurately
determining pipe wall thickness through an external
visual inspection is not possible. It is also important
to note repairs must be carried out if resin cracking
(i.e. whitening) is visible on any part of the pipe.
Burst tests performed on thin walled pipes by Curtis
et al. (2000) found that the residual strength of pipes
subsequent to impact has an abrupt decrease once a
certain limit in pipe deformation is reached. This
Puncture Resistance of Pressurized & Unpressurized Glass Reinforced Epoxy (GRE) Pipes – A
Phenomenological Model of Failure Mechanisms

resulted in burst pressures suddenly dropping by Of particular interest is how this may relate to thick
60%. wall GRE pipes. The location of membrane stress or
shear flow circumferentially around the pipe wall
may account for the fracture and whitening observed
7 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
either side of the point of impact, following the
Efforts were made to model pipe puncture in the wound strands, during unpressurised testing (Figure
commercial finite element (FE) software ANSYS. 9c). This whitening was not present in the
This initially involved performing an implicit pressurised samples (Figure 10c) which compliments
analysis using idealised boundary conditions such as the fact that membrane and shear stresses were found
a ramped tooth displacement rather than an impact to be localised under the tooth within the FE models.
velocity and fixed nodes partially along the base of Further research efforts are required to confirm this
the pipe. These methods have been used in the past but it is not believed that the damage is due to
with a large degree of accuracy. shattering of the composite material. Instead, it is
Attempts to develop an explicit analysis using the thought that relatively slow fracture growth and
Tsai-Wu failure criterion and element death were delamination of the material brought on by excessive
futile. Hence, only trends in stress and strain deformation of the pipe wall are the causes. Note
distributions could be extracted from the FE that the ANSYS images included here are of quarter
simulations. The general trends show agreement with models with symmetry conditions which were
Brooker’s (2002) analysis since significant bending implemented in the FE analyses in order to minimise
stress was present on the inside wall of the steel pipes the required computational time and power.
directly under either end of each tooth. As with
Brooker’s and Driver & Zimmerman’s (1998)
analyses, bending combines with shear stress at this
point to cause failure. The FE models also show that
the von-Mises membrane stress pattern differs
between the unpressurised and pressurised thin
walled GRE pipes. It is still unclear if this is the case
for thick wall GRE pipes since an explicit analysis
was not possible and therefore the models do not
account for penetration of the tooth through the wall
thickness. Hence, accurate measurements of stress,
strain and deformation are not possible due to the
non-linear problem. Analysis of the thin walled GRE
however is more accurate because experimental tests
have shown that very little penetration actually
occurs. So there is some confidence that the (a)
developed orthotropic FE models for the thin wall
GRE pipes accurately depict what is actually taking
place. Figures 9b and 10b show that the maximum
membrane stress shifted from the side wall of the
unpressurised pipe to a location directly under the
tooth edge when the pipe was pressurised. Similarly,
it can be seen in Figures 9c and 10c that the locations
of the maximum compressive and tensile shear
stresses move from approximately 52 degrees around
the circumference of the unpressurised pipe to
directly under the tooth edge when it is pressurised. (b) (c)
This was expected as pipe deformation
Figure 9: FEA of thin-walled GRE Pipes
characteristics differ significantly between the two
(unpressurized)
loading scenarios due to induced bending and
buckling in the unpressurised pipe walls (also visible (a) Impact Puncture (b) Membrane stress
in Figures 9b & 9c). (c) Shear Stress

47
J.Griffiths and P.Gudimetla
(a)
(b) (c)
Figure 10: FEA of thick-walled GRE Pipes
(unpressurized)
(a) Impact Puncture (b) Membrane stress
(c) Shear Stress
8 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
An analysis of the puncture resistance of pressurized
and unpressurized GRE pipes has been presented in
this paper. The results obtained from experimental
testing were compared to establish a number of
trends previously unknown to the pipeline industry.
Finite element analysis was also used to predict the
mechanisms of failure for thin wall GRE piping with
subsequent comparisons made against thick wall
pipes. It is now important that these results are
incorporated into standard operating procedures so
that the structural integrity of pipelines conveying oil
and gas products is maintained. By doing so, it is
intended that enhancements will be made to the
safety of people, property and the environment.
Several main points of interest were found during
this research including facets which contradict
previously reported research. This includes
establishing that there is a link between the puncture
resistance of pipes and internal pressure. That is,
48
pipes have a greater resistance to puncture when they
are pressurised. Brooker’s derived equation does not
take internal pressure into consideration however this
only leads to a more conservative estimate of the
puncture resistance of steel pipes and is therefore of
benefit for risk evasion. Internal pressure in GRE
pipes was observed to have an even more
pronounced influence on their puncture resistance.
However, the erratic failure characteristics of
composites make it difficult to quantitatively assess
the additional puncture resistance of pressurised GRE
pipes in general (i.e. it appears to be on a ‘case-by-
case’ basis).
The failure mechanisms of GRE have raised an
important question as to how field repairs should be
carried out subsequent to any impact. It was
observed that the unpressurised GRE pipes
underwent delamination at relatively small tooth
displacements and puncture loads. Hence, it is
difficult to tell via a visual inspection of the external
surface whether insignificant matrix cracking has
occurred or if the pipe has delaminated. The other
problem is that an appropriately repaired composite
pipe may fail at an alternative location due to spread
of the delaminated layers within the pipe wall. For
this reason it is highly recommended to replace the
entire section of piping when any whitening is
present on the pipe surface.
Mechanical testing and finite element modeling were
used to determine that thin and thick wall GRE pipes
do experience different failure mechanisms.
Localised failures under the indenter were observed
in thick wall GRE whereas thin walled GRE pipes
suffered from excessive deformation and a buckling
failure some distance away from the point of impact.
Due to the difficulties in determining pipe wall
thickness via a visual inspection, if an incident does
occur it is recommended that all GRE pipes be
checked at the point of impact plus 90 degrees
circumferentially either side. Although this measure
may seem excessive, it is highly likely that failure
due to buckling could occur when a blunt object hits
the pipe. This mode of failure may also be prevalent
in cases where a heavy load crosses over a buried
pipe (i.e. road crossings) or if someone decides to
drive over on aboveground pipe (any damage may be
overlooked by the driver since residual deformation
in unpressurised GRE pipes was found to be minimal
during testing).
As expected the puncture resistance of GRE was
much lower than that of steel. For the tests
conducted at UWA, this was a reduction of between
Puncture Resistance of Pressurized & Unpressurized Glass Reinforced Epoxy (GRE) Pipes – A
Phenomenological Model of Failure Mechanisms
55 and 73%. Hence, most commercially available
excavators have the potential to penetrate GRE pipes,
so alternative methods must be employed to reduce
this risk (refer to procedures within AS2885).
On a final note, it is important to remember that
although a broad approach to this project has been
taken, this information relates specifically to the type
and size of pipes tested. Also, because the testing
was performed on pipe samples with significantly
different material properties and wall thicknesses
than the minimum manufacturing requirements, these
tests may not give a true representation of the
puncture resistance of similar grades of pipe in the
field. It should therefore be accepted that these
puncture loads represent the upper bounds and as
such design for external interference risks shall be
more conservative.
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