Numerical Simulation Analysis of High Strength UOE Steel Pipes

Large diameter longitudinally welded linepipes have to fulfil increasing technical requirements in order to guarantee best performance during construction and service. The increase in natural gas demand in European, North American, South American and Asian countries, foreseen for the immediate future, necessitates the development of cost effective transportation solutions to economically exploit gas fields located in remote area. A competitive option of gas to market is represented by the use of high-pressure natural gas transmission pipelines. In particular, for natural gas transportation over long distances, the use of high grade steel (X80, X100 or even higher) large diameter (36″ to 56″ of outer diameter), gas pipelines is found to be very attractive and economical. With respect to SAW pipes attention is focused on seam weld consumables and forming tools. In particular, forming tools must be designed in order to manage the large spring back effect that high grade plates, such as those for X100 pipes, exhibits when the pipes go from the U-press to the O-press. The objective of this paper is to present the evaluation of X100 pipes inside the UOE process from TenarisConfab mill with a mathematic modeling to get the best parameters. The X100 production process has been analyzed via Finite Element Model to evaluate goodness of tools geometry and pipe mill capability to produce higher grades pipes.