Title: |
Validation of Multi-Variable Design Equations for Strain Based Design of Gas Pipelines |
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Speaker: |
Dr. Karel Minnaar |
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Affiliation: |
ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company, Houston, Texas, USA |
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When: |
Friday, August 21, 2009 at 1:00:00 PM |
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Where: |
MRDC Building, Room 4211 |
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Host: |
Cecelia Jones | |
Abstract Developing new technology for the oil and gas industry is more important today than ever, since a significant portion of the world's oil and gas recourses is located in challenging environments such as deepwater, seismic and Arctic regions. Pipelines will continue to play an important part of the infrastructure to enable the economic development and transportation of oil and gas reserves. The design and construction of large gas transmission pipelines involve large amounts of capital expenditures, often on the order of billions of Dollars (US). Frequently, pipelines need to operate in regions where large ground deformations are possible. For example, large ground deformations may occur in seismic regions where a pipeline crosses a fault line or in arctic regions where the pipeline is subjected to large upheaval or subsidence ground movements that occur when the ground freezes or thaws. The tensile deformations may cause longitudinal strains in excess of 2%. Pipelines designed to deform to large longitudinal strain require the use of non-conventional design methods collectively known as strain-based design methodologies. These design methods require new techniques to characterize material properties, pipeline tensile capacity and to develop design criteria. Recently, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company has developed predictive technologies to estimate pipeline strain capacity. A large-scale validation testing program was conducted to support model validation. This presentation discusses the unique challenges of model verification and validation of complex prediction technologies for use in strain based design approaches. |
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Biography Karel Minnaar earned both his master's (1997) and Ph.D (2002) degrees in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. His graduate work included the development of experimental and numerical techniques to study material failure processes active under dynamic load conditions. He joined the ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company (URC) in 2002 and is currently serving as the Mechanics Group team lead in the Offshore, Arctic and Pipelines Division, Pipeline Technology Section. His research at URC is focused on the development of new design methodologies for pipelines operating in harsh environments. In the past three years, he has published papers on strain-based design methodologies at leading international pipeline conferences. |
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Notes |
Pizza and a brief overview of the ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company will be provided at 12:00 pm on 8/21. Employment opportunities will be discussed and resumes are welcomed. |