Towards an accurate assessment of UOE pipes under external pressure: Effects of geometric imperfection and material inhomogeneity

In deep and ultra-deep waters the diameter of trunk lines coupled with the hydrostatic pressure tends to lead to failure of the pipeline by external collapse. This failure mode is an instability phenomenon that is governed by the geometry of the pipeline and its material properties and takes place through a subtle combination of its properties. As such the exact limiting collapse pressure is very difficult to determine and twenty years of...