Structural behavior assessment of a flexible pipe under axial compressive loads using digital image correlation

Due to compressive loads, offshore flexible pipes may exhibit global and local instabilities and as a consequence structural failures. This work presents an experimental investigation concerning the local structural behavior of a real 2.5-inch flexible pipe under compressive load. Three instabilities events were observed in the experimental test: elephant’s foot buckling, birdcaging and wrinkling. Digital image correlation techniques, applied...