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R4D-S – South America
High-performance composite repair solution for pipe reinforcement

Overview

The objective of the repair performed by 3X ENGINEERING and its local distributor was to reinforce a damaged subsea pipe section over 1.6 meter length, due to dent defect situated at 4 meter depth (7.4 % dented depth).

Results

After several subsea repairs conducted recently in Viet-Nam, 3X ENGINEERING confirms its know-how in pipeline maintenance in underwater environment. A special thanks to client representatives and local distributor team for their precious help to complete this project successfully within one day and in the best conditions.

Defect type
 Dent defect in subsea environment
Details
 24” OD – operating temp. 30°C – max. op. pressure 500 psi
Location
 SOUTH AMERICA
3X Product type
 REINFORCEKiT 4D Subsea (R4D-S)

SCOPE OF WORK


After Finite Elements Analysis (FEA), 10 composite layers of REINFORCEKiT 4D SUBSEA (R4D-S) product have been determined to perform the reinforcement.

Underwater, several preliminary operations (surface cleaning to get a suitable free span, removal of concrete and existing coating, marking of the surface to be wrapped) have been performed before the essential step of surface preparation (sandblasting) to get a good surface roughness (60-micron surface profile).

3X wrapping reinforcement has been performed following several stages :

  1. Primer application on the defect, using a dispensing gun, to provide a good adhesion of the composite materials.
  2. Two rigid composite plates recovered with filler positioned over the dent and strongly fixed with ratchet belts during curing time of 2.5 hours.
  3. Second application performed on the whole pipe surface to be repaired before wrapping.
  4. Kevlar® tape pre-impregnated with R3X1050-S resin (using special 3X device called BOBIPREG) wrapped around the pipe. Ten layers were necessary to cover the dent (i.e. about 5 passes of 50% overlap).

Finally, a neoprene soft cover has been applied to protect the repair from shells and other sea elements.

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