An experimental study of unsupported pipe buckling in live well intervention

Abstract

In this experimental study, unsupported pipe experiments are conducted. Information regarding intervention operation, focusing on snubbing operations in live well interventions and unsupported buckling during these operations, are described as well as the conducted experiments. The loads and forces acting on the pipes during these experiments are compared to the already known theoretical buckling load calculations. Determination of buckling loads, yield strength and Young’s elasticity modulus has been conducted on short to intermediate columns for local buckling in this study. Equations used in the oil and gas industry today are used to show the experimental results, such as slenderness ratio, short column and intermediate column critical buckling loads. At last, the use of the two different slenderness ratio equations are investigated and compared with the experiment results. Indication from these results shows that the use of one of these two slenderness ratio equations, used in the oil and gas industry today, may not be applicable after all.