2266. Gas pipeline structural fatigue life prediction based on vibration signals analysis

Abstract

The problem of fatigue life prediction is still a scientific problem, which solution is necessary for industry, particularly for those branches in which failures threaten serious economic, environmental losses and human life. Petrochemical industry including transmission infrastructure – pipelines is example of such industry. Pipelines are exposed to damage due to various reasons, including vibration. Especially at risk are so called small bore connections (SBC) – a kind of branched connection on mainline piping. The paper presents the results of researches related to the development of a method for predicting a fatigue damage of SBC model. The method is based on measurements of current diagnostic signals (vibrations), without taking into consideration the history of previous loads or frequency analysis of extortions. Some experiments were carried out on originally designed and built the inertial fatigue machine. The experiment showed that it is possible to predict the fatigue strength of the specimen during the operation by observing certain combinations of vibration parameters.