Stress Analysis of Buried Pipeline Installed by Horizontal Directional Drilling Using ANSYS Finite Element Software

Abstract

In designing a horizontal directional drilling (HDD) pipeline project, designers face the challenge of determining the regions of maximum and minimum stresses on pipelines, ensuring the stability of the bore-hole from collapse and minimizing the stresses induced on the pipeline due to the bore-profile. This study analyses the stress induced on an HDD pipeline system using the ANSYS Version 18, mechanical APDL finite element (FE) software. The pipeline used as the case study was a gas transmission pipeline installed in south-west Nigeria. A macro-file for ANSYS Version 18, mechanical APDL used to model the pipeline was developed. The results showed that the maximum and minimum stresses induced on the HDD pipeline were at the top and bottom of the pipe, respectively; while the stresses on the sides were uniform (≈888 kg/cm2) all through the pipeline, irrespective of element number...