XFEM-based fatigue crack growth simulation and surrogate model development for probabilistic remaining fatigue life prediction of pipelines

Pipelines have significantly contributed to the Canadian energy industry and overall economy. Specifically, nearly 60% of energy consumed in Canada comprises of oil and gas delivered through pipelines. However, in pipeline steel, many failures were caused by cracks during pipeline operation. The proposed research project aims at developing a reliable and effective tool to predict fatigue crack growth under cyclic fatigue loading. Specifically, this project will explore the use of the newly developed extended finite element method (XFEM) for fatigue crack growth modeling in conjunction with well-established fatigue crack growth laws. The XFEM models will be validated and further used to develop efficient data-driven models. The surrogate models will eventually be used with the data from real-world pipelines, including SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) data and ILI (in-line inspection) data to predict the remaining fatigue life of pipelines.

Faculty Supervisor:

Yong Li;Samer Adeeb

Student:

Durlabh Bartaula

Partner:

C-FER Technologies

Discipline:

Engineering - civil

Sector:

Oil and gas

University:

University of Alberta