J P Kenny Subsea Pipeline Design Using Abaqus FEA

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J P Kenny Subsea Pipeline Design Using Abaqus FEA

Case study showing how J P Kenny used Abaqus FEA for deepwater pipeline design, route mapping, and buckling analysis under high pressure and temperature conditions.

Published

June 4, 2026

Read time

3 min read

Source

J P Kenny applied Abaqus nonlinear FEA to evaluate subsea pipeline performance for a 780 km gas field project off Western Australia. The analysis addressed 1350 m water depth, 360 barg pressure, 130 C temperatures, seabed escarpments, and lateral buckling from thermal expansion. Integration with 3D visualization tools enabled optimized route selection that reduced pipe lay by up to 40 km while meeting structural integrity requirements across start-up and shutdown cycles.

Key takeaways

Abaqus FEA modeled pipe-seabed contact, thermal expansion, and lateral buckling for 260 km of large-diameter and 520 km of small-diameter pipelines

Analysis covered 7 m thermal expansion, 10 m lateral displacement cycles, and ratcheting effects from repeated pressure-temperature cycles

Scarp crossing optimization at the 200-800 m depth transition reduced total pipe lay length by up to 40 km

Nonlinear contact and PIPE31 elements captured submerged weight, lay tension, and geo-hazard loads including mudflows

FEA replaced prior tools to shorten simulation times and improve accuracy for FEED and detailed design phases

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