Airborne Oil & Gas Thermoplastic Composite Pipe FMECA for Libra

The Libra consortium has invited Airborne Oil & Gas to perform a failure mode, effect and criticality assessment (FMECA) for a TCP Riser that could be used at the giant Libra field offshore Brazil. The request followed a successful feasibility study (preliminary version) performed by Airborne Oil and Gas and Wood Group Kenny, that showed a 45% reduction in top tension in a cost effective riser solution, using a hybrid riser design comprising of the conventional flexible pipe (used for the top and bottom riser-sections) and the TCP section inserted at the mid- water depth.

Henk de Boer PhD, Engineering Manager Airborne Oil & Gas: “We are independent in our material choice and select the right material for every application. In this case, we assessed 3 different composite materials in the riser design and optimized it for installation, fatigue, top tension and pipe cost. Interestingly, the most cost effective riser solution turned out to be the technically best performing as well.”

The TCP Riser solution (provided for the full riser length) could offer significant benefits in deep water riser applications: first, the lightweight TCP Riser reduces the top tensions up to 50% (as compared with the conventional flexible pipe), reducing the weight loading on the FPSO. Second, the TCP Riser itself is a simple monolithic wall pipe; while still flexible, it is inherently simple in its design leading to a very cost effective solution for deeper waters.

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