Experimental and numerical evaluation of influencing parameters on the manufacturing of lined pipes

The amount of residual contact stress between an inner corrosion-resistant alloy pipe and its external carbon steel counterpart is the main challenge when manufacturing lined pipes. This study outlines the experimental and numerical evaluation of the manufacturing parameters of mechanically bonded double-walled pipes, produced by the thermo hydraulic shrink fit process. The measurements indicate that the gripping force between the outer 4-inch carbon steel and inner 3-inch stainless steel pipes was 33.94 MPa when processed at 350°C with a hydraulic pressure of 30 MPa. The experimental results correlate with those of finite element method simulations for gripping force. The magnitudes of the measured gripping forces in the experiment are sufficiently high for most scenarios. The cross-sections of the final lined pipes were inspected for possible defects with the most common being the lamination-type defect for this production process.