Integrity Monitoring for Flexible Risers

Inspection and assessment of flexible risers on offshore facilities is required to satisfy both regulatory and safety requirements, yet little or no inspection and assessment had been carried out.  The development of API Spec 17J and API RP17B standards for the design, specification, manufacture and testing of flexibles was the first step in this process.  Significant industry effort had also been given to the development of guidelines for the integrity management of flexible pipe. Integration of these standards with inspection techniques into a Flexible Pipe Integrity Management System was the natural next step.

Project Goals

In response to this need BHR Group collaborated with MCS International and CorrOcean to develop FLEXSENS, a flexible pipe assessment system that looks at the life cycle of the asset and covers design, operation (including changing operating conditions), maintenance, inspection and decommissioning.  It allows an operator to develop strategies (such as what to inspect, and how often) for individual assets.

Applications

FLEXSENS allows operators to make informed decisions on the maintenance and inspection requirements for their flexible assets.  FLEXSENS aims to establish a planned programme of integrity management for an operator’s flexible pipe system and update the integrity programme by integrating the results of internal pipeline inspections with risk and failure analysis methods.  The industry will have a methodology, the basis of which has already been established by leading oil companies, to develop planned programmes for the integrity management for their flexible pipe systems in accordance with regulatory and safety requirements.