Preprint ofpaper presented at International

Workshop on Corrosion Control ofMarine

Structures and Pipelines. Galveston, Texas,
February 9-11, 1999.

Composite Material Offshore Corrosion Solutions

Jerry G. Williams

Composites Engineering and Applications Center

for Petroleum Exploration and Production - University of Houston

ABSTRACT

Corrosion and weight control are the two main factors motivating the interest and growth of the use
of composite components in offshore oil and gas exploration and production operations.
Controlling and inhibiting corrosion and periodic replacement of metal components costs the oil
industry large amounts of money. Composite materials can usually be chosen which will resist
corrosion and be compatible with the chemicals used downhole and offshore. Reducing the weight
of deep and ultra deepwater floating platforms has become a high priority and low density
composites yields the most effective solution. Oil and composite suppliers efforts, in part
complemented by government support in the United States and Europe, have encouraged a slow but
growing acceptance of the use of composites in offshore operations. Safety critical components
such as fire water piping as well as secondary structure including gratings, handrails and stairs
constructed of fiberglass and polymeric resin are now routinely specified for deepwater platforms.
Significant advancements have been made in the materials (i.e., fire resistant phenolic resin) and in
the design and fabrication methods used to address safety issues and to improve performance and
reliability. More structurally demanding applications such as a high pressure riser tensioner
accumulator vessels constructed of carbon and glass fibers have also been introduced offshore.
Hybrid construction combining different materials to achieve the required structural performance
while minimizing cost is another benefit derived from the design flexibility inherent with
composites. This paper provides an overview of components currently used on offshore platforms
and highlights proposed advanced applications under development.

INTRODUCTION

Properly designed, composite structures offer the potential to reduce maintenance costs, save
weight, enhance safety, reduce adverse environmental impact, improve durability, and provide
enabling capabilities. Some of the advantages offered by composite materials are listed below.
Some applications capture several of the advantages of composites making composites a clearly
superior choice while other applications, for cost or special performance reasons, are better served
using metals. The choice of materials has broadened and new developments will continue to offer
even more options. Corrosion resistance and the associated cost savings provide good incentive for
deployment of composites onshore as wells as offshore. Weight savings, however, are more
valuable in deepwater offshore operations where light-weight components create synergistic
benefits through downsizing of supporting structures and systems. 1-s High strength or stiffness is
the most important consideration for some applications while special properties such as
electromagnetic transparency or low thermal conductivity may be important drivers for other
applications. The use of composites also allows for greater design flexibility by allowing
mechanical and physical properties to be tailored to meet specific design requirements and to
provide improved cost-effective system solutions. On a one-on-one replacement basis, composite
components can be less expensive than metals while other applications require life cycle costs be
considered to capture cost savings. Advanced composite components constructed using higher cost
carbon fiber are usually (but not always) more expensive than their steel counterpart. Weight and
cost savings for the associated support structure and systems, however, can frequently shift the cost
differential and make the integrated composite system solution less expensive. In addition, the
economic incentive to use composite components can often be demonstrated based on their
capability to improve performance and reduce life cycle costs.

BENEFICIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPOSITES

• Corrosion and Chemical Resistance

• Light Weight
• High Strength and Stiffness
• Fatigue Resistance
• Low Thermal Conductivity
• Low Electrical Conductivity
• Electromagnetic Transparency
• Easy to Install (Handle/Cut/Mill, etc.)
• Low Flow Friction and Wear
• Design Flexibility
• Integration ofElectrical and Information
Transmitters Into the Laminate Walls
for Protection and Structural Monitoring

Over the last ten years composite have been accepted in the offshore oil industry for applications
previously reserved for metals. Composite materials provide many desirable properties including
those listed above, however, the two most common reasons to use composite materials in the
oilfield are to avoid corrosion and to save weight. Illustrations of corrosion of steel pipe and
gratings are shown in Figure 1.

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 (a) Steel pipe corrosion.

(b) Steel grating corrosion.

Figure 1.- Corrosion control is a major reason FRP is being used offshore.

Structural applications for a platform may be classified according to load range as heavily loaded
(i.e., tendons, risers, and high-pressure piping), moderately loaded (i.e., helideck, flare tower,
and low-pressure pipes and vessels), and secondary structure (i.e., gratings, ladders, ducts, and
living quarters). The higher the load category, the less prepared is the state of the technology for
near-term application. Another convenient way to categorize oil industry applications in the
marine environment is by function or location as presented below.

COMPOSITE APPLICATION CATEGORIES

1. Platform to Sea Bed (tethers, riser, mooring rope, etc.).

2. Processing Facilities (containers, separators, pumps, etc.).
3. Topside Secondary Structure (grating, hand rail, etc.).
4. Housing & Protective Structures (accommodations, walls, etc.).
5. Topside Piping (Waste water, firewater, sea water, potable water, drains, etc.).
6. Tanks & Pressure Vessels (storage vessels, tanks, pressure accumulators, etc.).
7. Platform Structure (helideck, primary deck, hull, column, pontoons, etc.).
8. Downhole (coiled tubing, drill pipe, tools, sensors, etc.).
9. Subsea (umbilical, injection and flow lines, protection, etc.).
10. Ship Applications (pipe, containers, walls, mast, doors, pumps, etc.).

Deepwater oil and gas resources offer significant potential for development, particularly in the Gulf
of Mexico, Brazil, West Coast of Africa and other deepwater basins around the world. Major oil
companies, composite product manufacturers, oil service companies, and regulatory agencies have
worked together over the last ten years in a low-key, but concentrated effort to advance composites
technology and make composites a viable option for oil industry applications.6 The technology has
advanced and lightly-loaded secondary structures such as low-pressure fiberglass piping, gratings,
and secondary structure are now routinely used offshore. Longer range, new composite applications
are being developed to meet demanding structural performance requirements such as production
and drilling risers, spoolable pipe, and high-pressure vessels. The highest payoff potential for
composites is in deepwater associated with heavily-loaded, weight-sensitive applications where
metal designs become impractical or extremely expense. Low-cost manufacturing processes and
innovative hybrid designs which blind different materials such as glass and carbon are important
factors in helping make composites affordable and competitive with metal designs. In support of
these applications, qualification guidelines have been prepared to insure their quality and
performance. Some applications in service, such as firewater ring main and deluge pipe, are
extremely safety critical and demanding tests and guidelines have been specified to insure their safe
performance. Recent depressed oil prices have delayed some offshore developments, but new
discoveries are being made and when deepwater projects resume, composites are expected to play
an increasingly important role in providing improved performance and helping make the cost of
offshore development affordable. The present paper presents a review of existing and ~ew
composite technology being deployed and developed for the oil industry.

COMPOSITE MATERIALS BACKGROUND

Composite materials as used in this report consist of small diameter fibers of high strength and
modulus embedded in a polymeric matrix. The fibers are the main load-carrying member while
the matrix maintains the fibers in the desired orientation, acts to transfer load into the fibers and
protects them from the surrounding environment. The most common fibers are glass, carbon and
aramid supplied on spools such as shown in Figure 2. Other fibers such as silicon carbide, boron
and aluminum oxide may have superior properties, but, are normally not used because of higher
cost.

The polymeric matrix materials are classified as either thermoset or thermoplastic. The most
common polymeric matrix materials are polyester, vinyl ester, phenolic, and epoxy. Fibers are
incorporated in the matrix in long continuous lengths or are sometimes utilized as short
discontinuous fibers. Structural composite components are normally formed by stacking several
lamina (individual plies) to build up a composite structural laminate.

Fibers

A large number of fibers with different physical and chemical properties are commercially
available. They can be obtained in several different physical forms including tow, ribbon~
continuous woven mats and chopped strand mats. Fiber tow is the most common form used for
high performance reinforcement. The fibers most likely to be used in the offshore industry are E
and S glass, carbon and aramid. Table I provides an overview comparison of these fibers. Other
fibers such as polyester and polyethylene are being used or considered in pure fiber form

(without resin) for mooring ropes, but they are not expected to be competitive in composite form
(with resin) due to their significantly lower modulus.

Figure 2.- Primary fibers used in construction of composites.

TABLE I.- QUALITATIVE COMPARISONS BETWEEN DIFFERENT CLASSES OF

FIBERS.

Fiber Advantages Concerns

E-glass Low cost Moisture degradation
Carbon High specific strength/stiffness Higher cost
Good fatigue and creep resistance Damage tolerance
Aramid High specific tensile strength/stiffness Low compressive properties
Good damage tolerance High moisture absorption
Difficult to machine

Resins

Resin selection requires consideration of properties (chemical resistance, toughness, abrasion

resistance, stiffness, and strength), processing (lay-down rates, process temperature, and
processability), and cost (materials and processing). Thermoset resins are more commonly used·
to make composites for oil industry applications than thermoplastic material. Epoxy, phenolic,
vinyl ester, and polyester are the most commonly used thermoset resins. A wide variety of
commercial thermoplastics are available. These include polyamide (PA - nylon), polyamide­
imide (PAI), polyimide (Pl), polyarylate (PAR), polyaryl sulfone (PAS), ployether sulfone

5
(PES), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), high density polyethylene (HDPE), polyethylene
terephthalate {PET), polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and polyetherketoneketone(PEKK).
Thermoplastic resins are attractive because they offer good mechanical properties, exhibit
excellent toughness and damage tolerance, display process repeatability, and simplify repair.
Since thermoplastics have limited cross-link density, they typically exhibit lower chemical and
creep resistance. Chemical resistance, however, can be improved by the development of
crystalline morphology or by achieving active polymer linkages. Thermoplastic resins with an
acceptable upper temperature range are usually more expensive than comparable temperature use
thermoset resins.

Environmental Effects

In general, the fundamental mechanisms of corrosion are different for composites and metals.
The lack of corrosion in the classical sense is one of the primary assets of composites. In most
cases, metals are attached at the surface by electrochemical processes. Material degradation by
diffusion of the material into the metal is not very common, with a few exceptions such as the
process of hydrogen embrittlement of steel. Diffusion of material into a plastic material,
however, is quite common and the effect ranges from negligible to catastrophic such as the
dissolving of the plastic by certain solvents. The process may or may not involve a chemical
reaction. For example, absorption of water does not usually involve a chemical reaction. To
varying degrees for different polymers, water absorption can change the physical properties of
the material such as lower the glass transition temperature, reduce the stiffness, and increase the
sensitivity to creep. In addition, moisture and chemicals may attack the interface between the
fiber and the resin. Carbon and glass fibers are relatively insensitive to the environment, except
the strength of glass fibers can be reduced by water. A sizing coating applied during
manufacture is used to protect glass fibers.

As with metals, not all polymers behave the same with regard to environmental exposure. In
fact, the diversity of polymer properties allows the selection of a resin in most cases which will
be compatible with most of the chemicals and environments experienced in the oil industry
including alkalines, acids, caustic solutions, solvents, oxidizing agents, and moisture. Some
resins also have superior resistance to high temperatures, tolerance to ultraviolet radiation and
good performance in a fire. Phenolic resins, for example, perform well in a fire and emit low
smoke or toxic decomposition components. Polyimide and some thermoplastic resins perform
well at high temperatures, but are usually much more expensive than epoxy or vinyl ester.

Composite materials also exhibit certain limitations in performance. They are usually more
susceptible to impact damage than metals and this must be factored into the design of
components. Carbon fibers can also present a galvanic problem when they are joined to certain
metals. Being at the cathodic end of the electromotive series, carbon fibers act as a noble met~
being impervious to corrosion itself, but they accelerate corrosion in the adjacent less noble
metal. Aluminum is more sensitivity to galvanic corrosion than steel and titanium is less
sensitive than steel. Carbon fiber is compatible with some metals such as austeitltic stainless
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steel, superalloys such as A286 and lnconel 718. In making bolted joints, it is advisable to
isolate the metal bolt from the composite using a sealant. Other precautions include coating cut
and exposed surfaces. In bonded joints between metal and carbon, the primary protection against

galvanic corrosion is the adhesive. Composite materials with glass or aramid fiber reinforcement
do not present a galvanic corrosion issue.

Manufacturing

Assuming the application selected has merit, affordable composite structures depend on using a
low-cost manufacturing process. In general, this implies that the manufacturing process be
automated (not hand layup) and that glass fibers will be used if their properties are adequate.
Hybrid construction incorporating combinations of glass and carbon or other fibers allows
greater flexibility in reducing weight and meeting structural requirements while also paying close
attention to the cost of raw materials. In aerospace, most composite components are made using
prepreg tape in which the resin is put onto fiber bundles in a separate process. This improves the
quality control, but adds significant cost to manufacturing. Preferred processes to reduce cost
involve combining the resin and fiber at the point of application such as filament winding or
placing the fiber into the part in a dry form and drawing the resin into the fiber.

Low cost manufacturing processes include filament winding, pultrusion, vacuum resin transfer
molding (VRTM), and resin transfer molding (RTM). Sometimes it is necessary to use preform
material such as stitched or braided material, but in general, the lowest cost process involves
applying resin to fiber applied in roving form during the manufacturing process. If the
application involves exposure to elevated temperature, the resin must be cured at a temperature
higher than the application temperature. Most tubulars are constructed using filament winding
while non-symmetric shapes can be pultruded. The critical parameters for making quality
components are fiber wet-out, precision fiber orientation, and resin flow/consolidation and
solidification.

CURRENT OFFSHORE COMPOSITE APPLICATIONS

Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) Offshore Applications

Filament wound fiberglass pipe was first introduced into the oil field in the late 1950's. The
lighter weight, fatigue and corrosion resistance and associated low life cycle costs make FRP
components very attractive for expanded offshore applications. FRP components are from one­
third to one-fifth as heavy as equivalent steel components and the lighter weight permits FRP
products to be more easily handled and installed. FRP connections eliminate the hazards
associated with welding and the experience level required to make quality bonded connections
can be learned very quickly. The net result is that FRP composites can provide significant cost
savings relative to metal.

There has been significant use offshore of FRP in the last five years in the Gulf of Mexico,
Middle East, Far East, Africa and the North Sea. FRP pipe, however, has been used offshore for
over twenty-five years. An example is the low pressure pipe used in Dubai in the water injection
system with pipe ranging in size up to 36-inch in diameter as shown in Figure 3. In addition,
FRP firewater pipe was used to replace steel pipe on all of the platforms in the Dubai Southwest
Fatah field. In recent years, significant quantities of FRP have begun to be introduced into

7
operations in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea including applications on Valhal, 8 Ekofisk,
Ula, Statfjord, Gullfaks, Draugen, Troll and Heid.run. Environmental concerns also encourage
the use of composites. An emerging design philosophy is to use non-corrosive composites to
permit elimination of chemicals such as corrosion inhibitors required to protect steel pipe.

Figure 3.- FRP pipe installed on offshore platform in Dubai.

The total installed cost of fiberglass piping systems is on the same order as carbon steel and less
than high performance alloys and copper nickel as shown in the Table II comparison of relative
installed cost. The cost advantage for fiberglass pipe is most significant for large-diameter pipe
and for complex installations since the higher cost for fiberglass pipe is offset by the lower labor
costs of installation. Fiberglass tees and elbows can be installed in approximately 40% of the
time required for the corresponding steel fittings. Fiberglass pipe carries a material cost
premium of about 30% in 2-inch diameter, is approximately equivalent in price for 3- and 4-inch
sizes, and is less expensive than Schedule 40 galvanized steel in the larger diameters decreasing
to about one-half the cost for 12-inch pipe. In contrast, fiberglass fittings are generally 2 to 3
times more expensive in the smaller diameters, but cost about the same or less in the larger sizes.

TABLE Il. - NORWAY, OFFSHORE INSTALLED PIPE COST COMPARISON.

Material Relative Cost

Carbon Steel 1.0

FRP 1.0

316 Stainless Steel 2.2

CuNi 3.5

Much of the success in getting approval for FRP applications on platforms has been the result of
focused R&D programs designed to advance the technology and to address specific issues of
concern to the operators and regulato~ authorities. Interaction of industry task groups with the
NPD in Norway,9 HSE in the U.K., 1 and the MMS and Coast Guard in the United States is
leading to the development of specifications and guidelines. Availability of industry accepted
guidelines has been identified as one of the factors which will help make composite materials a
viable option and permit selection based on performance and economics rather than prescriptive
rules which favor metals.

Topside Applications of FRP in Gulf of Mexico (GOM)

Recent vintage deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) platforms have made liberal use of FRP pipe
to transport low pressure water and FRP grating. 1 In addition, secondary structural elements
such as hand rails, framing, low-pressure tanks, etc. are also being used. This section provides
representative examples of offshore composite applications.

A dockside view of the Marlin platform during construction is shown if Figure 4. The pipe
suspended from the bottom of the platform with a U-shaped bend at the lower left is the firewater
ring main constructed of glass fiber and polysiloxane-phenolix resin. The FRP deluge firewater
pipe on the Marlin TLP shown in Figure 5 is qualified to resist a jet fire. A photograph shoWing
FRP pipe used for seawater transport on the Ram Powell platform is shown in Figure 6. The use
of FRP pipe for the firewater and seawater handling on the Mars TLP platform provided weight
savings of approximately 80 tons. The FRP firewater ring main and deluge pipe used on recent
GOM TLPs meet United States Coast Guard criteria defined in Policy File Memorandum P.F M
1-98 16714.

Figure 4.- FRP firewater ring main used on GOM platform. (Ameron)

9
 Figure 5.- FRP firewater deluge pipe. (Arneron)

Figure 6.- FRP pipe used for transporting seawater on GOM platform. (Specialty Plastics)

10

The FRP grating shown in Figure 7 is constructed of pultruded glass fiber and phenolic resin to
provide a more fire resistant product. Over 500,000 square feet of phenolic grating has been
used on recent TLP platforms installed in the Gulf of Mexico. Weight savings of approximately
66 percent are provided by the FRP gratings compared to steel while the installed cost is
approximately equal. Long term savings can be expected based on life cycle costs and reduced
maintenance. Other benefits of the FRP grating is that shut-down due to hot work is not required
during modifications and light-weight characteristics make handling easier. FRP gratings are
also easier to walk and kneel on and have excellent anti-skid characteristics. The Strongwell
FRP phenolic gratings pass rigid fire safety tests as defined in United States Coast Guard Policy
File Memorandum PFM 2-98 9078.

Figure 7.- FRP grating on GOM platform fabricated using fire resistant phenolic. (Strongwell)

A photograph showing FRP cable trays and secondary structure installed on Gulf of Mexico
platforms is presented in Figure 8.

(a) FRP Cable Tray (b) FRP secondary structure

Figure 8.- FRP cable tray and secondary frame structure used on GOM platform.

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Composites on Small Unmanned Platforms

Many offshore oil and gas discoveries are small reservoirs in which the production rate does not
justify the construction of a large supporting platform. To develop these reservoirs, small
unmanned platforms are increasingly being used. Minimum facilities and accommodations are
available and emphasis is placed on reducing the requirement for maintenance. An example is
the Amoco Davy and Bessemer single leg mono-tower platform concept shown in Figure 9
which made liberal use of composites12. The platform is not normally manned and is designed
for removal, refurbishment and re-installation at new locations making it sensitive to topside
weight. Amoco identified the Davy and Bessemer topsides facilities as good applications for
FRP materials because of the combined benefits of weight savings and corrosion resistance. The
extensive range of composite material applications resulted in more than 100 tonnes weight
saving for the 400 tonne topside. The FRP applications installed on Davy and Bessemer include:
office, equipment room, tool room, handrails, ladders on topsides and on columns, gratings, fuel
loading arm, drain pipe, caissons, diesel tank, lube tank and water utility tanks. Gratings and
modules were made using phenolic resin to provide the required fire resistance. The handrails
were manufactured using class 1 polyester resin. All other application were made using
polyester resin except the caisson and drain pipe which used epoxy resin. The use of FRP for
major structural beams and the helideck were attractive in terms of potential weight savings, but
the time scale for design was too short for this to be an available option. Amoco studies indicate
that there was no significant cost or weight advantage to using composite cable tray versus
stainless steel trays.

Figure 9.- Davy/Bessemer class

of mono-tower platform designed
for minimum maintenance.

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POTENTIAL NEW OFFSHORE COMPOSITE APPLICATIONS

As the oil industry moves to explore and development ultra-deepwater reservoirs, weight and
performance of critical systems become increasingly important. Some of the platform
configurations used offshore are illustrated on Figure 10. The Tension Leg Platform has been the
most widely used configuration for the 2000-ft to 4000-ft water depth, but recent studies seem to
prefer the SPAR, particularly for water depths greater than around 3000-ft. TLP steel tendons
become increasingly heavy at ultra deepwater depths due to the requirement to resist collapse of air
filled tubulars. The applications with the highest return are those which provide a significant
operational improvement such as extending the water depth of economical operation for a TLP or
where reducing the weight of the component allows complementary weight saving in components
and structures that support it. The riser is a good example of the latter because saving weight on the
riser also saves weight on the deck structure and on the hull or buoyancy modules used to support it.
For a TLP, saving weight on the riser also reduces the amount ofpretension required on the tendons.
Table ill from reference 2 estimates the relative magnitude of the effect of selected components on
other element of a TLP. In each case, the structural element being studied is given a relative value
of 1. It can be seen for a TLP that saving weight on the topside payload and riser have the largest
effect and saving weight on the hull has the lowest.

Figure 10.- Deepwater production platform configurations.

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 Table ID.- TLP WEIGHT SAVINGS LEVERAGE.

Hull Deck Payload Riser Tether Total

(ton) (ton) (ton) (ton) Pretension Savings
Component (ton) (ton)
Hull 1.0 0 0 0 0.32 1.32
Deck 0.47 1.0 0 0 0.47 1.94
Payload 0.72 0.5 1.0 0 0.71 2.93
Riser 0.69 0.5 0 1.0 0.66 2.85

The remainder of this section highlights composite components currently being considered for
deepwater platforms including the following applications.

• Production Risers
• Drilling Risers and Choke and Kill Lines
• Drill Pipe and Torque Tube Applications
• Buoyancy Modules
• Spoolable Pipe
• Platform Primary Structure
• Process Equipment I Pressure Vessels
• Accommodation Modules
• Tendon
• Synthetic Fiber Mooring Rope

Production Riser

A program to develoE a composite riser was first initiated by Institut Francais du Petrole and
Aerospatiale in 1985. 3-ts The program resulted in a successful prototype, but it was early in the
deepwater development activity and the estimated cost was considered too expensive for the
market. The drop in the cost of advanced composites and the accelerated pace of deepwater
development in recent years renewed interest in a composite production riser. A joint industry
project led by Lincoln Composites, in part supported by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology ~ST) Advanced Technology Program (ATP), continued the composite riser
development. 6 The 10.75-inch composite production riser is a hybrid construction composed of
carbon and glass fibers embedded in an epoxy matrix. The composite body transfers load into a
metal end coupling using a "trapped lock" design commonly used in the aerospace industry. The
composite material is wound over and into a sculptured hill and valley profile in the metal which
structurally links the composite body and metal coupling. Internal and external liners are
incorporated to provide a fluid-tight barrier and protection from damage. The current design is
suitable for water depths up to 5000 feet, but Lincoln Composites projects that a product can be
designed to accommodate ultra deepwater requirements.

The NIST ATP production riser program involved an extensive test program with over sixty, 12
feet long specimens tested under different load conditions simulating the environment
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 experienced in service including internal and external pressure and axial tension and fatigue.
The average burst pressure for 6 specimens was 11,635 psi and the average axial load at failure
for 6 specimen was 942 kip.17

A photograph showing a 50-ft long section of production riser is shown in Figure 11. The
weight of the riser in air is 1450 pounds which represents a 41 percent weight savings compared
to steel. The corresponding weight savings in water is 68 percent. This weight savings provides
a significant impact on the platform design considering the long length from the platform to the
sea bed and the large number of risers deployed a typical deepwater platform.

Figure 11.- Composite production riser. (Lincoln Composites)

Drilling Risers and Choke and Kill Lines

Two efforts are currently actively engaged in developing a composite drilling riser. One effort
led bri Northrop Grumman Marine Systems and ABB Vetco Gray is co-sponsored by NIST
ATP. 8 The design requirements include 3000 psi operating pressure and 1.5 million pounds
axial load. The drilling riser is constructed of carbon fiber and epoxy. Metal end fittings with a
sculptured upset are over wound during the process of making the tube composite body and
welded to a metal threaded end coupling. A 22-inch diameter prototype fabricated in 'this
program is shown in Figure 12. Over 50% weight savings are projected for the composite
drilling riser. The sponsors indicate plans to test the prototype in deepwater operations in

-- . - ... .... .
Brazil. Northrop Gurmman Marine Systems and ABB Vetco Gray are also developing a
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