A PRACTICAL AWARENESS OF QUALIFYING PRODUCT TO

HPHT DESIGN GUIDELINE API 17TR8

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SETTING THE SCENE:

• What is API 17TR8?

• Which systems does it cover?

• Which systems doesn’t it cover?

• What does it contain?

• Why has it been introduced?

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WHAT IS API 17TR8?
• API 17TR8 is a High Pressure High Temperature Design Guideline first introduced in 2015 and
revised in 2018.

Source: http://www.vallourec.com/OCTG/EN/applications/bychallenge/Pages/HPHToffshore.aspx

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WHAT SYSTEMS DOES IT COVER?

“Pressure-containing components, seals, and fastener components that come into contact with or
are immediately adjacent to wellbore fluids operating at HPHT conditions.”

• Valves and Chokes

• XT flowlines
• Rigid jumpers
• Manifold piping
• Connectors
• Intervention riser equipment
• Etc.

• May be applied to pressure controlling equipment

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WHAT SYSTEMS DOESN’T IT COVER?
• Flexible pipes (bonded or un-bonded)
• OCTG for drilling or completing wells
• Production risers
• Downstream pipelines
• Structural members or ancillary equipment remote
from the HPHT environment
• Brittle materials
• Etc.

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WHAT DOES IT CONTAIN?
• Path Selected determines:
Not
HPHT • Design margins
• Product Specification Levels
• Minimum test pressure

ASME
• Broadly speaking, from left to right:
API 6A Div 2
ASME • Design Pressure is increasing
Div 3
/ 6X / • Design margins are reducing
17D • Quality control requirements are
increasing
• Structural verification complexity
is increasing

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WHY HAS IT BEEN INTRODUCED?
• Industry Direction (2014)

• Improve clarity for subsea specific

applications

• Reduce conservatism in design, alleviates

issues with manufacturing

Source: https://www.oilandgasiq.com/drilling-and-
development/whitepapers/infographic-hpht-hotspots-world-map-
developments
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SO WHAT’S CHANGED?

The transition at 15ksi to higher RWP’s tends to change designs from ‘thin wall’ to ‘thick wall’.

Hadrian’s Wall
AD 122

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WHEN IS A THIN WALL THICK?

Thick wall designs typically satisfy the following expressions:

1. Ri/t ≤ 4 (ASME VIII Div 2: 2007 and later)

2. Do/Di ≥ 1.25 (ASME VIII Div 3: 2010 and later)

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STRESS CONSIDERATIONS FOR THICK WALLS SUBJECT TO HP

• Internal bore yielding (autofrettage)

• Nonlinear material behaviour at the inside surface.

• Crack initiation sites

• High internal stresses concentrated further at sharp
corners, bore intersections and seal pockets.

• Leak before burst vs Fast fracture

• Thicker walled vessels transition from LBB to fast
fracture failure modes

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STRESS CONSIDERATIONS FOR THICK WALLS SUBJECT TO HT

• Variable through thickness temp.

• Differential thermal expansion can cause significant thermal stresses.

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STRUCTURAL VERIFICATION METHODOLOGY

How does this influence the structural verification methodology?

Linear-Elastic Stress Analysis:
• Build a linear-elastic numerical model
• Draw stress classification lines (SCL’s) through critical sections
• Evaluate the ‘membrane’ and ‘membrane + bending’ stress through the sections
• Compare to API / ASME limits

Sm < 2/3*Sy

Sm + Sb < Sy

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STRUCTURAL VERIFICATION METHODOLOGY

• Why not keep doing this?

“The use of elastic stress analysis combined with stress classification procedures to
demonstrate structural integrity for heavy-wall (R/t ≤ 4) pressure containing components,
especially around structural discontinuities, may produce non-conservative results and is not
recommended.”
(ASME VIII Div 2: 2010, Para. 5.2.1.3)

• Caveat

The linear-elastic method may still be used in cases where the von Mises stress does not
exceed the elastic limit through 5% of the wall thickness in the worst case loading
combination - including hydrostatic test.

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WHAT’S THE ALTERNATIVE?

• Nonlinear Elastic-Plastic Analysis

• Build a numerical model
• Derive and assign nonlinear material models
• Load model to plastic collapse!

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NONLINEAR PLASTIC COLLAPSE
• Nonlinear Elastic-Plastic Analysis
• The plastic collapse load is taken as the load that causes structural instability, characterised
in the analysis as an inability to achieve equilibrium for a relatively small increase in load i.e.
non convergence of the solution.
• Maximum Working Pressure = Plastic Collapse Pressure / Design Factor
• “Maximum Working Pressure > Design Pressure” = “Pass”
• Improved prediction of deformation gives a better understanding of functional failure modes
such as loss of sealing.

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API 17TR8 DESIGN FLOWCHART

ASME
Div 2 ASME ASME Div 2 vs
Div 3 ASME Div 3

Elastic-Plastic
Verification Routes

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API 17TR8 DESIGN FLOWCHART

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DESIGN MARGINS

Design Margin for Elastic-

Plastic Analysis
Assessment (Normal Load Condition)
Div. 2 Div. 3

Plastic Collapse (P + D) 2.40 1.80

Plastic Collapse (P + D + T) 2.10 1.58

Local Strain Criteria 1.70 1.28

Hydrostatic Test 2.0xRWP 1.25xRWP*

*Assessment performed using elastic-perfectly plastic material model.

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PRODUCT SPECIFICATION LEVELS
Quality Requirement
Assessment
Div. 2 Div. 3
Plastic Collapse PSL 3/4 PSL 4

Local Strain Limit PSL 3/4 PSL 4

Ratcheting PSL 3/4 PSL 4

Fatigue / Fracture Mechanics PR 4 PR 4

PSL 4 to address tighter QA requirements and may include:

• Higher Charpy toughness values
• Limits on ovality and misalignment
• Post-hydrostatic test body test surface inspection
• NDE capability for flaw detection
• Fracture toughness properties
• etc.
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MINIMUM HYDROSTATIC TEST PRESSURE

Minimum Hydrostatic Test Pressure

Div. 2 Div. 3

1.5xRWP 1.25xRWP

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FATIGUE
• Fatigue Screening
• Fatigue screening to be performed based on Section 5.5.2 of ASME VIII Div 2.
• Experience of similar equipment in comparable conditions.
• Materials / Construction Details / Loading Histogram.

• ASME VIII Div 2 Route:

• S-N method acceptable.
• Fracture Mechanics (FM) method optional.

• ASME VIII Div 3 Route:

• S-N or FM Method chosen based on barrier philosophy.
• If fatigue failure will result in loss of barrier FM mandatory.
• If not, S-N method acceptable. FM method still optional.

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ASME DIV. 2 VS DIV. 3 SUMMARY

• Div. 3 has reduced design margins compared with Div 2.

• Reduced minimum hydrotest pressure compared with Div 2.

• Higher PSL’s required for Div 3.

• Fracture Mechanics assessment potentially required for Div 3.

• Div. 3 allows for the design of thinner walled components for a given design pressure.

• Div. 3 design factors help to reduce weight, cost and manufacturing problems associated with
heavy walled vessels.

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API 17TR8 SUMMARY
• Component wall thicknesses are increasing.
• Additional stress considerations for thick walled structures under HPHT.
• Autofrettage, Fast Fracture, Thermal Gradients.
• With increasing pressure and temperature, the recommended analysis methods are becoming
more complex.
• Elastic-Plastic vs Linear-Elastic, Fracture Mechanics vs S-N Fatigue
• Through increased analytical complexity and PSL’s, design margins and test pressures can be
reduced.
• ASME Div. 3 vs ASME Div. 2
• API 17TR8 provides an useful reference resource for aiding the design verification process of
HPHT equipment.
• API 17TR8 is to be used in conjunction with other design codes.
• API 6A, API 17D, ASME VIII Div. 2, ASME VIII Div. 3

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