Analytical Methods for Preliminary Design of Anchor Flanges for Subsea Structures

Abstract

Anchor flanges are interface items which are used to connect pipelines to subsea in-line and end termination structures. They are forged and tend to be long-lead items; therefore, the design of an anchor flange should be completed at a very early project stage, possibly even during the tender phase. An optimised, analytical method for preliminary design would result in reduced design time overall and have beneficial cost implications. The analytical notch methods (i.e. Neuber’s and Glinka’s) that are presented utilise linear-elastic stress concentration factors to make realistic predictions of the ultimate load carrying capacity of an anchor flange in the non-linear regime. The linear-elastic stress concentration factor values are calculated with simple analytical formulae and graphs. The analytical notch methods are deployed to predict the anchor flange limit load and peak plastic strain and thereby ensure that the plastic strain remains within the allowable limits of design codes. The cost and time saving associated with the analytical notch methods, and the accuracy that is maintained, are assessed by comparison with the predictions results obtained from detailed finite element analyses.