Experimental and numerical determination of critical osmotic blister size affecting the strength of aged FRP seawater pipe

Glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite pipelines are used by many industries for fluids transport including seawater for cooling. The durability of these pipes can be affected where the loss of their strength is due to the occurrence of several internal irreversible micro-damages. One of the challenges facing the integrity of these pipelines is the presence of surface defects. The present research aims to determine the critical size of osmotic blister affecting a 30- year-old seawater handling GFRP pipe. Osmotic blisters were simulated through surface notches with two different geometries and sizes. Longitudinal pipe mechanical strength was studied through tensile tests to study the effect of the surface notch size. At a certain surface notch depth, the strength of the pipe wall decreased with increasing the notch surface depth. This represents the critical value of the damage size called maximum undamaged defect size and noted d (max). Damage with size below d (max) does not affect the strength of the pipe wall. To simulate the progressive failure of this aged composite, a 3-D finite element model was employed based on Hashin's failure criteria.