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Buoyancy Calculations for Steel Pipes

This document provides information on calculating the buoyancy of bare steel pipes and steel pipes coated with concrete in water or mud. It gives the formulas to determine buoyancy based on the pipe's diameter, wall thickness, concrete coating thickness if present, and the density of the surrounding water or mud. An example calculation is shown to find the required concrete coating thickness to give a steel pipe with a 20-inch diameter and 0.5-inch wall thickness a negative buoyancy of 100 lb/ft in water. A second example checks that a 10-inch pipe with a 2-inch concrete coating would have over 50 lb/ft of negative buoyancy.

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Nisarg Pandya
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242 views4 pages

Buoyancy Calculations for Steel Pipes

This document provides information on calculating the buoyancy of bare steel pipes and steel pipes coated with concrete in water or mud. It gives the formulas to determine buoyancy based on the pipe's diameter, wall thickness, concrete coating thickness if present, and the density of the surrounding water or mud. An example calculation is shown to find the required concrete coating thickness to give a steel pipe with a 20-inch diameter and 0.5-inch wall thickness a negative buoyancy of 100 lb/ft in water. A second example checks that a 10-inch pipe with a 2-inch concrete coating would have over 50 lb/ft of negative buoyancy.

Uploaded by

Nisarg Pandya
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as XLS, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Pipe Buoyancy per Unit Length

Density 7840 kg/m3


Diameter 323.9 mm
Avg Pressure 10200 kPa
Avg Temp 20 C 293 K
Compressibility 0.9
Wall Pipe Vol Pipe Wght Weight of Weight of Weight of Weight of
Thick per unit per unit Gas H2O Pipe in H2O Pipe + Gas
4.3 0.0043 33.85 5.58 82.397 -48.55 -42.967
6.35 0.0063 49.67 5.44 82.397 -32.73 -27.295
7.8 0.0077 60.73 5.34 82.397 -21.67 -16.334
9.27 0.0092 71.84 5.23 82.397 -10.56 -5.326
12.7 0.0124 97.34 5.00 82.397 14.95 19.949
15.09 0.0146 114.77 4.84 82.397 32.38 37.221
18.26 0.0175 137.46 4.64 82.397 55.06 59.700
21.44 0.0204 159.72 4.43 82.397 77.32 81.756
25.4 0.0238 186.74 4.19 82.397 104.35 108.533
28.58 0.0265 207.88 3.99 82.397 125.49 129.481

Determine Buoyancy of Bare Steel Pipe

Determine buoyancy of bare and concrete coated steel pipe in water and mud To find the buoyancy of bare steel and conc

Buoyancy (B) = D / 3 (D - 32t) + 11t2

for bare pipe, and

B = (D / 3) x (D = 32t) + t1 D x ((63 - Wc) / 48)

for coated pipe

where
D = outside diameter of pipe, in.
t = wall thickness of pipe, in.
t1 = thickness of concrete coating, in.
Wc = weight of concrete, lb/ft3

To find the buoyancy of bare steel and coated pipe in mud in lb/ft:

Buoyancy (B) = 10.7 x (DWm / 2,000 - t) + 11t2.

for bare pipe, and

B = 10.7 x (DWm / 2,000 - t) + t1 D (Wm - Wc / 48) for coated pipe, where Wm is weight of mud, lb/ft3.

Example 1. Find the buoyancy of steel pipe with 20-inch OD and 1/2-inch wall thickness in water. What thickness of concr
negative buoyancy of 100 lb/ft (Wc = 143)?

(B) = 20/3 [20 - 32(1/2)] + 11(1/2)2


= 26.7 + 2.8 = 29.5 lb/ft positive buoyancy.

To give this pipe a negative buoyancy of 100 lb/ft:

-100 = 20/3 [20 - 32(1/2)] + t1 x (20) x (63 - 143 / 48)

-100 = 26.7 - 33.3 t1


t1 = 3.8 in. of concrete coating.

The error introduced by this method is about 15% but would be less as the thickness of coating decreased. Example 2. Bo
pipe to have a negative buoyancy of at least 50 lb/ft. Let's check to see if a 10-inch pipe having a 2-inch coating of concret

B = 10 / 3 (10 - 32(1/2) = 2 x (10) x (63 - 143 / 48)


B = -20 - 33.3 = -53.3 lb/ft; so coated pipe meets design requirements.
ancy of bare steel and concrete coated pipe in water in lb/ft:

ft3.

er. What thickness of concrete coating would be required to give this pipe a
decreased. Example 2. Bottom conditions at a certain crossing that require the
a 2-inch coating of concrete (W c = 143) has sufficient negative buoyancy.

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