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Manifold Technology in the Offshore Industry

Article · April 2020

DOI: 10.12691/marine-8-1-3

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American Journal of Marine Science, 2020, Vol. 8, No. 1, 14-19
Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/marine/8/1/3
Published by Science and Education Publishing
DOI:10.12691/marine-8-1-3

Manifold Technology in the Offshore Industry

Karan Sotoodeh*

Valve Engineering, Baker Hughes, Oslo, Norway

*Corresponding author: [email protected]
Received March 10, 2020; Revised April 12, 2020; Accepted April 22, 2020
Abstract Manifolds are widely used in the oil and gas industry for the distribution of process fluids such as oil,
gas, and water. Manifolds are designed to either merge multiple junctions into a single channel or divide one flow
line to multiple outputs. The size of a manifold is selected by process engineers based on the flow rate passing
through the manifold. Manifolds used in the offshore industry are made in 22Cr duplex instead of carbon steel to
save thickness and weight. The manifolds described in this paper are either made of welding wrought tees or
designed using a standard pipe as a header and welding olets to the pipe header. Mechanical joints (hubs and clamps)
instead of standard ASME flanges are used for closing some of the manifold header ends as well as some of the
branch connections to save weight and space. Traditionally, welding techniques and preparation of the welded ends
has been done as per ASME B16.25, the common standard for butt welded connections in piping systems, including
manifolds. However, narrow gap welding is an advanced welding end preparation in which the angle of the bevel
end fitting is 7° to the vertical line. The advantages of narrow gap welding include using less weld electrodes, a
faster welding process, and less heat input. This paper presents a method for calculating welding consumables
volume and weight in one meter. The result shows that the amount of welding electrodes used for standard ASME
welding is more than double the amount used for narrow gap welding.
Keywords: manifold, manufacturing process, material selection, welding, oil and gas, offshore
Cite This Article: Karan Sotoodeh, “Manifold Technology in the Offshore Industry.” American Journal of
Marine Science, vol. 8, no. 1 (2020): 14-19. doi: 10.12691/marine-8-1-3.

Manifolds usually handle high pressure fluid, so they may

be designed based on a pressure nominal of 250Barg equal
1. Introduction to Manifolds to Class 1500, based on the ASME B16.5 standard, [3] for
example. The following sections of this paper will focus
Manifolds are widely used in the oil and gas industry on the manufacturing process for manifolds.
for the distribution of process fluid such as oil, gas,
and water. [1] Manifolds are designed to either merge
multiple junctions into a single channel or divide 2. Manifold Material Selection
one flow line to multiple outputs. [1] As an example,
a production manifold is located before the separator Manifolds are made in 22Cr duplex stainless steel (DSS)
and it collects the oil from different flow lines coming in the offshore industry instead of carbon steel (CS), to
from wellheads. It transfers the produced fluid into a save thickness and weight [4]. CS piping has higher
single channel, including three phases of oil, gas, and weight per length compared to 22Cr DSS, because carbon
water, to the separator for further treatment. On the steel has a lower value of mechanical strength. In addition,
contrary, a gas lift or water injection manifold collects the a 3mm corrosion allowance should be added to the piping
produced gas as a single line and divides them into thickness as per the NORSOK [5] standard, which
different reservoirs for advanced or secondary production. increases the thickness and weight of the CS piping. [4]
In fact, secondary production methods are used to increase Figure 3 shows a weight comparison chart in KG between
the production through boosting the pressure inside the CS and 22Cr DSS for average pipe sizes from 2” to 20” in
formation or reservoir, [2] The production of oil and gas different ASME pressure classes from 150 to 2500. [4]
continually decreases because the pressure in the reservoir The manifolds shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 are both
has been decreased, so one solution for advanced made in 22Cr DSS.
hydrocarbon recovery is gas or water injection to the
reservoir. [2] Figure 1 and Figure 2 illustrate the
production manifold in 20” header and 8” branch sizes 3. Manifold Manufacturing &
and the gas lift manifold in 6” header and 2” branch sizes, Fabrication Process
respectively.
The size of a manifold is selected by process engineers The manifolds described in this paper are made by
based on the flow rate passing through the manifold. either welding wrought tees [6] together like the production
 American Journal of Marine Science 15

manifold shown in Figure 1, or by using a standard pipe [7]

as a header and welding olets [8] to the pipe header, such
as the gas lift manifold in shown in Figure 2. The sizes of
the header and branch affect the choice between a
standard tee or a standard pipe with welding tees. As a
rule of thumb, a standard tee cannot be used for branch
connection sizes with 1/3 or less than 1/3 of the header
size. [6] This is the reason why a 6”x 2” manifold is made
of a pipe header with olets for branches. The optimized
manufacturing solution for a manifold made of tees is to
weld the long-length tees directly together without any
pipe between. Figure 4 shows a manifold made of tees that
are connected to each other through pieces of pipe.
Figure 2. 6” x 2” gas lift manifold during the pressure test
Alternatively, Figure 5 shows the same manifold made of
long length tees connected directly together. The
advantage of the optimized solution is to reduce the Kg 350
number of welding joints by deleting the pipe pieces and 300
using a faster fabrication process.
250
CS Piping
200 Weight
150
100 DSS Piping
50 Weight
0

Figure 3. Piping average weight values from 2” to 20” size in Kg

Figure 1. 20” x 8” production manifold during welding comparing CS and DSS in different pressure classes

Figure 4. Standard manifold fabrication made of tees and pipe pieces

Figure 5. Optimized manifold manufacturing process through welding the long length tees directly together without any pipe pieces
16 American Journal of Marine Science

The wrought made tees are based on ASME B16.9

standard [6] through forming or a hot extrusion process
illustrated in Figure numbers 6 and 7 respectively. [9] In
the forming method, the piece of pipe is placed in a
hydraulic die, liquid is poured into the pipe, and hydraulic
pressure pushes out the branch in the fixed-opening die. [9]
The alternative method for thick tees is a hot extrusion
method in which the branch outlet is extruded from the
pipe with the assistance of an extrusion tool. [8] Tees will
be heat-treated and machined for making bevels at three
ends after forming or extrusion.

Figure 6. Forming a Tee

Figure 9. Applications of mechanical joints on Manifolds

Figure 7. Hot Tee extrusion

This method cannot be used for very thick tees.

Seamless pipe with a heavy wall is selected for manifolds
that are made of pipe. Seamless pipe has a joint efficiency
equal to 1 since there is no longitudinal seam weld on that Figure 10. Comparison between ASME flange and mechanical joint
which is higher. [10] On the other hand, welded pipes assembly
have welded seams, which reduces the joint efficiency of
the pipe to 0.8 or 0.85, for example, depending on the
method of welding. [10] Seamless piping is made of a 4. Manifold Header Welding Process
solid cylinder named a billet shown in Figure 8, which is
pierced through the centre with a mandrel. The bevel ended long length tees on a manifold should
be welded together through butt welding. Traditionally,
the welding technique and preparation of the welded ends
was done as per ASME B16.25, [11] the common
standard for butt welded connections in piping systems
including manifolds. Figure 11 shows the butt weld end
preparation as per ASME B16.25 standard. Two scenarios
of the bevel end preparation based on the piping thickness
are shown in Figure 11, one for wall thickness (t) up to
and including 22mm, and one for thicknesses greater than
22mm. On average, 1.6mm root face is prepared, and the
bevel end fitting or pipe has 37, 5 ° angle on average to
the vertical line for wall thicknesses up to and including
22mm, according to ASME B16.25 (see Figure 11). The
angle should be reduced to 10° on average for thickness
values above 22mm on the extra thickness over 19mm on
average. Narrow gap welding is an advanced welding end
preparation in which the angle of the bevel end fitting has
7° to the vertical line, as shown in this example. The
Figure 8. Seamless pipe and billet advantages of narrow gap welding (see Figure 12) include
The mechanical joints (hubs and clamps) instead of using fewer weld electrodes, faster welding processes, and
standard ASME flanges [3] are used for closing some less heat input. The advantage of less heat input
manifold header ends as well as some of the branch production during the welding of 22Cr DSS material is a
connections (see Figure 9) to save weight and space in the lowered risk of sigma formation. In fact, DSS may
offshore industry (see Figure 10). undergo different structural transformations due to
 American Journal of Marine Science 17

high temperature and heat, such as temperature ranges It is possible to calculate and compare the volumes and
between 600°C to 1000°C. [12] One of those structural weights of consumed electrodes for standard ASME
transformations in the form of intermetallic compounds is B16.25 end preparation and narrow gap welding based on
sigma phase made of chromium and molybdenum. [12] the method explained in this paper. [13] There are two
assumptions in welding consumable calculation based on
this method. The first is that there is no root face for the
bevel ends, and the second is that the wall thicknesses of
the welded joints are maximum 22mm. Parameter b is the
angle of the bevel with a vertical line that is 37, 5 ° for a
standard bevel end and 7 ° for narrow gap welding. The
total amount of welding consumable is represented in
Figure 13 by the two darker orange triangles on both sides,
the lighter orange rectangle in the middle, and the pink
area on the top.
C
tan b = → c = tan bx t (1)
t

Figure 11. Butt weld end preparation according to ASME B16.25

Figure 13. Four areas for estimation of welding consumables

It is possible to calculate the area of each darker orange

triangle using Equation #2.
c x t (tan b xt ) x t
Area of one triangle= = (2)
2 2
Areas of two triangles
= 2 x Area of one triangle (3)
= (tan b xt ) x t.
The area of the light orange rectangle in the middle is
calculated using Equation #4. The pink area of excess
metal on the top is calculated using Equation #5.
Area of rectangle = g x t (4)

W xh
Area of excess metal on the top = (5)
2
Where:
W= 2c + g . (6)
Thus, the total area of the welding consumable is
calculated using Equation #7.
Total welding area
W xh (7)
= (tan b xt ) x t + g x t + .
2
Assuming that the thickness of the welded tee (t) is
20mm, root gap (parameter g) is 7mm, cap height
(parameter h) is 5mm, and tan b is equal to 0.1228 and
0.767 for narrow gap welding (b=7°) and standard
Figure 12 A-B. Narrow gap welding with 7 degree angle welding (b=37.5°) respectively. Now it is possible to
 18 American Journal of Marine Science

calculate c for both welding conditions through equation  gr 

#1. 𝜌𝜌 : Density  ;
 cm3 
Cnarrow gap welding V: Volume (cm3 )
==
tan 7° xt 0.1228
= x 20 2.456 mm Note: The values of weight and volume are given in one
meter.
Cstandard ASME welding
Total weight of electrodes Narrow Gap Welding
= tan 37.5
= ° x t 0.767
= x 20 15.34 mm.
= = 7.8 x 251.37 1960.7 gr
The next step is to calculate W in both welding
conditions using Equation #6. = 1.9607 Kg in 1 meter

Wnarrow gap welding Total weight of electrodesstandard ASME Welding

= 2Cnarrow gap welding + g = 7.8
= =
x573.5 4473.3 gr 4.473 Kg in 1 meter.
= 2 x 2.456 +=
20 24.9 mm
WStandard ASME Welding 5. Conclusions
= 2Cstandard ASME welding +g
Manifolds are widely used in the oil and gas industry
= 2 x15.34 + 20 = 50.68 mm. for the distribution of process fluid such as oil, gas, and
The next step is to calculate the total volume of the water. The sizes of manifolds are selected by process
welding for both conditions using Equation #7. engineers based on the flow rate passing through the
manifold. Manifolds normally handle high-pressure fluid,
Total welding areanarrow gap welding so they may be designed based on pressure nominal of
Wnarrow gap welding xh 250Barg, as an example. In the offshore industry,
= (tan 7° xt ) xt + g x t + manifolds are made in 22Cr DSS instead of carbon steel to
2 save thickness and weight. The manifolds described in this
 24.9 x5 
= ( 2.456 x 20 ) + ( 7 x 20 ) +  
paper are made of either welding wrought tees or using a
 2  standard pipe as a header and welding olets to the pipe
= 49.12 + 140 + 62.25 header. Bevel ended long length tees on the manifolds
should be welded together through butt welding.
= 251.37 mm 2 = 2.5137cm 2 Traditionally, welding technique and preparation of the
Total welding areaStandard ASME welding welded ends was done as per ASME B16.25, the common
standard for butt welded connections in piping systems
= (tan 37.5° xt ) xt + g x t including manifolds. However, narrow gap welding is an
WStandard ASME Welding xh advanced welding end preparation in which the angle of
+ bevel end fitting has 7° to the vertical line in this example.
2 The advantages of narrow gap welding include using
 50.68 x5 
= (15.34 x 20 ) + ( 7 x 20 ) +  
fewer weld electrodes, having a faster welding process,
 2  and requiring less heat input. The method shown in this
= 306.8 + 140 + 126.7 paper for calculation of welding consumables volume and
weight in one-meter shows that the amount of welding
= 573.5mm 2 = 5.735cm 2 . electrodes used for standard ASME welding is more than
To calculate the volume of the weld, the length of the double the amount of narrow gap welding.
weld should be multiplied by the area. Assuming the
length of the weld equal to 1m is equal to 100cm, the
volume of the weld will be 251.37 cm3 and 573.5cm3 for Acknowledgements
narrow gap welding and standard ASME welding,
respectively. I would like to express my gratitude to my partner,
Therefore, the volume and area of welding electrode in Ms. Tamara Zhunussova for her constant support.
this example is more than double for standard ASME butt
weld ending compared to narrow gap welding. The 22Cr
DSS welding electrodes are used for welding the References
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 American Journal of Marine Science 19

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