Emergency Repair of a P-381 River Water Supply Line at a Refinery in Belle Chasse, LA

Abstract

A refinery in Belle Chasse, LA had a leak on a 30 in. (0.76 m) cement mortar lined and coated river water supply line in a pipe rack 40 ft (12 m) in the air. The water supply line was a P-381 Pretensioned Pipe. An attempt to wrap the line externally with a bi-directional glass FRP system was completed by others during a turnaround but the wrap failed when put under pressure, which created an emergency for the Belle Chasse Refinery. The refinery was interested in other options and this failure was a top priority to repair in place or it would have delayed startup. The P-381 water supply line had two locations that needed to be addressed. One location had spalled mortar in the coating exposing the steel cylinder and reinforced bar, the other location had a sizeable hole/breach in the pipe and the existing wrap was drooping down from the breach, the wrap had delaminated from the host pipe. Attendees will learn more about this emergency repair, which had to be completed within seven (7) days including step by step construction procedures that were used for this repair: Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) technology including design considerations, design methodology and the QA/QC process.