skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Fiber-reinforced-plastic cold-water-pipe test plan. Final report

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5120294· OSTI ID:5120294

The tests have been designed to evaluate joint performance and to obtain the engineering properties of Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) that are germane to the development of an OTEC FRP Cold Water Pipe. Both material property tests and tests of cold water pipe joint configurations using FRP are planned. Engineering properties of interest include: ultimate tensile strength, tensile modulus of elasticity, flexural strength, flexural modulus of elasticity, fatigue strength at an expected 30-year service life, and Poisson's Ratio. The tests selected have been chosen and designed to satisfy the following requirements: establish initial fatigue test stress levels through fracture testing of the various candidate joint and laminate configurations, evaluate the fatigue resistance of Fiber Reinforced Plastic joints and laminates subjected to a non-stationary random loading, evaluate the long-term degradation of material properties in a marine environment, design of a cold water pipe, and obtain a baseline of acoustical emission data for in-service nondestructive monitoring of FRP Cold Water Pipe performance. As an aid to planning and budgetary control, the test costs and schedules are presented in terms of four options, each option including a wider scope of testing effort than its predecessor. Option One, the most basic of the four options, covers axial fracture and fatigue tests of three joint configurations. Option Two adds to the tests of Option One flexural fracture and fatigue testing of the same three joints. Option Three introduces fracture and fatigue tests of two FRP laminate configurations, and Option Four, the flexure testing of those same laminates. The final long-term fatigue test of each test option will be made on the best surviving joint or laminate configuration of that test series.

Research Organization:
Fiberglass Structural Engineering, Bellingham, WA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AI01-77ET20396
OSTI ID:
5120294
Report Number(s):
DOE/NOAA/OTEC-18; ON: DE82021822
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Portions of document are illegible
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English