Wet Ageing of XLPE Cables – Lifetime Prediction

摘要

Submarine XLPE (cross-linked polyethylene) insulated cables of wetdesign have been manufactured and delivered by Nexans for more than40 years, including cables for Direct Electric Heating (DEH) offlowlines for the last 15 years. In a DEH system the cable is strapped(‘piggybacked’) to the flowline, and the operating temperature is high.DEH and XLPE cables are used at ever increasing water depths. Thepurpose of this paper is to summarize experiences from ageing of wetdesign cables at different water pressures and give recommendationsregarding the use of wet design XLPE cables in the future.