The use of polymeric materials as coatings for the protection and insulation of subsea oil pipelines is well established. The incorporation of low thermal conductivity mineral fillers will improve thermal performance but can also give rise to increased ingress of water. It is possible to predict the rate and extent of ingress in conformance with established laws of physics. Practical experimentation will be shown to confirm the methodology and the accuracy of the resulting model. Implications for the long term performance of the insulation system are discussed, and predictions made for typical end-of-life values.
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