Beijing Key Laboratory of Deepwater Oil and Gas Pipeline Critical Technology and Equipment
? Profile
The Beijing Key Laboratory of Deepwater Oil and Gas Pipeline Critical Technology and Equipment is a municipal key laboratory accredited by the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Administrative Commission of Zhongguancun Science Park. Affiliated with Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, the laboratory is closely aligned with the strategic imperatives of the "Manufacturing Powerhouse" and "Energy Powerhouse" initiatives. It addresses critical scientific and technological challenges in the safe operation and maintenance, fluid flow assurance, anti-fatigue manufacturing of metallic materials, and intelligent inspection of energy engineering equipment, exemplified by deepwater oil and gas pipelines and nuclear power plant pools. The laboratory conducts high-level applied fundamental research, applied research, and equipment development, with a focused emphasis on three research directions: subsea emergency repair and maintenance technology and equipment, pipeline flow assurance technology and equipment, and anti-fatigue manufacturing and intelligent inspection technology and equipment. It is committed to breaking foreign technological monopolies and independently mastering cutting-edge technologies such as subsea dry hyperbaric arc welding, subsea laser welding, and subsea friction stir welding, as well as key technologies including online monitoring and preventive treatment of pipeline transportation, surface anti-fatigue strengthening of metallic materials, and defect detection. The laboratory aims to enhance the capacity for scientific and technological innovation and independent research and development of high-end equipment in the energy engineering sector. Supported by core disciplines including Mechanical Engineering (a Beijing High-Precision and Cutting-Edge Discipline) and Energy and Power Engineering, and integrating strengths from Environmental Science and Engineering and Control Science and Engineering, the laboratory closely serves the upgrading of the energy industry in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. It provides core technology and equipment support to enterprises such as CNOOC, PipeChina, and SPIC, ensuring the safe and efficient operation of energy facilities including deep-sea oil and gas installations and nuclear power plant pools. The laboratory is directed by Professor Zhu Jialei.
? Research Team
The laboratory currently has 37 permanent members, including 11 professors/research fellows, 12 associate professors/associate research fellows, 2 senior experimentalists, and 12 lecturers, forming a high-level research team with a rational structure, distinctive characteristics, and close integration of industry, academia, research, and application. The team covers research directions including underwater welding and intelligent maintenance, deepwater oil and gas flow assurance, and material service safety assurance for energy engineering equipment. Relying on first-level disciplines such as Mechanical Engineering, Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, and Safety Science and Engineering, the team supports the undergraduate program construction of multiple majors including Mechanical Engineering, Robotics Engineering, Intelligent Manufacturing Engineering, and Energy and Power Engineering, promoting interdisciplinary integration and the cultivation of innovative talents.
? Research Directions
(1) Underwater Welding and Intelligent Maintenance: Addressing the major national demands of deep-sea oil and gas development and nuclear power equipment operation and maintenance, this direction focuses on bottleneck issues in welding repair under severe working conditions such as underwater high pressure, low temperature, radiation, and strong corrosion. It conducts research on underwater laser welding, underwater arc welding, underwater friction welding, and underwater hyperbaric dry, local dry, and wet welding technologies, revealing underwater welding mechanisms and morphology-property control laws. The team develops underwater welding robots and intelligent maintenance systems, and advances online weld inspection, life assessment, and emergency repair technologies. This direction holds significant strategic importance for ensuring the safety of submarine pipelines and nuclear facilities and breaking foreign technological monopolies.
(2) Deepwater Oil and Gas Flow Assurance: Addressing the major national demands of safe development and long-term operation and maintenance of deepwater oil and gas, this direction focuses on flow assurance bottleneck issues such as hydrate formation, wax deposition, and metallic corrosion under conditions of kilometer-scale water depth, low temperature and high pressure, and long-distance transportation. It investigates deepwater multi-phase flow and phase change mechanisms, reveals hydrate-wax deposition-corrosion coupling mechanisms, develops active control technologies, establishes flow failure and explosion risk assessment methods, and develops online monitoring, fault diagnosis, and digital twin early warning technologies to ensure the safe operation of submarine pipelines-the "lifeline" of energy.
(3) Material Service Safety Assurance for Energy Engineering Equipment: Addressing the major national demands for high-performance and long-life service of materials and components in energy engineering industries such as deep-sea oil and gas development, this direction focuses on engineering challenges including structural strength, service safety, and performance evaluation under complex multi-field environments and severe ultimate loads. It conducts research on digital design and assembly of mechanical products, anti-fatigue manufacturing and life extension technologies, precision inspection and fault diagnosis technologies, and residual stress control and detection technologies, constructing an integrated technical system for high-performance, long-life design and manufacturing of critical components for high-end equipment.
? Research Facilities
The laboratory possesses key research facilities including multiple sets of underwater welding and maintenance test systems for water depths up to 1,500 meters, a distinctive research platform for deepwater multiphase flow experiments and numerical simulation, and a material service performance testing and evaluation platform. It is equipped with key instruments and equipment such as laser welding systems, underwater environment simulation test devices, multiphase flow loop experimental systems, residual stress detection and analysis instruments, high-precision mechanical property testing equipment, and digital design and simulation workstations. These facilities enable high-level experimental research capabilities in underwater welding process development, flow assurance mechanism research, and material service performance evaluation.
? Research Achievements
Supported by projects from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Research and Development Program, Beijing Natural Science Foundation, and other provincial/ministerial-level scientific research projects, the laboratory team has long been engaged in research on critical technologies and equipment for deepwater oil and gas pipelines and has achieved fruitful scientific research results.
In the field of underwater welding and intelligent maintenance, since undertaking the first 863 Major Project in the national underwater welding and maintenance domain in 2002, the team has accumulated over 20 years of experience and built multiple sets of underwater welding and maintenance test systems for water depths up to 1,500 meters, boasting a solid research foundation. The team has undertaken multiple national-level projects including National Key Research and Development Program projects and National Natural Science Foundation projects, as well as dozens of horizontal projects for CNOOC, CNNC, SPIC, and other enterprises.
It has achieved critical breakthroughs in underwater maintenance for submarine oil and gas pipelines and nuclear power plant pools, won multiple provincial/ministerial-level science and technology awards, and participated in the development of the "Nuclear Power Plant Underwater Intelligent Maintenance Complete Equipment," which was selected as one of the Top Ten Scientific and Technological Innovation Achievements of the National Energy Research and Development Innovation Platform in 2024. In the field of deepwater oil and gas flow assurance, the laboratory signed a three-year long-term cooperation agreement with CNOOC for 2025-2028, providing technical services such as design, monitoring and inspection, and safety verification for over 100 submarine pipelines annually, forming a complete technical chain of "theoretical breakthrough-equipment development-engineering application."
