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Conference ProgramWednesday, February 15, 20068.30 9.00 The integrity management program or plan (IMP) framework was developed in accordance with the requirements of the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Integrity Management Rule, 49 CFR Part 192 Subpart O: Pipeline Integrity Management. The Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) promotes rigorous, systematic, management of pipeline integrity. The Rule requires the development of an IMP consisting of plans and processes for the implementation of the required program elements set out in 192.911. This paper will discuss the challenges and opportunities of performing an inspection on transmission pipeline in a high-consequence area (HCA) in Washington, DC. 9.35 Inspection of natural gas distribution piping can be difficult because the presence of sharp bends, restrictive fittings, and low gas flow velocity do not allow the use of conventional magnetic-flux-leakage pigs. As an alternative, Southwest Research Institute is developing an inspection system that can collapse to allow passage through obstacles and can also adjust to allow inspection of different sizes of pipes. This system is based on the use of the remote-field eddy-current (RFEC) technique, which can detect and characterize both internal and external wall-loss defects. The RFEC system is being configured for integration with the Explorer II autonomous robot currently under development by Carnegie Mellon University. This paper presents the hardware and software designs of the RFEC system and includes results from laboratory inspections of machined and natural defects. 10.10 Coffee, exhibition 10.45
11.20 Pig application and behavior are, under controlled conditions, predictable and stable. However, pig location is a very-costly, unpredictable, and highly-unstable operation. In this paper, the author describes and details the experiences encountered in the search for a lost pig in a pipeline in the Amazon jungle, and the operations necessary for its recovery. 11.55 This paper presents an overview of US pipeline safety regulations, 49 CFR Parts 192 and 195 preventive and mitigative (P&M) requirements, and outlines how assessment data may be used as a foundational element in the development of the P&M management process and decision-making criteria. New US regulations require pipeline operators to take additional (P&M) measures on their pipeline systems, specifically on those parts of the pipeline that could affect high-consequence areas. Although P&M management is not a new practice in the pipeline industry, further documentation of process and substantiation of decision-making criteria has become an expectation of the rulemaking. In-line inspection and direct assessment data provide an important role in the development of decision-making criteria. For example, this data may be used to establish expected leak hole sizes for subsequent analysis, emergency flow-restriction devices (EFRDs), or unmitigated third-party hits rates for analyzing the enhancement of third-party damage-prevention programs. 12.30 Lunch, exhibition 2.00 One of the most difficult sales to make involves selling someone who thinks they know it all. Patience must endure or one will find oneself under the bed reciting the Greek alphabet. Even though dinosaurs are extinct, sightings from time to time within the pipeline industry do occur. It seems that every company has at least one and, when spotted, it exhibits an attitude of disbelief, faulty paradigms, weakened integrity plans, false safety and security. Additionally, possible loss of future revenues may dominate reality. Pigging technology today appears to be advancing exponentially; what we mean by technology is not so much the hardware side but the application side. This paper will address the application side of pigging and discuss rules of thumb for liquid and dry pipeline cleaning and the effectiveness of their respective results. These topics will be discussed in an order of usable procedures that will hopefully guide you to a successful, economical, practical, safe, cost-effective, and reliable data retrieval for an in-line inspection program, and may even prepare and arm your integrity team against the inevitable office dinosaur. 2.35 API Standard 1163 provides requirements for qualification of in-line inspection systems used in gas and hazardous liquid pipelines. This standard assures inspection service providers make clear, uniform, and verifiable statements describing in-line inspection system performance; pipeline operators select an inspection system suitable under certain conditions; the in-line inspection system operates properly under specified conditions; anomalies are described using a common nomenclature; and the reported data and inspection results provide the expected accuracy and quality in a consistent format. The new standard is an umbrella document that, by reference, incorporates two other standards, NACE RP 0102 Standard Recommend Practice, In-Line Inspections of Pipelines, and ASNT ILI-PQ In-Line Inspection Personnel Qualification & Certification. Together, the three standards will help companies select and operate qualified in-line inspection technology as well as interpret the results. This presentation will summarize the benefits of using the standard. 3.10 Coffee, exhibition 3.45 This paper compares the Regulatory and Code approaches to integrity management in the USA with those of the rest of the world, and then describes what an integrity-management system is in practical terms for a pipeline operator. 4.20 5.00 Cocktail reception in the exhibition area 6.30 End of day 1 Thursday, February 16, 20069.00 The paper discusses current possibilities and drawbacks of in-line inspection in detecting, identifying, locating, and sizing of all types of defects in oil and gas pipelines, and a holistic methodology that extracts maximum value from the ILI measurements is presented. In the paper, the main emphasis is put on issues of defect detection and characterization and the discrimination, interpretation, and sizing by comprehensive evaluation of the data acquired from ILI tools using a full set of consistent and universal ILI tool-performance metrics. The role of the human factor in the use of ILI technology is discussed. General characteristics of ILI as a measurement system are given, and the basics of the holistic analysis of ILI are presented. Results of analysis of real ILI data and of Monte-Carlo simulations are addressed, including dynamic segmentation of pipelines, a new approach to planning and analyzing the results of verification digs, and an assessment of the true values of defect parameters. 9.35 Reliability-based design and assessment (RBDA) has been technically established as a viable methodology for making integrity-management decisions for natural gas pipelines. A special standard on the methodology has also been prepared and is being considered for inclusion in the CSA Z662 and ASME B31.8 standards. This presentation provides a technical overview of RDBA and a number of examples, demonstrating its application to design and operational decisions. The examples focus on the benefits of RBDA in terms of optimizing the use of resources to improve long-term pipeline integrity. An update on the status of RBDA standard development is also provided. 10.10 Coffee, exhibition 10.45 A new generation of geometry sensor has been developed which provides highly-accurate geometry data of a pipe’s internal contours. The technology uses touchless distance measurement in combination with the advantages of a mechanical caliper arm, allowing the measurement of precise data under demanding operational conditions. The sensor technology can be combined with a navigation unit and high-resolution MFL inspection technology to provide an economic solution for obtaining an ILI-database for integrity management. Field experience with this new technology will be presented, based on more than 300 miles of inspected pipeline, most of which were performed in the US and Canada. The operational performance of the sensors justified the mechatronic design. Data from dents and corrosion can be analyzed with an improved client-software package. 11.20
A field study was conducted to evaluate the use of automated, multi-technique electrochemical corrosion rate (ECR) monitoring devices and probes for detecting corrosion in environments similar to those found in natural gas transmission pipelines. It involved measurement of remote, online and real-time corrosion signals from operating pipelines. Results and interpretation were reported from four different field test locations. Standard flush-mount and custom flange probes were used in four different environments at a gas-gathering site and one environment but two different probe orientations at a natural gas plant site. These sites were selected to represent normal and upset conditions common in gas transmission pipelines. The environments consisted of two different levels of humidified natural gas, liquid hydrocarbon, and water from natural gas. Probe locations included the 6 and 12 o’clock positions of a natural gas pipeline carrying two-phase gas/liquid flow. The probe data was monitored using completely remote solar powered systems that provided real-time data transmission via wireless back to a pipeline control station. Data are also presented comparing the ECR probe data to that for coupons used to determine corrosion rate and to detect the presence of microbiologically-influenced corrosion (MIC). 12.00 Lunch, exhibition 1.00 As pipeline companies are moving forward in centralizing and standardizing facility and integrity data there is a new generation of “data aware” pipeline engineer on the horizon who would like to take advantage of this new medium for getting information. The next chapter in pipeline data management will be in better reporting and more integration with other corporate systems like SCADA and accounting. But before we take on these new challenges pipeline engineers need support with accessing the information they have, building custom reports and ensuring data is updated and maintained effectively. There are important steps that must be taken post database development to protect the investment of money and resources that have been made by pipeline companies. There is a plethora of applications beginning to flood the market that will help view data and push new data into an existing system but these applications do not provide sound data management. Sound data management will come from process and true ownership of the information: it will come from top-down appreciation of the benefits of having this information, and it will come from this new pipeline engineer. This paper will address in brief where pipeline integrity data management has been, and where it is going, with a stop in the present to discuss issues being faced today as the enterprise database in the pipeline industry takes shape and finds its place. 1.35 Stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) poses a threat to the integrity of buried pipelines in many parts of the world. In North America there is now a requirement that integrity-management plans should address SCC and a direct assessment methodology, SCCDA, for managing the threat due to SCC, is now becoming established. Like general corrosion or fatigue, SCC is a time-dependent deterioration process that leads to progressive weakness of the pipe wall eventually causing failure as a leak or rupture, if not managed. There are indeed two known forms of SCC: high-pH and near-neutral-pH SCC. The focus of this paper is on high-pH SCC. The purpose of this paper is to describe a detailed probabilistic model that addresses the various phases of high-pH SCC taking account of uncertainty in the relevant influencing factors. The model determines the likely times to coalescence and to grow to a critical size thus providing a time-dependent probability of failure. The model gives a clear indication of which parameters should be managed in order to reduce the likelihood of failure to an acceptable level. Consequently, the model can be used in conjunction with relevant above ground survey data to provide an effective SCCDA methodology. The model is illustrated through a numerical example and the use of the model as an integrity-management tool is clearly demonstrated. 2.10 The following additional paper is published in the proceedings but will not be presented due to author’s unavailability: Enhanced pipeline risk assessment Scoring- or ranking-type pipeline risk assessments has served the industry well for many years. However, risk assessments are being routinely used today in ways that were not common even five years ago. For example, in today's environment of increasing regulatory and public oversight, risk assessments commonly become the centerpiece of any legal, regulatory, or public proceedings. This prompts the use of assessment techniques that more accurately model reality and also produce risk estimates that are anchored in absolute terms: "consequences per mile year," for example. This paper discusses a powerful new generation of algorithms that can do this while making use of all previously collected data and not increasing the costs of risk assessment at all. The advantages of the new algorithms are that they can overcome many of the limitations of the older algorithms because they:
3.00 Coffee and depart
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