API 1163 Verification and Validation Workshop
Led by Dr. Tom Bubenik
OCTOBER 11-12, 2023 | PRCI’s Technology Development Center | Houston

Register before September 27, 2023 and save $200!

Day 1
8am-5pm CDT	Course
Day 2
8am-5pm CDT	Course

Workshop program

Day 1

1. Introduction and Background
1. ILI Basics
   1. ILI history from the 1960s to today
   2. Overview of ILI technologies for ML, deformations, cracks, etc. Key points are what each technology does best and where the technologies have weaknesses.
   3. Relative maturity of the ILI technologies and where the technologies are on an s-curve
   4. The role uncertainty plays in (using) the results
2. API 1163 Development
   1. Original intent – getting PL companies and ILI companies on the same page
   2. Working committee approach (PL companies, ILI companies, R&D companies) to develop a consensus document (needed for regulatory acceptance)
   3. Evolution – moving from general guidance to more specific prescriptive requirements (and eventually back to broad performance-based guidelines)
   4. Recent 1163, 3rd edition changes – Most important changes
   5. Using 1163, 3rd edition for metal loss versus using it for mechanical damage, cracks, etc.
3. Regulatory Requirements
   1. Background to U.S. regulations
   2. Current regulations related to ILI
      1. Impact of RIN2 and recent regulatory changes
   3. Regulatory directions
   4. Relationships between regulations, performance specifications, and ILI verification/validation
4. Key Definitions and Terms of Reference
2. Performance Specifications – Section 6 of API 1163, 3rd edition
1. Concept of Essential ILI Variables – what’s important for each technology, ranges of applicability, etc.
2. Requirements on ILI service providers when preparing a Performance Specification
   1. Types of data and/or analyses required to establish Performance Specifications
      1. Historical data
      2. Large scale test data
      3. Small-scale tests, modeling, and analyses
   2. Ranges of parameters studied
   3. Need to identify and quantify capabilities as well as limitations
3. Basis for Performance Specifications
   1. Individual versus generic performance claims
   2. Statistical versus non-statistical claims
4. Reporting Requirements
5. Role of Continuous Improvement, QA/QC, etc.
6. Reading and Understanding Performance Specifications (case study examples)
3. ILI Acceptance Introduction and Overview
1. On-site verification – Section 7 of API 1163, 3rd edition
   1. Purpose and meaning of verification
   2. On-site acceptance criteria
2. Accuracy validation – Section 8 of API 1163, 3rd edition
   1. Purpose and meaning of validation
   2. Excavations and field NDE
   3. Post ILI acceptance criteria
4. Field data collection
1. Purposes of field data collection relative to API 1163, 3rd edition
   1. Detection, identification, sizing characteristics
2. Data quality and data integrity
   1. Importance of location references (o’clock, position relative to seam, distance to nearby welds)
3. Measurements
   1. Site documentation and related measurements
   2. Coating identification and importance of surface preparation
   3. Weld type identification
   4. Corrosion/metal loss tools and techniques
      1. Thickness variations and tolerances and their impacts on measurements
      2. Measurement accuracies
5. Crack tools and techniques – overview
6. Hardness and related measurements
7. Photo documentation guidelines
5. Verification under API 1163, 3rd edition
1. Verification tasks
   1. Purpose and meaning of verification
   2. Project requirements
   3. Data collection and analysis
   4. Alignment of Technology and Pipeline Condition
   5. Obtaining First Run Success
   6. Premobilization Discussion
   7. Pre-inspection Requirements
   8. Inspection Requirements
   9. Post-inspection requirements
   10. ILI data QA and analysis
   11. Achieving a Successful Assessment without a Full Data Set
   12. ILI System Verification Cumulative Assessment
   13. RCA for Failed Runs
2. Examples and case studies
3. What happens after on-site verification

Day 2

6. Validation under API 1163, 3rd edition
1. Introduction and basic requirements
   1. General evaluation of system results
      1. Comparisons with records, prior ILI, and prior excavation results
   2. Importance of accurate field data
   3. Number of required data points for validations
   4. Acceptance criteria and what acceptance means
2. Evaluating PODs and POIs
3. Collecting sample data from a population
   1. Special cases (e.g., very few anomalies, covering all POF categories)
4. Level 1 validations
   1. Basic flow chart
   2. What are similar pipelines?
   3. What are low risk pipelines?
   4. ILI to ILI comparisons
   5. Using Level 1 when significant anomalies are encountered
   6. Application examples and case studies
5. Level 2 validations
   1. Basic flow chart
   2. ILI to field NDE alignment and correlations
      1. Estimating and accounting for bias
      2. Uncertainty
   3. Statistical concepts
      1. Binomial confidence intervals
      2. Possible outcomes of a binomial evaluation
      3. Agresti-Coull method
      4. Role of confidence levels, tolerances, and certainties
      5. Outliers
      6. Limitations of binomial evaluations
   4. How sample size affects statistical results
      1. Minimum number of data points as a function of number of data points outside the stated tolerances
      2. When and how to use prior field data
   5. Calculation steps
      1. Selecting confidence levels, tolerances, and certainty
      2. Upper and lower confidence levels
      3. Role of number of data within and outside the stated tolerances
      4. Equivalent tolerance
   6. Outcome 1, 2, and 3 and Level 2 acceptance
   7. Identifying and addressing outliers
   8. Escalating to a Level 3 assessment
   9. Application examples and case studies
6. Level 3 validations
   1. Basic flowchart
   2. Statistical concepts
      1. Tolerance intervals
         1. Concepts of interval width, proportion of population covered by the interval, and confidence level used to calculate the interval
         2. Impact of changing confidence levels
         3. Impact of number of validation measurements of interval width
         4. Impact of number of validation measurements on potential tolerance interval error
      2. Recommended minimum number of validation measurements
      3. Role of confidence level (versus Level 2 validation)
   3. Application examples and case studies
7. Level 2 versus Level 3 validations
   1. Questions addressed by each type of validation
   2. Comparison of outcomes based on the questions addressed
   3. Differences in outcomes as a function of questions to be addressed
   4. Tolerance intervals and their relationships with Level 2 results
   5. When to use Level 3 versus Level 2 validations
8. API 1163, 3rd edition validation software
   1. Introduction and demonstration
   2. Examples and case studies
   3. Working session
7. Using Validation Results in Integrity Decisions
1. Validating performance specifications versus estimating actual performance
   1. Useful bounds on uncertainties
   2. Impact of performance differences by geometric classifications versus overall performance
   3. Significance of large, calculated uncertainties versus the ability to prioritize excavations
2. Accounting for uncertainties in burst pressure calculations
   1. Individual boxes (anomalies)
   2. Clusters
3. Accounting for uncertainties in remaining life calculations
4. Relationship between calculated remaining lives and reassessment intervals
5. Regulatory acceptance