Corrosion Assessment Guidance for Higher Strength Pipelines

Project Categories

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• Internal Corrosion
• External Corrosion
• Integrity Management

Main Objective

To extend present guidance for assessing corrosion metal loss defects to material grades from X70 to X100.

Public Abstract

Pipeline corrosion and mechanical damage are the greatest threats to pipeline integrity and the largest causes of pipeline incidents and accidents. The R&D and operations practices developed over the years have led to a safer and more reliable pipeline infrastructures with a decreasing frequency of failures. Both the public and industry expect further pipeline safety improvements. The industry needs more reliable tools to detect, assess, prevent and/or manage threats and damage and assure appropriate safety margins.
Objectives: 1) Improve an operator's ability to determine the severity of damage from localized corrosion and its reduction on pipeline operating pressures; 2) Develop comprehensive and consistent methods for locating and assessing corrosion in the field; 3) Create better tools and procedures for assessing, managing, and mitigating external force and mechanical damage threats; 4) Provide a sound basis for establishing the interval between successive integrity management assessment; and 5) Address and improve the prevention of pipeline failure due to third party damage.
Technical Approach: This Consolidated R&D Program under the PRMC brings together a powerful team of pipeline operators, researchers, service providers, and commercializers to address the two greatest threats to pipeline integrity - mechanical damage and corrosion. The Program encompasses 16 technical projects and focuses on four areas: Manage and Mitigate Pipeline Integrity Threats from Mechanical Damage, Dents and Gouges; Damage Prevention � Third Party Damage Detection, Discrimination, and Risk Assessment; Optimizing Integrity Assessment Intervals for Wall Loss Corrosion; and Improving Methods and Industry Guidance for Assessing the Severity of Pipeline Corrosion.
See also Project No 172, Project No 173, Project No 174, Project No 175 for other projects in this Consolidated Program.