Abstract
Pipeline integrity is one of the major concerns when operating a hydrocarbon pipeline. Environmental forces such as water course change, soil erosion, lightning strike, earthquakes etc. play a key role for pipeline integrity and may cause major damages if left unnoticed. [1]. These threats are time independent and occur sporadically throughout the pipeline network. [2][3]. Usually, the strategy for these types of threat is “Mitigate when noticed”. The paper lays foundation to evaluation of one of these threats that is water course change which results to pipeline washout outs. The paper uses the historical satellite data to predict the vulnerable stretches where washout is likely to occur and provide an indication where washouts are likely to occur. This module also provides a node for risk assessment model where the sections can be quantified for relative risk based on changes in the water course. Washouts are dynamic pipeline integrity threats.
A terrain or river course changes over a period due to climate change and/or human activities. This paper discusses methodology to evaluate the changes which have occurred during the history of the terrain and the pipeline. Based on previous washout histories across the pipeline network and “High-resolution mapping of global surface water and its long-term changes” using Global Surface Water - Data Access, 2019, a methodology has been prepared to identify the areas where washouts are likely to occur. [4][5]
The paper analysis surface water run-offs, percentage changes, extent of water runoffs, seasonal, new seasonal, lost seasonal, ephermal seasonal and other layers of the global surface water change to identify the areas where such possibilities can be methodically worked out and algorithm developed to identify the washout probabilities on relative basis. The paper further divides these areas into various zones on Washout Priorities and help operator to make meaning full decision with an ultimate objective to strengthen pipeline integrity. The paper also discusses some of the typical cases for ease of understanding and appreciation of the approach.
