An External Corrosion Direct Assessment Module for a Pipeline Integrity Management System

A significant part of the high pressure gas transport system of Gasunie cannot be examined by in-line inspection techniques. To ensure safe operation of these pipelines, an External Corrosion Direct Assessment (ECDA) module for PIMSLIDER (a pipeline integrity management system) is currently under development. The functional specifications of this module are based on NACE RP0502-2002, a recommended practice for ECDA. In addition to this, a new probabilistic methodology has been adopted, to take account for uncertainties associated with ECDA and to quantify the contributions from aboveground surveys and excavations to the integrity of a pipeline. This methodology, which is based on Structural Reliability Analysis (SRA) and Bayesian updating techniques, is presented in more detail in paper IPC2006-10092 of this conference. The DA module of PIMSLIDER enables computerized storage, retrieval and processing of all appropriate pipeline data and therefore guarantees highly accurate, reproducible and time saving integrity analyses of the Gasunie grid. Another important function of this system is the ability to use the complete database of all pipelines to pre-assess the integrity of a particular pipeline. This automated retrieval of data from pipelines with similar characteristics and/or environmental conditions results in a substantial increase of accessible data and enables Gasunie to improve the reliability of applied statistics throughout the process. As a consequence, the overall cost of inspections and excavations can be greatly reduced. In the Pre-Assessment phase, the DA module assists the integrity manager in gathering and analyzing data necessary to determine the current condition of a pipeline. After collection and visualization of the available data, the user can identify suitable ECDA regions. Furthermore, the gathered data are used to construct prior distributions of parameters relevant to the SRA model, such as the number and size of corrosion defects and pipeline-related parameters. In the Indirect Inspections step, the DA module allows the user to store and analyze the data from aboveground surveys, in order to identify and define the severity of coating faults and areas at which corrosion activity may occur. The probabilistic methodology accounts for the individual performance of each applied survey technique in terms of missed defects and false indications, in general a major source of uncertainty in ECDA. In the Direct Examinations phase, excavations are carried out to collect data to assess possible corrosion activity. Subsequently, the ECDA module uses this information to update, among other things, the parameters concerning the performance of survey techniques, the number of defects and the corrosion rate. As a result, updated failure frequencies are calculated for each ECDA-region (after each excavation if required), which are then used by the DA module to advise the integrity manager if additional mitigating activities are necessary, or by defining a reassessment interval.