An Approach for Evaluating and Prioritizing Dents for Remediation as Reported by ILI Tools

Analytical and experimental methods exist to help in the determination of critical strain levels for plain dents. Government regulations and industry standards require ranking the severity of dents reported by ILI tools for excavation primarily based on depth. These requirements also allow the use of engineering critical analysis methods to demonstrate that critical strain levels are not exceeded. This paper discusses the use of a laser mapping tool in conjunction with a modified method for determining static strains for prioritization and remediation of plain dents. The development of a correlation factor based on the examination of 6 dents and their respective ILI reports is presented and discussed. The application of the severity correlation factor to the remaining dents reported in the pipe section for their prioritization for remediation is also presented.