Landscape Investigation on External Corrosion and SCC of a Tape Coated Enbridge Pipeline

It is generally believed that physical and chemical condition of the pipeline environment (such as soil texture, drainage, ground topography, cathodic protection level, pH, etc) in addition to pipeline construction factors (such as pipe vs. ground slope, type and quality of the pipe coating, etc.) affect the incidence and severity of external corrosion and SCC on pipelines. In an attempt to identify locations of highest susceptibility to external corrosion and cracking on a tape coated Enbridge pipeline, and to aid integrity management processes; Enbridge embarked on a project investigating landscape factors which might affect the severity of external corrosion and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) on the pipeline. Results showed that some of the investigated factors had positive correlations with the severity of external corrosion and SCC on the tape coated pipeline. However, despite the positive correlations observed, they were not strong enough to be used as an independent predictive tool.