Accomplishments

The collaboration achieved through PRCI member funding, and their additional contribution of resources and expertise, results in the development of pipeline industry research and technological advances that benefit member organizations and all energy users.

There are many examples of collaborative technology developments achieved by PRCI and its members for the global pipeline industry, providing the intelligence and expertise needed by the industry to continue reducing risks From and To pipelines. These are some of PRCI’s recent achievements, providing a foundation for the safe and reliable operation of the worldwide pipeline infrastructure.

Corrosion — Location and Assessment
  • Developed guidelines for assessing corrosion in higher strength steels, low toughness pipe, closely spaced defects, at seam and girth welds and under biaxial loading
  • Developed techniques to detect, assess, prevent and remediate corrosion in carrier pipes inside casings
  • Developed framework for Wet Gas ICDA standard
  • Reduced failures & avoided costs for unnecessary maintenance
  • Reduced costs for inspection and monitoring of carrier pipes inside casings
Mechanical Damage — Location & Assessment
  • Verified magnetic models of MFL signals from dents
  • Investigated influence of pre-strain and cyclic frequency defects
  • Developed method to predict likelihood of failure for dent and gouge damage
  • Improved understanding of time-delayed failures to enable reliable strategies for managing external interference damage
ROW Monitoring
  • Developed and validated fault tree model to estimate frequency of events
  • Developed resource document providing review of successful, new and emerging technologies and leading practices for prevention and detection
Growth of Construction Defects
  • Characterized failure behavior and mechanical properties of a variety of girth weld types
  • Investigated the effect of internal pressure and combined loading on failure behavior of early generation pipe welds
  • Extended previous work on older pipelines to determine reliability of girth weld geometries
  • Avoided costs for unnecessary replacement of early generation pipe segments
Compressor & Pump Station
  • Introduction of “Enhanced Mixing” systems from two vendors that inject fuel gas at pressures from 200-400 psi
  • ~200 systems installed in U.S.
  • Benefit of consistently achieving < 3 grams NOx/bhp-hr, with up to 8% fuel efficiency increase reported
Measurement
  • Improved custody transfer practice
  • Reduction of measurement bias — avoids operational cost penalties and significant customer disputes
  • Identifies where established practice could be further improved — e.g. diagnostics for meter cleaning and flow conditioning