A Reliability-Based Design and Assessment (RBDA) framework for pipelines was developed and published in 2004 and 2005. It has since been adopted in the Canadian Standard as a non-mandatory Annex O and is currently under consideration by the ASME B31.8 committee. However, a few items of concern have surfaced which require further investigation and resolving prior to the adoption by ASME B31.8 can be considered.
PRCI is conducting a research project to address the shortcomings of the current consequence model in the RBDA process as laid out in publications GRI-04/0229, GRI-04/0230, GRI-05/0073 and CSA/Z-662 Annex O. More specifically, three items will be addressed:
The quality of the consequence model is a major component to adequately capturing all risk factors and contributors in an RBDA. This research will produce a consequence model that can adequately predict the risk distribution among the four (4) classes of pipelines.