METHODS FOR EVALUATION AND ESTIMATION OF EXTERNAL CORROSION DAMAGE ON BURIED PIPELINES

摘要

A method to assess external corrosion in buried pipelines includes analysis of moisture content of soil along the length of the pipe to choose the most appropriate indirect inspection methods. External corrosion is assessed based on the unification of probability techniques using clustered inspection data and deterministic formulation for soil conditions. A deterministic model pinpoints the location of the most likely areas for corrosion due to the electrochemical cell formation produced by the presence of water and the properties of the soil, such as ion concentrations, pH, soil resistivity, redox potential, corrosion potential and soil type. The filtering of the data by clustering provides reliable results to locate the most corrosive locations. The failure probability is calculated based on in-line inspection data, where different indications could appear and different dimensions are used to link the corrosivity with the failure for choosing repairing methods and taking actions against corrosion.

主权项

1. A method for assessing damage to the exterior of a buried pipeline comprising the steps of:
calculating the moisture content of the soil through which the pipeline extends at a plurality of locations along the length of the pipeline; conducting holidays indirect inspection of the plurality of locations through the application of alternating current voltage gradient surveys and direct current voltage gradient surveys, wherein at locations where the moisture content is low, ACVG is applied and, at locations where the moisture content is high, DCVG is applied.