Pipelines

Pipelines can suffer many types of defects throughout their service life. Defect types include corrosion, cracking, denting, gouging, dent/gouge combinations, and stress corrosion cracking. Since these defects can cause permanent damage or failure, their effect on the integrity of the pipeline must be periodically assessed.

Pipeline integrity management is regulated in terms of general inspection protocols and frequency depending upon proximity to higher population density areas and whether transporting liquid or gas; accordingly, methods for determining pipeline Fitness-for-service have continued to evolve. Application of industry standards such as API 579-1, ANSI/ASME B31.G, RSTRENG and DNV have become widespread, resulting in more progressive optimized Pipeline Integrity Management strategies. Such methods are fully codified and form an integral part of pipeline integrity guidance documents such as API 1163, ASME 31.8S, and general industry best practice.

In combination with a risk assessment approach, Quest Reliability helps pipeline operators to implement optimized and more cost-effective Pipeline Integrity Management approaches while improving pipeline safety and reliability.

Benefits We Offer

Manage operating risk and lower pipeline failure risk; enhance safety
Provision of knowledge to empower risk-based decision-making
Advance and improve pipeline system risk-based inspection programs
Elimination of unscheduled shutdowns
Achievement of optimum productivity while balancing reliability and performance demands
Maximization of the life-cycle value of pipeline systems
Prioritization and effective management of pipeline rehabilitation and remediation
Identification of operating and maintenance Best Practices

Our Expertise

Quest Reliability, complemented by the resources of its parent company, the Quest Integrity Group, has over 80 engineering consultants including a large percentage with advanced degrees. Our employees have many years of practical experience in the pipeline sector combined with backgrounds in research and development. The combination of this formal training and extensive experience is what constitutes the technical excellence that our customers value and we deliver.

Core areas of expertise include:

Reliability management
Risk-based asset management
Fitness-for-service and structural integrity assessments of critical assets
Corrosion
Metallurgy
Materials engineering
Finite element modelling and analysis
Geometric anomaly analysis
Key asset remaining life assessment
Process engineering
CFD modeling
Root cause failure analysis
Specialized NDT (non-destructive testing)

Quest Reliability is involved in many research programs that support our product and service offerings.

Software

Four software products that perform Fitness-for-service and fracture mechanics analysis are available. These products have capabilities that span the full range of applications, from simple API 579 Level 1 assessments to advanced API 579 Level 3 finite element analyses. Free demo versions are available for download, along with documentation and example problems. Our software products are outlined below.

Signal FFS^TM - a Fitness-for-service and fracture mechanics analysis tool that applies the rules of API 579 and BS 7910, including API 579 Level 1 and Level 2 assessments of metal loss and corrosion pitting.
FEACrack^TM - a 3D finite element crack analysis program with automatic mesh generation.
FEAFlaw^TM - a 3D finite element program to analyze volumetric flaws such as local thin areas.
FEADent (available soon) is a 3D finite element program to analyze geometric changes with automatic mesh generation.

For application to the pipeline sector, our software features enable the user to:

Identify key process and mechanical reliability limits
Review pipeline design, construction and operational history
Categorize damage according to size and pipeline operating conditions via ILI data or direct assessment
Measure performance availability in key areas: safety, environmental, yield, efficiency, and availability
Perform API 579, Engineering Level 2/3 Fitness-for-service and remaining life assessment
Calculate remaining strength factor, deterministic and Monte-Carlo probabilistic remaining life, as well as identify the most likely failure mechanism
Assess quantifiable operating and mechanical data and present results in a proprietary client viewer package.

Facilities and Equipment

State-of-the-art diagnostic and non-destructive testing tools
Research and testing facilities for simulating aggressive environments over a wide range of temperatures and conditions

InVista^TM Ultrasonic Tool

Quest Reliability has a portfolio of innovative, advanced inspection and Fitness-for-service assessment tools. These technologies include the InVista™ ultrasonic tool (available in early 2008), equipped with sensor channels equally distributed around the circumference of the tool. The presence of corrosion or other three-dimensional anomalies disturbs the pulse sequence, and these signal anomalies are picked up by the receiver and recorded. Unlike in other systems, the UT sensors provide the ability for a direct measurement providing superior anomaly characterization.

Sometimes conventional in-line inspection (ILI) tools can’t be used in a pipeline. Valve restrictions, changing pipeline diameters, or sharp bends can make a pipe “unpiggable” because the instrument cannot physically pass through the pipe. InVista™ is designed to overcome pipeline designs which limit traditional pigging systems. Features of InVista™ include:

Ultrasonic sensors with locations that cover the pipe circumference uniformly
Inspection distance of > 32 kilometers (20 miles)
Circumferential and longitudinal location of defects
Conformability to pipe diameter 100-300mm (4”-12”)
Ability to pass 1 D pipe bends
Ability to discriminate between defects on the pipe interior and exterior
Ability to enter and exit the pipeline at one location, bi-directional
Above ground markers that track tools with onboard transmitters
High resolution examination and data analysis delivered in a client visualization package
Fitness-for-service condition assessment

For further information about the consulting services, products and technologies that we offer to the pipeline sector, please contact us.