Severity assessment of small wrinkles in pipelines subject to load cycles

埋在地下的钢铁管道是管道工业用来运输石油、天然气和石油产品的主要结构。加拿大拥有世界上第二大的管道网络。加拿大的管道行业雇佣了数千人，为加拿大的GDP增加了约88亿美元。因此，油气管道的结构安全和不间断运行至关重要。埋地油气管道承受腐蚀性环境和复杂载荷。因此，这些管道在使用过程中产生了各种缺陷。其中一个缺陷是管道中形成的皱纹。在埋地管道中，褶皱缺陷的存在并不罕见。认为细小的起皱缺陷不会对管道的运行和管道的结构安全构成威胁。然而，没有研究数据支持这一观点。因此，管道行业不情愿地去除或修复皱纹缺陷，以避免皱纹缺陷所在的管道可能发生故障的风险。修复或移除一部分管道是昂贵的。此外，它可能会导致管道运行的意外停机。这导致了管道行业的收入损失，并中断了对各种行业、企业和家庭的石油和天然气供应。为了防止这些结果，该研究计划将开发管道行业迫切需要的缺陷评估指南。因此，该项目的成果将为管道行业提供一种工具，以评估具有小皱纹缺陷的埋地管道的失效风险。这有助于减少管道行业因这些缺陷而损失的收入，并最大限度地减少对石油和天然气供应的中断。

Steel pipelines buried beneath the earth are the primary structure the pipeline industry uses to transport oil, gas, and petroleum products. Canada has the second-largest pipeline network in the world. The Canadian pipeline industry employs thousands and adds about $8.8 billion to Canada's GDP. Hence, the structural safety and uninterrupted operation of oil and gas pipelines are paramount. Buried oil and gas pipelines endure aggressive and corrosive environments and complex loading. As a result, these pipelines develop various defects while in service. One such defect is the formation of wrinkles in the pipeline. The presence of wrinkle defects is not uncommon in a buried pipeline. It is believed that a small wrinkle defect may not pose any threat to a pipeline's operation or a pipeline's structural safety. However, no research data is available to support this belief. Therefore, the pipeline industry unwillingly removes or repairs wrinkle defects to avoid any possible risk of pipeline failure where the wrinkle defect is located. Repairing or removing a portion of a pipeline is costly. Further, it may lead to an undesirable shutdown of the pipeline operation. These result in the pipeline industry losing revenue, and interrupts the supply of oil and gas to various industries, businesses, and home owners. To prevent these outcomes, this research program will develop much-needed defect assessment guidelines that the pipeline industry is desperately looking for. Hence, the outcome of this project will provide the pipeline industry with a tool to assess risk of failure in buried pipelines with small wrinkle defects. This helps to reduce the amount of revenue the pipeline industry loses from theses defects and minimizes interruptions to the supply of oil and gas.