Predictive crack growth models for pipeline integrity and risk management - phase III

管道运输对加拿大经济至关重要。2013年，加拿大通过管道出口价值810亿美元的石油和天然气。由于所运输物质的危险性，管道的安全性和完整性至关重要。尽管管道是最好的运输方式，但在过去的20年里，管道事故在加拿大造成了超过63亿美元的财产损失。近中性pH应力腐蚀开裂（NNpHSCC）对加拿大管道公司和加拿大消费者来说都是一笔巨大的成本。从完整性管理的角度来看，SCC是通过对石油管道的在线检查或对天然气管道的水压测试来控制的。这两种技术中的任何一种都可以在数年内防止在役故障，然后必须重复该过程。对于天然气管道来说，测试周期尤其麻烦，因为水压测试技术只能检测到在水压测试应力下失效的相当大的缺陷。这些手术也非常昂贵。目前的复检间隔或复测间隔是根据经验模型确定的，这是相当不精确的。当前提案的最终目标是了解SCC机制，并制定裂缝扩展控制和完整性管理的解决方案。这项研究建立在之前2个NSERC CRD项目的基础上。在本阶段（第三阶段），我们将在进一步提高前期开发的Pipe-Online（待审商标）软件的可预见性方面做出重大努力，同时也将把注意力转向一些新的方向。这包括开发新的实用方法和/或修改现有方法，以便在管道运行期间更好地管理管道完整性和风险。

Pipeline transportation is vital to Canadian economy. In 2013, Canada's oil and gas exports, worth $81 billion, were carried by pipelines. The safety and integrity of pipelines is a matter of paramount importance due to the hazardous nature of the transported substances. Despite the fact that pipeline is the best method of transportation, over the last 20 years, pipeline incidents have caused over $6.3 billion in property damage in Canada. Near-Neutral pH Stress Corrosion Cracking (NNpHSCC) represents a substantial cost to Canadian pipeline companies and hence to Canadian consumers. SCC is controlled from an integrity management point of view by in-line inspection for oil pipelines or by hydrostatic testing for gas pipelines. Either of these techniques provides protection from in-service failures for a number of years and then the process has to be repeated. The testing cycle is particularly troublesome for gas pipelines since only quite large flaws that fail at hydrotest stress are detected by the hydrostatic testing technique. These procedures are also enormously expensive. The re-inspection interval or re-test interval is currently determined based on empirical models, which are rather imprecise. The ultimate goal of the current proposal is to understand the SCC mechanisms and to develop solutions for crack growth control and integrity management. This research builds upon 2 previous NSERC CRD projects. In the current Phase (Phase III), significant efforts will be made to further improve the predictability of Pipe-Online (trade mark-pending) software developed in previous phases, and at the same time, the attention will also be shifted to some new directions. This includes efforts to develop new practical approaches and/or to modify existing approaches for a better management of pipeline integrity and risk during pipeline operation.