Integrity assessment and remaining life estimation of corroded pipelines as per DNV-RP-F101

• Main Author: Lim, Nicholas Chuan Kai
• Other Authors: Sridhar Idapalapati
• Format: Thesis-Master by Coursework
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Engineering; Corrosion; Pipeline; Integrity; Python; Graphical user interface
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/176403
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Steel pipeline networks are used extensively in the oil and gas industry to transport materials such as flammable and harsh liquids, gases, or hydrocarbons. Such pipelines are subjected to regular corrosion damage during operation that threatens to hinder functionality. To avoid disruptions, downtime, losses in revenue, and most importantly, to maintain safety standards for the operating environment and personnel, regular inspections must be performed as part of preventive maintenance. Inspection will often reveal defects that must be assessed to determine the integrity and remaining operational lifespan of the inspected pipeline. Analytical solutions have been proposed and published for evaluating pipeline integrity and remaining life, such as DNV-RP-F101. This dissertation aims to implement the analytical solutions presented in DNV-RP-F101 and develop an intuitive graphical user interface to simplify the complex integrity assessment process and facilitate accurate remaining life predictions through Python code. The software will be capable of automating calculations for the estimated remaining lifespan of a carbon steel pipeline given details such as dimensions of localised corrosive defects, the dimensions of the given carbon steel pipe, pipe material properties and other factors. A web-based graphical user interface is implemented to accept inputs and help the user determine the appropriate course of action through visual aids such as graphs and visual representations. The code will be tested on pipe material, defect geometry and environmental combinations provided within DNV-RP-F101. This dissertation uses case studies and validation exercises to showcase the proposed method's efficacy. In conclusion, this dissertation seeks to contribute to the field by providing a readily accessible and dependable tool for estimating the remaining lifespan of corroded steel pipelines. By incorporating DNV-RP-F101 guidelines and a user-friendly interface, this program emerges as a practical and efficient solution for industry professionals managing pipeline integrity and maintenance. Additionally, elastic-plastic finite element analysis using ANSYS® was conducted to validate the applicability of the DNV code for non-interacting defect geometries.