Risk-based optimization of pipeline integrity maintenance
- Centre for Frontier Engineering Research, Edmonton, Alberta (Canada). Engineering Systems Technology Dept.
Integrity maintenance of the aging hydrocarbon pipeline is a prime concern for transmission companies. With the variety of existing pipeline inspection and protection approaches and the constant improvements in inspection technologies, pipeline operators have many tools at their disposal to ensure the continued safe operation of their systems. Because pipeline systems are usually large, and maintenance budgets are limited by constraints of economic viability, operators must decide on how maintenance resources are best allocated. A risk-based methodology to address the question of optimal allocation of maintenance resources is presented. The methodology is based on two major steps: (a) to rank different segments of the pipeline with respect to priority for increased maintenance; and (b) to select an optimal set of maintenance actions for high priority segments. Risk is estimated as a function of the probability of an incident and its anticipated consequences in terms of losses in life, injuries, long term environmental effects and financial costs. The approach focuses on the development of methods to combine the effects of these consequences into a unified measure of loss and analytical estimation of the impact of different maintenance activities on the probability of failure. There is an on-going joint industry program that is developing technical and software tools to implement the approach and make it readily usable by pipeline operators to make optimal decisions on maintenance strategies.
- OSTI ID:
- 205478
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950695--; ISBN 0-7918-1311-8
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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