Proactive and Hybrid Sensing Based In-line Pipeline Defects Diagnosis and Prognosis

Under Development

University of Colorado Denver More »

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)

Threats and Integrity Management -- Anomaly Detection and Characterization

The PHMSA-funded technology is a nondestructive (NDE) hybrid sensing technique, thermos-electromagnetic-acoustic (TEA) method to detect and characterize types of pipe damage with high resolution and sensitivity. The NDE detection results are integrated with probabilistic methods and mechanical analysis to develop an accurate time-dependent reliability analysis. The NDE results, along with residual strength calculation and uncertainty analysis are used in the reliability evaluation and risk assessment. Pipeline failure risk is expected to be significantly reduced by this approach to pipeline defect diagnosis and prognosis.

Advanced sensor technologies to detect material loss and change in properties in various pipeline materials, including both metals and plastics, show promise in gas pipeline applications. Over the past two decades, methods have been developed to identify, characterize and evaluate material loss anomalies. Higher-resolution geometry tools and combination sensors with a more robust capability to detect and characterize anomalies are needed, but development of these technologies are still in the early stages.

PHMSA, https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/matrix/PrjHome.rdm?prj=508