[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 186 (Thursday, September 25, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50429-50430]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-25434]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Research and Special Programs Administration
[Contract DTRS-56-96-C-0010]
Fifth Quarterly Performance Review Meeting on the Contract
``Detection of Mechanical Damage in Pipelines''
AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of meeting.
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SUMMARY: RSPA invites the pipeline industry, in-line inspection
(``smart pig'') vendors, and the general public to the fifth quarterly
performance review meeting of progress on the contract ``Detection of
Mechanical Damage in Pipelines.'' The meeting is open to anyone, and no
registration is required. This contract is being performed by Battelle
Memorial Institute (Battelle), along with the Southwest Research
Institute, and Iowa State University. The contract is a research and
development contract to develop electromagnetic in-line inspection
technologies to detect and characterize mechanical damage and stress
corrosion cracking. The first hour of the meeting will be devoted to
reviewing the overall project plan. The remainder of the meeting will
cover the status of the contract tasks, progress made during the past
quarter, and projected activity for the next quarter.
DATES: The fifth quarterly performance review meeting will be held on
October 9, 1997, beginning at 1:00 p.m. and ending around 5:00 p.m.
ADDRESSES: The quarterly review meeting will be held at the Sheraton at
Fisherman's Wharf, 2500 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA 94133. The
hotel's telephone number is (415) 362-5500.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lloyd W. Ulrich, Contracting Officer's
Technical Representative, Office of Pipeline Safety, telephone: (202)
366-4556, FAX: (202) 366-4566, e-mail: lloyd.ulrich @ rspa.dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
RSPA is conducting quarterly public meetings on the status of its
contract ``Detection of Mechanical Damage in Pipelines'' (Contract
DTRS-56-96-C-0010) because in-line inspection research is of immediate
interest to the pipeline industry and in-line inspection vendors. RSPA
will continue this practice throughout the contract, which may be three
years. The research contract with Battelle is a cooperative effort
between GRI and DOT, with GRI providing technical guidance. The
meetings allow disclosure of the results to all interested parties and
provide an opportunity for interested parties to ask Battelle questions
concerning the research. Attendance is open to all and does not require
advanced registration nor advanced notification to RSPA.
An objective is to hold alternate meetings in Washington, DC. The
first meeting was conducted on October 22, 1996, in Washington, DC.
Another objective is to conduct the alternate meetings held outside
Washington immediately after meetings of the Gas Research Institute's
(GRI) Nondestructive Evaluation Technical Advisory Group to enable
participation by pipeline technical personnel involved with
nondestructive evaluation. However, future meetings may also be held at
other locations. This meeting is being held in San Francisco as a
dovetail to a meeting of the GRI Nondestructive Technical Advisory
[[Page 50430]]
Group. Each of the future meetings will be announced in the Federal
Register at least two weeks prior to the meeting.
We specifically want that segment of the pipeline industry involved
with in-line inspection to be aware of the status of this contract. To
assure that a cross section of industry is well represented at these
meetings, we have invited the major domestic in-line inspection company
(Tuboscope-Vetco Pipeline Services) and the following pipeline industry
trade associations: American Petroleum Institute, Interstate Natural
Gas Association of America, and the American Gas Association. Each has
named an engineering/technical representative.
The first hour of the meeting will be devoted to reviewing the
overall project plan. This review will assist those attending a
quarterly meeting for the first time to better understand the overall
project. The remainder of this meeting will be devoted to a review of
progress made during the past quarter and plans for the next quarter.
II. The Contract
The Battelle contract is a research and development contract to
evaluate and develop in-line inspection technologies for detecting
mechanical damage and cracking, such as stress-corrosion cracking
(SCC), in natural gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines.
Third-party mechanical damage is one of the largest causes of pipeline
failure, but existing in-line inspection tools cannot always detect or
accurately characterize the severity of some types of third-party
damage that can threaten pipeline integrity. Although SCC is not very
common on pipelines, it usually appears in high-stressed, low-
population-density areas and only when a limited set of environmental
conditions are met. Several attempts have been made to develop an in-
line inspection tool for SCC, but there is no commercially successful
tool on the market.
Under the contract, Battelle will evaluate and advance magnetic
flux leakage (MFL) inspection technology for detecting mechanical
damage and two electromagnetic technologies for detecting SCC. The
focus is on MFL for mechanical damage because experience shows MFL can
characterize some types of mechanical damage and can be successfully
used for metal-loss corrosion under a wide variety of conditions. The
focus for SCC is on electromagnetic technologies that can be used in
conjunction with, or as a modification to, MFL tools. The technologies
to be evaluated take advantage of the MFL magnetizer either by
enhancing signals or using electrical currents that are generated by
the passage of an inspection tool through a pipeline.
The contract includes two major tasks during the base two years of
the contract. Task 1 is to evaluate existing MFL signal generation and
analysis methods to establish a baseline from which today's tools can
be evaluated and tomorrow's advances measured. Then, it will develop
improvements to signal analysis methods and verify them through testing
under realistic pipeline conditions. Finally, it will build an
experience base and defect sets to generalize the results from
individual tools and analysis methods to the full range of practical
applications.
Task 2 is to evaluate two inspection technologies for detecting
stress corrosion cracks. The focus in Task 2 is on electromagnetic
techniques that have been developed in recent years and that could be
used on or as a modification to existing MFL tools. Three subtasks will
evaluate velocity-induced remote-field techniques, remote-field eddy-
current techniques, and external techniques for sizing stress corrosion
cracks.
A Task 3 is being considered for an option year to the contract.
Task 3, if done, will verify the results from Tasks 1 and 2 by tests
under realistic pipeline conditions. Task 3 will: (1) Extend the
mechanical damage detection, signal decoupling, and sizing algorithms
developed in the basic program to include the effects of pressure, (2)
verify the algorithms under pressurized conditions in GRI's 4,700 foot,
24-inch diameter Pipeline Simulation Facility (PSF) flow loop, and (3)
evaluate the use of eddy-current techniques for characterizing cold
working within mechanical damage.
A drawback of present pig technology is the lack of a reliable pig
performance verification procedure that is generally accepted by the
pipeline industry and RSPA. The experience gained by the pipeline
industry and RSPA with the use of the PSF flow loop in this project
will provide a framework to develop procedures for evaluating pig
performance. Defect detection reliability is critical if instrumented
pigging is to be used as an in-line inspection tool in pipeline
industry risk management programs.
The ultimate benefits of the project could be more efficient and
cost-effective operations, maintenance programs to monitor and enhance
the safety of gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines. Pipeline
companies will benefit from having access to inspection technologies
for detecting critical mechanical damage and stress-corrosion cracks.
Inspection tool vendors will benefit by understanding where
improvements are beneficial and needed. These benefits will support
RSPA's long-range objective of ensuring the safety and reliability of
the gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipeline infrastructure.
Issued in Washington, D.C., on September 19, 1997.
Richard B. Felder,
Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 97-25434 Filed 9-24-97; 8:45 am]
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