Development of corrosion defect assessment program for API X65 gas pipelines

Pipelines have the highest capacity and are the safest and the least environmentally disruptive way for gas or oil transmission. Recently, failures due to corrosion defects have become of major concern in maintaining pipeline integrity. A number of solutions have been developed for the assessment of remaining strength of corroded pipelines. However, these solutions are known to be dependent on material properties and pipeline geometries. In this paper, a fitness-for-purpose type limit load solution for corroded gas pipelines made of the X65 steel is proposed. For this purpose, a series of burst tests with various types of corrosion defects are performed. Finite element simulations are carried out to derive an appropriate failure criterion. And then, further, extensive finite element analyses are performed to obtain the FFP type limit load solution for corroded X65 gas pipelines as a function of defect depth, length and pipeline geometry. And also, a window based computer program for the assessment of corrosion defect, which is named as COPAP(COrroded Pipeline Assessment Program) has been developed on the basis of proposed limit load solution