April 2011 Vol. 238 No. 4

In The News

PRCI Forum Focuses On Improving Pipeline Safety

More than 230 attendees participated in Pipeline Research Council International’s fifth annual Pipeline Program Research Exchange Meeting held in February in Atlanta.

The three-day meeting was organized into four parallel technical tracks:

• Corrosion led by Committee Chair Albert van Roodselaar of Chevron;
• Design, Materials and Construction led by Committee Chair Tom Zimmerman of Enbridge;
• Mechanical Damage led by Operations and Integrity Committee Chair, Mures Zaréa of GDF Suez; and,
• Operations and Integrity led by Committee Vice-chair John O’Brien of Chevron.
• Presenters reported developments across the pipeline technology spectrum, including:
• Design improvements for pipelines that transport CO-2 with impurities responding to the increasing interest on carbon sequestration and the use of CO-2 for enhanced oilfield recovery.
• Strain-based design which is especially useful for pipelines in arctic regions, offshore, and in areas of geologic instability.
• Innovations in technologies for detecting and characterizing mechanical damage and improved analytical models for assessing the impacts after damage occurs.
• Mechanical damage prevention using sensor-based systems for in-ground and aerial application.
• Non-destructive evaluation of pipeline condition, including composite materials inspection and inspection through coatings.
• Advanced technologies and data algorithms for leak detection.