Pipeline Maintenance, Safety & Surveillance

Photo: SKYX

There are approximately 2.7 million miles of pipelines in the United States and, at least, half are estimated to be 50 years old or older...some as much as 100 years old. A combination of spills and failures of the pipe have revealed that a significant number resulted from corrosion, fatigue, failed weld joints and degenerative coatings. Risks to the public from hazardous liquids and highly-pressurized gas transmission pipelines result from the potential for release of these products being transported through aged pipelines. These can often impact surrounding populations, property and the environment (including wildlife) and may result in injuries to humans.

There are only 528 government inspectors in the United States. That equals one inspector for every 5,000 miles of pipeline. The use of unmanned systems (drones) and robotics equipped with sophisticated sensors and medical-imaging-like optics have great potential in identifying hazards giving rise to preventative, remedial and necessary corrective and preventative measures. DII - 4D Inspection Technologies, LLC is focused on developing technologies and techniques for utilizing robotic and unmanned technologies to perform inspection tasks that are "dull, dirty, dangerous, and difficult" in the oil and gas industry.

Examples of related research and career potentials at GVF Living Laboratory are linked to one or more of the following disciplines:

structural engineering
mechanical engineering
metallurgical and materials science and engineering
computational control
computer science and engineering
artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning
nondestructive inspections (NDI)
application-specific sensors
soils engineering and analysis
environmental engineering
hydrology
hydro-morphological engineering
bio-chemical engineering
geo-hazards engineering
ecological sciences

Click on tabs below for examples

Nondestructive Inspections

Metalurgical Research

IoT and Machine Learning

Advanced thermal imaging can detect leaks of oil and petroleum products, brine, water, waste water, diluent, cyanide, acids, chemicals & other liquids. (intelliviewtech.com/solutions)

Example of an oil and gas production drain line corrosion. GVF Living Laboratory contains a variety of soil environments that provide ideal test sites for researching opportunities to minimize external and internal corrosion causes and realize innovative solutions that maintain metallurgical integrity.

(http://www.materialsperformance.com/articles/material-selection-design/2016/09/the-science-behind-it-localized-corrosion-failure-of-type-316l-stainless-steel-drain-pipeline)