Spectra Energy Corp, headquartered in Houston, Texas, operated in three key areas of the natural gas industry: transmission and storage, distribution, and gathering and processing. Spectra was formed in late 2006 from the spin-off from Duke Energy. Spectra owned the Texas Eastern Pipeline (TETCo), a major natural gas pipeline which brings gas from the Gulf of Mexico coast in Texas to the New York City area, which was one of the largest pipeline systems in the United States. Spectra also operated three oil pipelines. In February 2017, Spectra Energy merged into the Canadian company Enbridge.
Pipe grade is a dominant parameter in a pipeline's service life. Critical decisions on the design, construction, and maintenance of pipelines are made on the basis of pipe grade. The implied assumptions or expectations are that pipes of the same grade would behave similarly and the experiences with a particular grade can be applied to all pipelines of the same grade. This simplification does not adequately take into account the other characteristics that are not represented by pipe grade, but can play a critical role in the safe and economical operation of pipelines. For instance, the evolution of steel-making processes and advancements in field welding practice can lead to significant differences in weld behavior among pipes of the same nominal grade.Most of the design, construction, and maintenance practices in the pipeline industry were established before the extensive use of modern control-rolled and microalloyed steels. With the exception of a few isolated research projects, the impacts of the fundamental changes in the steel metallurgy in modern microalloyed steels have not been systematically examined and understood. For instance, these steels may have very low strain-hardening capacity as a result of the TMCP process and may be subject to high levels of heat affected zone (HAZ) softening due to their ultra-low carbon low-hardenability steel chemistry. HAZ softening reduces the longitudinal pipe strain capacity of girth welds, and low strain hardening can potentially have a negative impact on tolerance to anomalies such as corrosion or mechanical damage.This paper starts with a brief review of linepipe manufacturing history with a focus on the chemical composition and rolling practices that directly affect the mechanical properties and the response to welding thermal cycles. The characteristics of linepipes made from modern microalloyed steels are contrasted with those made from vintage hot-rolled and normalized steels. The resulting mechanical properties of these two types of materials in the presence of welding thermal cycles are presented, and compared in terms of their behavior.The consequence of the weld characteristics is shown using examples of girth welds subjected to longitudinal strains. The implications of the pipe and weld characteristics on the design, field girth welding, and maintenance of pipelines are highlighted. Future directions and best practices in linepipe alloying and manufacturing strategies, linepipe specifications, field girth welding, and building strain resistance girth welds are briefly described. It is emphasized that assessing the performance of pipelines based on their grades has fundamental shortfalls, and that gaps in codes and standards can lead to unexpected outcomes in pipeline integrity. In the long-run, revising relevant codes and standards is necessary to ensure consistent and reliable applications of new materials in the entire industry.
Ground movements, such as landslides and subsidence/settlement, can pose serious threats to pipeline integrity. The consequence of these incidents can be severe. In the absence of systematic integrity management, preventing and predicting incidents related to ground movements can be difficult. A ground movement management program can reduce the potential of those incidents. Some basic concepts and terms relevant to the management of ground movement hazards are introduced first. A ground movement management program may involve a long segment of a pipeline that may have a threat of failure in unknown locations. Identifying such locations and understanding the potential magnitude of the ground movement is often the starting point of a management program. In other cases, management activities may start after an event is known to have occurred. A sample response process is shown to illustrate key considerations and decision points after the evidence of an event is discovered. Such a process can involve fitness-for-service (FFS) assessment when appropriate information is available. The framework and key elements of FFS assessment are explained, including safety factors on strain capacity. The use of FFS assessment is illustrated through the assessment of tensile failure mode. Assessment models are introduced, including key factors affecting the outcome of an assessment. The unique features of girth welds in vintage pipelines are highlighted because the management of such pipelines is a high priority in North America and perhaps in other parts of the worlds. Common practice and appropriate considerations in a pipeline replacement program in areas of potential ground movement are highlighted. It is advisable to replace pipes with pipes of similar strength and stiffness so the strains can be distributed as broadly as possible. The chemical composition of pipe steels and the mechanical properties of the pipes should be such that the possibility of HAZ softening and weld strength undermatching is minimized. In addition, the benefits and cost of using the workmanship flaw acceptance criteria of API 1104 or equivalent standards in making repair and cutout decisions of vintage pipelines should be evaluated against the possible use of FFS assessment procedures. FFS assessment provides a quantifiable performance target which is not available through the workmanship criteria. However, necessary inputs to perform FFS assessment may not be readily available. Ongoing work intended to address some of the gaps is briefly described.
The application of requirements contained in many industry codes and standards requires some interpretation by the user and by the regulator who is called upon to enforce their use. There are often differences in the way requirements are interpreted because of ambiguous specification language, unclear rationale behind the requirements, or novel or non-traditional applications. Some industry codes and standards contain guidance in the form of commentary sections or companion documents to assist in matters of interpretation and application. Until recently, this was not the case for API Standard 1104 – Welding of Pipelines and Related Facilities,(1) where requests for interpretation have been frequent because of unclear requirements or an absence of information pertaining to rationale. This paper describes a project sponsored by Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI) and carried out by DNV GL that resulted in the development of a guidance document for API 1104.(2)
High levels of high-low misalignment in pipeline girth welds have been identified as one of the possible contributing factors to some of the recent pre-service hydrostatic test failures or subsequent service failures. However, pipeline service experience indicates that nominally defect-free girth welds with high levels of misalignment and proper weld profiles can provide satisfactory long-term service. In this paper, recent analytical and experimental work aimed at understanding the impact of high-low misalignment in girth welds is described. In nominally defect-free welds, the performance of the welds is found to be predominantly determined by the misalignment ratio, weld strength mismatch ratio, and the weld profile. Iso-load-capacity relations are developed through finite element analysis (FEA) to capture the interdependence of those key parameters. The analysis procedure is validated by cross-weld tensile testing of girth welds with various levels of misalignment and weld strength mismatch. The effects of the circumferential extent of misalignment, alternatively termed local misalignment, are also analyzed. The effects of misalignment in girth weld with planar flaws are examined in the context of the tensile strain capacity.The analytical and experimental evidence indicate that the absolute level of misalignment is not a sole indicator of girth weld performance. Weld transition profile, pipe wall thickness, and weld strength mismatch all play an important role. With proper weld profiles, minimal or small reduction of load capacity is observed even at very high levels of misalignment. Work is continuing to further examine the effects of high-low misalignment with a goal of making practical recommendations to be included in codes and standards.
