Analysis on the Latest Assessment Criteria of ASME B31G-2009 for the Remaining Strength of Corroded Pipelines

Abstract

ASME B31G provides the most basic and widespread method in assessing the remaining strength of corroded pipelines. The third edition B31G (ASME B31G-2009) is the latest revision issued by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and is used as the basis for this study. This article discusses the development process of ASME B31G, and presents the comparative analysis of ASME B31G, RSTRENG, and DNV RP-F101. The predicted failure pressures are calculated by each standard mentioned above, based on 35 groups of data for full-size pipe tests collected from the literature. The deviations between the predicted values and the actual experiment results are discussed. Finally, practical applications are compared among the assessment methods. The investigation showed that predictions based on ASME B31G-2009 are much more accurate than predictions based on the previous editions of B31G. The applications of ASME B31G-2009 and RSTRENG 0.85 dL effectively improve the pipe’s conveying efficiency and optimize the cost of managing the piping system. However, they both are applicable only for evaluating the medium- and low-strength pipe steels. In contrast, DNV RP-F101 is applicable to the medium- and high-strength pipe steels, but its results are often not safe for application to the lower-strength pipe steels.