Development of plant integrity inspection on the API 5L X65 material under humid conditions: emerging fitness for service assessment approach

Abstract

This work reports the development and corresponding monitoring of pipeline integrity inspection in the arid zone, which typically experiences external corrosion. The recent method poses the challenge which indaquate to synchronize the internal and external corrosion monitoring of API 5L X65 material trunklines and flowlines owing to imperfect types of inspection on the external progressive damage only. Red-clay soil, soil porosity, oxygen content, and moisture become critical parameters for controlling the corrosion of the above conditions. The combination of ultrasonic guided wave test, visual inspection, and design life calculation is implemented to address the above challenges. Based on the results, trunkline B (12-inch) is more severe than A (18-inch), with the shorter measured remaining thickness and remaining life of 4.35 mm and 1.9 years. External corrosion and visual inspection results show that sand threatens corrosion. The external corrosion product is evident at the 3 and 6 o’clock positions, corresponding to the exposure of the buried pipelines to moisture. The maximum metal loss in the trunk is 14.5 %, which confirms the environment of trunkline B. The internal corrosion has little effect on the integrity of the plant. Despite the three fluid phases inside the flowlines and trunklines, the measured corrosion rate on the coupon is relatively lower. The highest recorded corrosion rate is 0.443 mmpy, while the contribution to internal corrosion from the rest of the monitor well is insufficient. This research is designed to model the strategy to utilize instrumentation of Ultrasonic tests and human intervention in corrosion mitigation