Multi-objective maintenance strategy for corroded pipelines considering the correlation of different failure modes

Abstract

Corrosion is the leading cause of leakage and burst failures in long-distances gas pipelines. Periodic maintenance is often used to extend the service life of the pipeline. The presence of multiple performance indicators with competing objectives needs to be taken into account for pipeline maintenance strategy. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an approach based on multi-objective maintenance optimization. The copula function is applied to characterize the correlation of failure modes (leakage and burst). With the aims to optimize availability and cost rate, a multi-objective maintenance optimization model is established, and it is solved with the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA II). The results show that the Pareto frontier of multi-objective optimization can provide more feasible maintenance schemes. Moreover, the effects of major variables on the availability and cost rate are investigated. It is found that compared with other parameters, downtime cost has the greater impact on performance indicators. The proposed method can provide theoretical reference for pipeline integrity management, thereby ensuring that the pipeline is in a safe state during operation.