Optimizing pipeline reinspection intervals with Dynamic Risk's IRAS solution

Effective pipeline integrity management is critical to ensuring the safe, compliant, and efficient operation of extensive infrastructure networks. Maintaining reliability while meeting regulatory standards and managing costs is challenging for pipeline operators responsible for large and geographically diverse systems. Dynamic Risk’s Integrity Risk Analysis System (IRAS) platform helps pipeline operators address these challenges by providing insight for optimal reinspection intervals using data-driven analysis, empowering operators to achieve maximum safety and operational efficiency.

This article explores how Dynamic Risk’s IRAS solution enables pipeline operators to transition from fixed reinspection schedules to a risk-based, cost-effective approach. By examining a recent case study involving a Canadian operator managing over fifty pipelines, we’ll delve into how IRAS helps balance cost savings with rigorous safety standards and regulatory compliance.

Pipeline Integrity and the Reinspection Challenge

Pipeline operators face the complex responsibility of safeguarding their systems against integrity threats like corrosion and cracking. Inline inspection (ILI) technologies such as magnetic flux leakage (MFL) and crack detection are instrumental in identifying these threats, providing vital data on pipeline conditions for determining safe reinspection intervals. Differences in jurisdictional regulations impact reinspection intervals and flexibility. In the U.S., regulations like the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Sections 49 CFR §192 (gas transmission) and §195 (hazardous liquids) enforce mandatory maximum reinspection intervals, limiting operator flexibility to reduce intervals but prohibiting extensions beyond maximum limits. In Canada, the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) offers a more flexible, risk-based approach. Here, operators are encouraged to prioritize data-driven risk assessments over fixed timelines. This difference in regulatory frameworks makes Dynamic Risk’s IRAS solution particularly valuable, as it allows operators to optimize intervals based on specific integrity threat data, maximizing efficiency without compromising on safety or compliance​.

Case Study: Reinspection Interval Optimization for a Canadian Operator

In early 2024, a Canadian hazardous liquids pipeline operator enlisted Dynamic Risk’s expertise to optimize reinspection frequencies over fifty pipelines. This project illustrates how Dynamic Risk’s IRAS platform supports risk-based reinspection planning for large pipeline networks. The client’s project objectives included:

• Projecting the growth of metal loss and crack anomalies over ten years, to anticipate when each feature might require intervention.
• Evaluating the remaining life of metal loss and crack anomalies until they met specific intervention criteria, such as 70% wall loss or reduced burst pressure thresholds.
• Assessing the fatigue life of crack-like flaws on selected pipelines, where crack ILI data was available.
• Comparing the projected costs of digs and repairs with reinspection costs to inform reinspection interval decisions.
• Developing visual aids and scenario planning tools to evaluate reinspection options across multiple pipelines.

By defining these goals, Dynamic Risk created a tailored analysis plan, enabling the client to make data-driven decisions about inspection schedules, maintenance prioritization, and resource allocation.

The IRAS Solution: Enhancing Pipeline Integrity with a Systematic Approach

Dynamic Risk’s IRAS platform offers an integrated suite of tools that empowers operators to adopt a risk-based model, allowing them to prioritize inspections based on actual threat profiles. For this project, IRAS served as the central platform for data integration analysis, allowing the client to make informed integrity decisions across their network. In the initial phase, Dynamic Risk and the client established parameters for consistency, ensuring the results were reliable, repeatable, and defensible for compliance purposes. Key elements of the approach included:

• Anomaly Criteria: Consensus was achieved on the types of anomalies included in the analysis, based on feature type, inspection date, interaction with other features, and repair history. This standardized the data analysis, ensuring a robust foundation for decision-making.
• Fitness-for-Service Evaluation: Utilizing the client’s criteria, Dynamic Risk applied methods such as Modified B31G and Effective Area for metal loss evaluation, while PRCI MAT-8 and API 579 standards were employed for crack-like flaws. This dual-method approach gave the client options for projections, as different models will often give slightly different results.
• Growth Rate Selection and Prioritization: Dynamic Risk developed a prioritization chart with the client, ensuring that signal-to-signal run comparisons were prioritized, where available, and alternative rates used were representative of real pipe conditions. This prioritization helped refine growth projections, enhancing the reliability of future maintenance planning.
• Remaining Life for Crack-Like Anomalies: With limited data for certain cracks, fatigue life analysis was prioritized over environmental growth rates, ensuring the analysis reflected real-world conditions and data limitations.

By implementing these core methodologies within the IRAS RiskAnalyst tool, Dynamic Risk was able to handle extensive data and perform a system-wide assessment, rather than focusing solely on individual pipelines. Compatibility with the client’s existing IRAS database also streamlined data integration and analysis, supporting a holistic view of integrity risks across the asset base.

Predictive Modeling for Anomaly Growth and Maintenance

The IRAS suite’s predictive modeling capabilities allowed Dynamic Risk to conduct ten-year projections on anomaly growth. This generated annualized insights on each anomaly’s expected growth, specifically targeting factors like wall loss depth and burst pressure for metal loss anomalies, as well as crack depth and fatigue life for crack-like flaws. By examining projected growth over time, Dynamic Risk helped the client refine inspection schedules based on actual threat levels, rather than predetermined timelines. This approach yielded several benefits:

• Optimized Resource Allocation: By identifying the highest-risk features, operators can concentrate maintenance resources where needed most, ensuring efficient use of personnel and materials.
• Cost-Effective Maintenance Planning: Financial data can be easily integrated with integrity data, enabling operators to balance reinspection and remediation costs, making it easier to weigh the cost of deferred inspections against immediate repairs.
• Data-Driven Risk Management: IRAS supports a risk-based model that allows operators to dynamically set reinspection intervals, prioritizing pipelines with the greatest threat levels.

Deliverables and Data Visualization Tools

The primary deliverable from Dynamic Risk’s analysis was a comprehensive dataset of fitness-for-service, anomaly growth, and remaining life projections, covering about 450,000 anomalies. The deliverables also included dig/remediation tables, dashboards, and a detailed report of reinspection interval recommendations.

Dynamic Risk provided several user-friendly visualization tools, distilling extensive data into actionable insights for strategic planning. The tools included:

• Dig/Remediation Outlook Dashboard: This dashboard visualized intervention criteria for metal loss and crack-like anomalies, presenting the cost inputs specified by the client​.
• Scenario Planning Reports: Summary reports outlining various reinspection scenarios, enabling the client to review multiple options side by side, allowing them to make informed, cost-effective decisions​.

Additionally, IRAS preserved unique identifiers for each anomaly, enabling the client to reintegrate analysis results into their pipeline GIS database, providing seamless data compatibility and future reproducibility.

Long-Term Benefits and Flexibility for Future Planning

Dynamic Risk’s IRAS-based approach brought several long-term benefits to the client, including:

• Comprehensive Data Integration: IRAS created a system-wide database covering all ILI metal loss anomalies and crack-like anomalies, ensuring that each was documented with defensible fitness-for-service data, supporting compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Financial Analysis and Scenario Flexibility: By integrating financial analysis into remaining life results, the client could compare multiple reinspection interval scenarios. IRAS’s flexibility also allows Dynamic Risk to refresh or update all deliverables when new inspection data or repairs are available, providing the client with an adaptable tool for future planning.
• Enhanced Decision-Making Tools: User-friendly dashboards and visuals distilled large datasets into actionable insights, empowering decision-makers to plan maintenance strategies confidently and cost-effectively.

Proactive Pipeline Management: A Shift Towards Data-Driven Decisions

Dynamic Risk’s IRAS solution transforms pipeline integrity management by facilitating a proactive approach. With IRAS, operators can prioritize inspections and maintenance based on real-time data, rather than adhering strictly to fixed reinspection schedules. This risk-based strategy enhances safety and helps prevent incidents, while reducing costs by focusing resources on the highest-risk areas. As the pipeline industry aims for zero-incident operations, IRAS aligns with this goal by equipping operators with the tools needed for informed decision-making. This proactive model not only supports regulatory compliance but also promotes the longevity and reliability of pipeline assets, reinforcing the industry’s commitments to safety and environmental responsibility.

A New Era in Pipeline Integrity Management

Dynamic Risk’s IRAS solution represents a pivotal advancement in reinspection interval optimization. By leveraging risk-based assessments and comprehensive data analysis, IRAS enables pipeline operators to achieve an optimal balance between safety, compliance, and cost efficiency. The Canadian operator’s experience underscores how IRAS facilitates data-informed decisions, guiding pipeline integrity management toward a future of proactive, intelligent asset management. As the industry continues to evolve, IRAS and similar technologies will be vital in shaping the future of pipeline management. By equipping operators with predictive analytics and scenario planning tools, these solutions are setting new standards for operational excellence and regulatory compliance, contributing to a safer and more efficient energy infrastructure.