In this work are given the principal news concerning petroleum and natural gas in Egyptian Arab Republic. An important discovery of natural gas has been made in Khalda (Egyptian Arab Republic). The discovery well will be temporarily abandoned until it is connected to the egyptian pipeline system. In 1996 the south Khalda will be explored with at least two well drilling. The transit duties by the Suez canal for liquefied natural gas exports have decreased of 35%. The Arab Petroleum Pipeline Company studies a connection project of the trans saudi pipeline with the Suez mediterranean pipeline. The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation will furnish 2,5 milliards of m{sup 3} per year of natural gas to Israel during 20 years. (O.L.). 2 figs.

Could anthropogenic saturation with pumped seawater of the porous ground of active sand dune fields in major deserts (e.g., the westernmost Sahara) cause a beneficial reduction of global sea level? Seawater extraction from the ocean, and its deposition on deserted sand dune fields in Mauritania and elsewhere via a Solar-powered Seawater Textile Pipeline (SSTP) can thwart the postulated future global sea level. Thus, Macro-engineering offers an additional cure for anticipated coastal change, driven by global sea level rise, that could supplement, or substitute for (1) stabilizing the shoreline with costly defensive public works (armoring macroprojects) and (2) permanent retreat from the existing shoreline (real and capital property abandonment). We propose Macro-engineering use tactical technologies that sculpt and vegetate barren near-coast sand dune fields with seawater, seawater that would otherwise, as commonly postulated, enlarge Earth seascape area! Our Macro-engineering speculation blends eremology with...

A hypertext environmental regulations manager for the state of New Mexico has been created for the petroleum engineer. With the growing need for an understanding of environmental regulations, the hypertext system is designed to store environmental information and regulations and present them in an interactive and intuitive manner. This research will demonstrate the advantages of an on-line system to provide the unfamiliar engineer a logical methodology to comprehend the environmental aspect of the petroleum industry. Environmental operating guidelines are easily accessed by using a point and click method. The environmental guidelines recommended by the Oil Conservation Division (OLD), the regulatory agency for the petroleum industry in New Mexico, are presented as the primary focus of this work. These guidelines are categorized by five subject areas most useful to the petroleum engineer: drilling, production, pipeline and abandonment operations, and leaks, spill and release response. The manager also supplies the permitting requirements and procedures for environmentally sensitive operations such as drilling, injection and enhanced recovery and abandonment operations referenced to the OCD general operating rules and regulations for oil and gas exploration and production. The permitting procedures section also presents the necessary forms to be filed for such operations. Written in HTML (HyperText Markup Language), the manager s read using a browser such as Netscape. With the hypertext format, the program also furnishes Internet links to environmental information and resources like the EPA and the United States Congressional federal regulations in addition to commercial environmental World Wide Web sites. This system can be expanded to include not only environmental but all operating regulations for any state or country and is an effective method for future electronic filing of regulatory forms.

West Welch Unit is one of four large waterflood units in the Welch Field in the northwestern portion of Dawson County, Texas. The Welch Field produces oil under a solution gas drive mechanism from the San Andres formation at approximately 4,800 ft. The field has been under waterflood for 30 years and a significant portion has been infill-drilled on 20-ac density. A 1982--86 pilot CO{sub 2} injection project in the offsetting South Welch Unit yielded positive results. Recent installation of a CO{sub 2} pipeline near the field allowed the phased development of a miscible CO{sub 2} injection project at the South Welch Unit. The Class 2 Project at West Welch was designed to demonstrate the use of advanced technologies to enhance the economics of improved oil recovery (IOR) projects in lower quality Shallow Shelf Carbonate (SSC) reservoirs, resulting in recovery of additional oil that would otherwise be left in the reservoir at project abandonment. Accurate reservoir description is critical to the effective evaluation and efficient design of IOR projects in the heterogeneous SSC reservoirs. Therefore, the majority of Budget Period 1 was devoted to reservoir characterization. Technologies being demonstrated include: advanced petrophysics; three-dimensional seismic; cross-well bore tomography; advanced reservoir simulation; CO{sub 2} stimulation treatments; hydraulic fracturing design and monitoring; and mobility control agents. During the quarter, development of the project`s south expansion area was undertaken, work was continued on interpreting the crosswell seismic data and CO{sub 2} injection into 11 wells was initiated.

Environmental auditing is a form of management control which provides an objective basis by which a company can measure the degree of compliance with environmental regulations. Other benefits of this type of auditing include improved environmental management, furthering communication on environmental issues of concern within the company, and provision of documentation on environmental diligence. A series of environmental audit guidelines for pipelines is presented in the form of lists of questions to be asked during an environmental audit followed by recommended actions in response to those questions. The questions are organized into seven main categories: environmental management and planning; operating procedures; spill prevention; management of wastes and hazardous materials; environmental monitoring; construction of pipelines; and pipeline abandonment, decommissioning and site reclamation.

Pipelines conveying gas under pressure exhibit turbulence-induced vibrations. The current work is concerned with extracting useful power from pipelines operating well within their stability region. At such regions, the pipe vibrations exist in small magnitudes and are unlikely to cause structural failure, yet can be exploited to provide useful energy for low-power electronic devices. Accordingly, emphasis in the present work is placed on the development of an energy harvesting technique employing the omnipresent and inevitable flow-induced vibrations in gas pipelines.

Field tests of the use of TIDD solid waste and ashes from a GM plant for support of a slipping roadway, for a base in a cattle feed lot, and for reclamation work at an abandoned mine site are reported.

Figure C7 - Historical sinkhole activity around an abandoned limestone ...... Oklahoma, he suggested that photographing and analyzing areas with known structural ..... detailed test drilling and foundation exploration work are justi- fied. ( 19, p.

Upper East Fork Poplar Creek Operable Unit 2 consists of the Abandoned Nitric Acid pipeline (ANAP). This pipeline was installed in 1951 to transport liquid wastes {approximately}4800 ft from Buildings 9212, 9215, and 9206 to the S-3 Ponds. Materials known to have been discharged through the pipeline include nitric acid, depleted and enriched uranium, various metal nitrates, salts, and lead skimmings. During the mid-1980s, sections of the pipeline were removed during various construction projects. A total of 19 locations were chosen to be investigated along the pipeline for the first phase of this Remedial Investigation. Sampling consisted of drilling down to obtain a soil sample at a depth immediately below the pipeline. Additional samples were obtained deeper in the subsurface depending upon the depth of the pipeline, the depth of the water table, and the point of auger refusal. The 19 samples collected below the pipeline were analyzed by the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant`s laboratory for metals, nitrate/nitrite, and isotopic uranium. Samples collected from three boreholes were also analyzed for volatile organic compounds because these samples produced a response with organic vapor monitoring equipment. Uranium activities in the soil samples ranged from 0.53 to 13.0 pCi/g for {sup 238}U, from 0.075 to 0.75 pCi/g for {sup 235}U, and from 0.71 to 5.0 pCi/g for {sup 238}U. Maximum total values for lead, chromium, and nickel were 75.1 mg/kg, 56.3 mg/kg, and 53.0 mg/kg, respectively. The maximum nitrate/nitrite value detected was 32.0 mg-N/kg. One sample obtained adjacent to a sewer line contained various organic compounds, at least some of which were tentatively identified as fragrance chemicals commonly associated with soaps and cleaning solutions. The results of the baseline human health risk assessment for the ANAP contaminants of potential concern show no unacceptable risks to human health.

39 papers are presented under the following session headings: introduction; ground movements due to tunnelling; ground movements due to deep excavations; ground movements and construction operations; ground movements due to abandoned mine workings; ground movements due to longwall mining; abandoned limestone mines in the West Midlands; investigation of ground movements; ground movements due to the abstraction or injection of fluids; and induced seismicity. Each session is followed by a discussion.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations show very good results for predicting flow induced vibrations on free spanning sub sea pipelines. The onset of vibration on a pipeline potentially reduces its lifetime dramatically. With the new CFD technology, it is now possible to predict accurately, on any given flow and seabed condition, where pipeline will experience vibrations. With this knowledge, operators in pipeline design and installation are looking to save substantially on the cost of construction by reducing the amount of intervention work needed. (Author) 3. refs

In Canada, fiberglass pipelines are being used to carry corrosive substances in upstream oil gathering systems. Unfortunately, these pipelines are subject to frequent failures. The aim of this paper is to present the work competed by Husky to better understand the factors responsible for failures in fiberglass pipelines and to develop a process to address this issue. A pipeline risk assessment was undertaken with a load-resistance methodology as well as a failure analysis and finally a technical analysis to find options to mitigate risks. Through these analyses Husky found that external interferences on fiberglass pipelines constitute the highest risk of failure and they developed a process including case by case backfilling procedures and a checklist for tie-in and repairs to minimize the risk. The different analyses carried out by Husky allowed them to create a process which helps in preventing fiberglass pipeline failures.

Pipelines installed on the Norwegian continental shelf represent current offshore pipeline installation technology for pipe size (up to 40 in.), water depth (to 540 m) distance between pigging stations (up to 800 km), and complex seabed intervention and landfall construction. Furthermore, the number of deepwater pipelines worldwide has triggered significant advances in the development of pipeline repair. The Troll oil pipeline and Haltenpipe projects faced technical challenges: irregular seabed, conditions requiring highly accurate mapping, careful routing, free-span design, seabed preparation works, and special low-tension lay techniques. The two projects, therefore, have in many ways benefited from each other and been run practically as one large integrated project. The paper describes the design, route preparation, and installation for both pipelines.

In order to convert the analog information in the digital domain, pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC) offers an optimum balance of resolution, speed, power consumption, size and design effort. In this thesis work we design and optimize a 8-bit pipelined ADC for low-power. The ADC has stage r...

Cathodic corrosion protection should ensure safe operation of underground steel pipelines and should contribute to maintaining the value of this plant. It is therefore extremely important to keep these devices in constantly faultless and optimum operation. Therefore the effectiveness of the cathodic protection of pipelines must be monitored. The DVGW Work Sheet GW 10 determines the guidelines for the setting to work and monitoring of cathodic corrosion protection of storage containers and steel pipelines installed underground. This is a report on experience with this Work Sheet at Thuega AG. (orig.).

A hundred and seventy kilometers from Campo Grande city, on Mato Grosso do Sul State, the Brasil-Bolivia Gas Pipeline crosses a 8,5 meters high landfill, over a drainage systems made of a 2,8 meters of diameter corrugated pipe. This drainage pipe was installed to allow the drainage of the valley, and the landfill above it was built so the Gas pipeline could cross easier the 80 meters deep and 30 degree vertices valley. This paper illustrates the work tasks and solutions taken to monitor and guarantee the integrity of the drainage and landfill structures, as well as the integrity of the Gas Pipeline. Some of the work tasks illustrated are the investigation of the support conditions of the Gas Pipeline, the analysis of a drainage system under the pipeline, on a rocky soil, the analysis of the stability of the landfill, the construction of a gravity retaining walls and the monitoring of the deformations on the drainage pipe. (author)

Protection of pipelines with respect to trawl gear interaction is an important issue in the design of pipelines in the North Sea. The present paper describes the design work performed in relation to pipeline - trawl gear interference for the new South Arne pipeline in the Danish sector of the North Sea. The work involved investigation of trawl equipment, simulation of trawling frequencies, detailed finite element analyses of over-trawling of pipes and assessment of free span criticality. It was found that the pipeline, even though of 2'' in size, needed burial to protect it from over trawling. This is basically due to the very powerful trawl equipment currently in use in the specific areas combined with the level of internal pressure and temperature. (author)

This report describes prototypes, measurements, and results for a project to develop a prototype pipeline in-line inspection (ILI) tool that uses electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) to detect and grade stress corrosion cracking (SCC). The introduction briefly provides motivation and describes SCC, gives some background on EMATs and guided ultrasonic waves, and reviews promising results of a previous project using EMATs for SCC. The experimental section then describes lab measurement techniques and equipment, the lab mouse and prototypes for a mule, and scan measurements made on SCC. The mouse was a moveable and compact EMAT setup. The prototypes were even more compact circuits intended to be pulled or used in an ILI tool. The purpose of the measurements was to determine the best modes, transduction, and processing to use, to characterize the transducers, and to prove EMATs and mule components could produce useful results. Next, the results section summarizes the measurements and describes the mouse scans, processing, prototype circuit operating parameters, and performance for SH0 scans. Results are given in terms of specifications--like SNR, power, insertion loss--and parametric curves--such as signal amplitude versus magnetic bias or standoff, reflection or transmission coefficients versus crack depth. Initially, lab results indicated magnetostrictive transducers using both SH0 and SV1 modes would be worthwhile to pursue in a practical ILI system. However, work with mule components showed that SV1 would be too dispersive, so SV1 was abandoned. The results showed that reflection measurements, when normalized by the direct arrival are sensitive to and correlated with SCC. This was not true for transmission measurements. Processing yields a high data reduction, almost 60 to 1, and permits A and C scan display techniques and software already in use for pipeline inspection. An analysis of actual SH0 scan results for SCC of known dimensions showed that length and depth could be determined for deep enough cracks. Defect shadow and short length effects were apparent but may be taken into account. The SH0 scan was done with the mule prototype circuits and permanent magnet EMATs. These gave good enough results that this hardware and the processing techniques are very encouraging for use in a practical ILI tool.

This project consists of the following nine tasks: Machine design for coal log fabrication; Very rapid compaction of coal logs; Rapid compaction of coal logs; Fast-track experiments on coal log compaction; Coal log fabrication using hydrophobic binders; Drag reduction in large diameter hydraulic capsule pipeline; Automatic control of coal log pipeline system; Hydraulics of CLP (Coal Log Pipeline); and Coal heating system research. The purpose of the task, the work accomplished during this report period, and work proposed for the next quarter are described for each task.

Preparatory work performed in developing a diagnostic method for testing welded joints in pressure pipelines made of 13 HMF steel by means of acoustic emission (AE) measurements is described. Within the framework of these studies the mechanical strength c...

struction sequence and current techniques are largely ad hoc. Our work is done ... On one hand, modern pipelined architectures perform poorly without ... Current compiler technology utilizes rule-based, heuristic algorithms for optimizing code ...

This paper discusses the need for measuring stress in operating transmission pipelines as related to pipeline integrity assurance. There are three important reasons to measure pipe-wall stress from within the pipeline: (1) Stress information makes it possible to better interpret results of magnetic flux leakage (MFL) metal-loss inspection. MFL signals are affected by pipe stress, and knowledge of the stress condition will allow corrections to be made to the signals. The paper describes completed and ongoing work in this area; (2) Stress data (particularly residual stress) can be an indicator of previous mechanical damage to the pipeline, and in the case of dents, re-rounded from internal pressure, it may be the only indicator of such damage; and (3) Elevated pipe-wall stress can be an indicator of impending failure of the line due to combined loading from internal pressure, thermal effects, and pipeline movement.

In conjunction with the further development of the Welzow-South opencast mine the abandoned working field in the Welzow area has to be re-excavated. As preparatory measures for re-excavation, the available mine survey data and records of the abandoned working field were incorporated in the current series of maps and charts, and the physical properties of the soils of the various abandoned dumps as well as of the upgrading residues flushed into the residual pits were determined by exploratory measures. (orig.) [German] Im Rahmen der weiteren Entwicklung des Tagebaues Welzow-Sued muss das Altbergbaugebiet im Raum Welzow ueberbaggert werden. Zur Vorbereitung der Ueberbaggerung wurden die vorhandenen markscheiderischen Unterlagen zum Altbergbaugebiet in das aktuelle Risswerk eingearbeitet und die bodenphysikalischen Eigenschaften der unterschiedlichen Altkippen sowie der eingespuelten Veredlungsrueckstaende in den Restloechern durch Erkundungsmassnahmen ermittelt. (orig.)

As a refreshment repair method of city gas supply pipeline system, complicated in piping form, having change in diameter, branching, curvin in a single pipeline, through pig lining method is a work method of uniformly lining the internal surface of supply pipeline by a pig with epoxy resin. That method is to fill the pipeline from a pipeline end with epoxy resin, insert a pig corresponding to each of the different diameters and pull the pig by band steel with back pressure, and characterized by enabling a uniform lining even against change in diameter of a single pipeline. Maximum diameter use pig containing medium diameter use pig therein and medium diameter use pig containing minimum diameter use pig therein, lining use pig is a pig with coupling of two or three pigs, different in diameter, and can correspond to 13 patterns for the different parts in diameter, 25 to 80mm. As resin to line with, two-liquid mixture resin of summer use liquid and winter use liquid is used. Standard work time is approx. four hours per 20m in pipeline length. 4 figs., 5 tabs.

Working Group 3 discussed issues regarding the inspection, corrosion and integrity management of upstream oil and gas pipelines. It entailed 7 sessions in which issues from the 2005 symposium were reviewed with particular reference to aging pipelines, new materials and inspection of construction. Working Group 3 also discussed internal corrosion monitoring; inline inspection; topical issues; integrity issues for upstream pipeline operators as stipulated in the Canadian Standards Association's Annex N; and non-metallic pipelines. The effect of metallurgy on localized corrosion and localized pitting corrosion was discussed along with corrosion rates and the need for absolute numbers. Solids deposition in oil pipelines versus gas pipelines were reviewed along with probability and reliability based modelling. Carbon dioxide flooding and sequestration was also discussed, with reference to internal monitoring through the Upstream Pipeline Integrity Management Association (UPIMA) and the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE). It was recommended that the industry could benefit from an unbiased database of failures and that the coordination of product testing would be useful. In this regard, a specification by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers would be useful for manufacturers and installers. tabs., figs.

Work continued on the study of coal log pipeline research. Individual projects described include fast compaction of coal logs; effect of cooling on coal log quality; coal log capping; effectiveness of adding fiber to enhance coal log quality; fabrication using hydrophobic binders; cost estimation of different lubricants; automatic control of coal log pipeline system; CLP design; coal log train transport; economics of coal log pipeline; legal aspects; heating, cooling, and drying of logs; vacuum systems to enhance production; design; and effect of piston modification on capping.

Common experience in Europe shows that third party interference is generally the main cause of incidents leading to a gas leak. Gaz de France performed an important work in order to take into account this incident cause. This work, mainly based upon experimental studies, allowed to characterise pipeline resistance to denting and puncture by excavators. Most of the work was done on behalf of EPRG (European Pipeline Research Group composed of major European pipeline operators and pipe manufacturers), and resulted in simple criteria for dent and puncture resistance covering the whole range of transmission pipelines. The paper presents the main principles of a software called 'PACTOLE' that incorporates the results of this work on third party interference for pipeline design purposes. 'PACTOLE' aims at checking that the pipeline resists to different scenarios of aggression by an excavator. The defect stability criteria used in this context are recalled. The paper presents also 'PACTOLE' 's functionality and interface. A typical case of implementation of this software is also detailed. Finally, perspectives of further development are indicated. (authors)

Campos Basin deep water pipelines are designed to out stand internal pressure, launching loads and buckling witch demands high wall thickness up to 1 inch. On the other hand, operational conditions require high pumping temperatures to meet requirements of flow assurance. This scenario becomes difficult internal survey specially MFL tools. The present work describes PETROBRAS effort, with PipeWay partnership, looking for alternatives for internal inspection on those pipelines using MFL specially designed, showing details and results from a recent survey. (author)

The aim of this work is to evaluate, through MCNPX simulations, several ways to minimize the scatter contribution in radiographic digital images of offshore pipelines. The influence of liquid inside the pipes and water surrounded the pipelines in the scatter contribution will be analyzed. The use of lead screen behind the detector to reduce the backscattered radiation and filter between the radiation source and the pipes will be discussed. (author)

In his recent work, Eco abandons his conventionalist theory of pictures, which was heavily censored by, among others, the present author. In so doing, however, Eco now goes to the other extreme, claiming that television images are like mirrors, which are no signs. It is my contention that Eco fails ...

The abandoned workings (goaf) can act as reservoirs for gases and may lead to spontaneous ignition in caving faces. Selected results from applying a flow model for the goaf and a software for the calculation of mine ventilation networks, WETTER, to seams at two German coal mines are discussed. 5 refs., 7 figs.

An action learning program was implemented by a manufacturer using lean production practices. Action learning practices were accommodated during times of stability, but abandoned in times of crisis. The meaning of work in this organizational culture excluded all practices, such as reflection, that were not visible and targeted at immediate production needs. (Contains 27 references.) (SK)

Simulation of the dynamics of pig through gas pipelines with variable contact force is presented. The differential mass and linear momentum equations were numerically solved by a finite difference numerical scheme, for compressible flow through pipelines. The fluid flow equations were combined with an equation representing a force balance on the pig. Pressure forces developed due to flow through by-pass holes in the pig, pig acceleration and pig/pipe contact forces were considered. A stick/slip model was developed to account for the distinct friction regimes that prevail depending on whether the pig is stopped or in motion. An adaptive grid technique was employed to account for the moving pig. Very often, pipelines are built with different pipe sets (pipes with different diameters, roughness, etc). As a result, severe contact force changes can be encountered by pig along its movement inside the pipeline, in which a cleaning operation must be carry on. Further, flanges also induce great contact force variation. At the present work, two cases are examined. The first case presents an analysis of the effect of pipeline flanges in the pig motion. The second case examines the pig movement along a pipeline, with different pipe sets. The numerical solution examined helps to understand the pig dynamics, to prevent situations in which the pig gets stuck inside the pipeline. (author)

Pipeline inspection service, involving old as well as the newest of technology is discussed. In this instance, attention is focused on gas sniffing dogs, the low end of the technology ladder, but the high end on the performance scale. A recent surveillance report by the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board advised that of 200 pipelines inspected, 105 did not meet Board requirements. Fifteen lines were temporarily shut down . More than 880 leaks were reported, 65 per cent of them involving pipeline corrosion. Old pipelines were not the only ones falling short of Board standards; of 358 pipeline construction projects inspected, 99 of them showed various deficiencies. Canine Technology Inc, located near Calgary, began working with Imperial Oil nine years ago on training leak detection dogs. How successful they are in sniffing out leaks in pipelines is demonstrated by the fact that today they are being put to work throughout North America to insure the integrity of newly-completed and older pipelines. Dogs are reliably accurate in all environments, they can be transported anywhere, and they can detect leaks smaller than can be measured by sophisticated man-made technology. Calgary-trained dogs have worked in four-feet of snow in northern Alberta, in the bayou country of Louisiana, and the deserts of New Mexico with equal success. Aerial reconnaissance using video and thermal image cameras, computer software to help monitor problem areas, pinpoint leaks and co-ordinate emergency responses are some of the other means of detecting leaks in pipelines; so far, dogs have proven to be the most accurate and the most reliable.

This article described the challenges faced by Canadian Occidental's lead engineer when scouting and laying a pipeline for the Masila complex in Yemen. The engineer was sent to Yemen in 1991 to lay initial construction plans for the pipeline. The Yemeni president was relying on the project to boost the country's poor economic performance. The project's central processing facility was located on a plateau interspersed with deep canyons and limestone fault scarps. Wells drilled by Canadian Occidental produced a flow rate of 3,767 barrels per day of oil. A 24 inch pipeline was used to transport oil from holding tanks to a terminal located in Ash Shir. For the first 60 km, the pipeline climbed at an incline of 1 per cent, then sloped gradually for the next 30 km. The route included a cliff edge where pumps were used to push the oil to the edge of the escarpment. In order to build the pipeline, construction crews stockpiled equipment at several locations on the pipeline's route, which also bypassed several villages. The pipeline was buried to keep the oil at an even temperature as well as to avoid acts of vandalism. The buried pipelines did not interfere with the movement of Yemeni tribespeople. A road was then built along a series of switchbacks wide enough to allow for the haulage of hundreds of tonnes of equipment. An experienced workforce was coordinated to complete the pipeline, feeder lines, processing facility and storage tanks. The work camp assembled for the project housed approximately 5000 workers from various countries. While the initial estimates for the oilfield were 243 million barrels, drilling success led to a revised estimate of over a billion barrels of recoverable oil. Reservoir engineers were required to expand beyond their initial targets. It was concluded that the project was completed 1 year ahead of schedule. 5 figs.

Construction of the Troll Phase 1 pipelines and power and communication cable offshore Norway was completed 21st of November 1995 when the rockdump vessel Tertnes left the field. The majority of construction work was carried out during the 1995 season following detailed design and engineering preparations. The main innovations and/or experiences that made this offshore pipeline project so special are: 36 inch/16 inch pipelines deepwater platform pull-in/tie-in; 36 inch/40 inch pipelines installation on a soft uneven seabed; associated design/execution of extensive rockdumping; installation of very large spools before pipelay; and deepwater J-tube pull-in and soft seabed trenching. Following this introductory overview article, each of these subjects is covered in detail in separate articles, respectively Nonner et al. (1996), Thorvaldsen et al. (1996), Brennodden et al. (1996), Buchan and Kuhlmann (1996), and Rodrigues de Miranda et al. (1996).

In prior work it has been shown that the design of scientific workflows can benefit from a collection-oriented modeling paradigm which views scientific workflows as pipelines of XML stream processors. In this paper, we present approaches for exploiting data parallelism in XML processing pipelines through novel compilation strategies to the MapReduce framework. Pipelines in our approach consist of sequences of processing steps that receive XML-structured data and produce, often through calls to "black-box" (scientific) functions, modified (i.e., updated) XML structures. Our main contributions are (i) the development of a set of strategies for compiling scientific workflows, modeled as XML processing pipelines, into parallel MapReduce networks, and (ii) a discussion of their advantages and t...

During normal operation a pipeline generates a series of defects that can affect its integrity. At some stage during the pipeline life will require an assessment of these defects in order to determine their ability to maintain safe operation. Defects can be classified as geometric defects (gouges, plain dents, dents containing other defects), volumetric defects (external or internal corrosion) or planar defects (cracks, SCC). In this work a methodology to the characterization and determination of the severity of defects detected by an ILI inspection in pipelines is presented. A series of practical procedures and instructive has been developed based on international codes, national regulations and industry best practices. The repair approaches were defined from the risk level that the company it is disposed to assume. The contributed examples were collected in high pressure pipelines of different ages, located on diverse geographical locations and over different operation conditions. (author)

Warm cryogenic pipelines are usually cooled to operating temperature by a small, steady flow of the liquid cryogen. If this flow rate is too high or too low, undesirable stresses will be produced. Low flow-rate limits based on avoidance of stratified two-phase flow have been calculated for pipelines cooled with liquid hydrogen or nitrogen. High flow-rate limits for stainless steel and aluminum pipelines cooled by liquid hydrogen or nitrogen have been determined by calculating thermal stress in thick components vs flow rate and then selecting some reasonable stress limits. The present work extends these calculations to pipelines made of AISI 304 stainless steel, 6061 aluminum, or ASTM A420 9% nickel steel cooled by liquid methane or a typical natural gas. Results indicate that aluminum and 9% nickel steel components can tolerate very high cool-down flow rates, based on not exceeding the material yield strength.

The Pipeline Pargo/Garoupa 22'' is 17 km long transfers the production of six platforms of the Northeast Pole for the Garoupa Central platform in Campos' Basin. This pipeline works with a flowrate of 450 m{sup 3}/h and it began to operate in 1987. The existence of a non-piggable sub sea manifold 500 meters down stream PGP-1 allied with receiver's absence impeded the passage of any type of pigs. The strategic importance of the pipeline allied with the need of operational safety assurance took PETROBRAS/UN-BC to the decision of building a pigs receiver in PGP-1 and to reestablish pig ability assembling a new riser and a new sub sea pipeline covering 500 meters, both in the diameter of 22 inches. After the conclusion, it was carried out a long campaign of cleaning, with emphasis in the development new drawings of specific pigs for the removal of the internal debris accumulated since the beginning of the operation. Several accessories were developed in order to improve the removal and arresting of wax and barium sulfate scale. Finally, the pipeline was inspected with a high resolution MFL pig. The present work describes all the stages of this pipeline rehabilitation, from the adaptation of the submarine facilities and of surface, going by the extensive campaign of cleaning and culminated with the inspection and the evaluation of the integrity. (author)

Apart from natural gas there is another important natural source of methane. The so-called coal mine gas is a by-product of the geochemical process of the carbonization of sediments from marsh woods of the Earth's Carboniferous Period. Methane evaporates from the coal and has to be removed out of the active mines where it represents one of the main safety risks. Methane also evaporates in abandoned coal mines. In the federal state Saarland in Germany exists above ground a more than 110km pipeline for the drained coal mine gas from 12 different sources. The content of methane varies between 25 and 90%, the oxygen content (from air) is in the range up to 10%. This wide range or variation, respectively, of fuel and oxygen content, causes a lot of problems for the use in conventional engines. ...

Progress is reported in a study of energy requirements for pumping operations in the USA. The purpose of this work is to identify areas where optimized or improved pump design and operation could result in energy conservation in industrial plants, pipeline transport, power plants, municipal facilities such as sewage and water works, and other pump locations. (LCL)

A PIG (Pipeline Inspection Gauge) is an inspection tool used in oil and gas distribution pipelines. It is inserted into the pipeline and propelled by the pressure of the product circulating in the pipe. The PIG identifies anomalies that can impact the integrity of the pipe, such as: oval deformation, dents and corrosion. This early detection helps to avoid structural failures that can cause very serious environmental accidents. To minimize costs and allow a quick section replacement of a detected pipeline anomaly, it is necessary to know the exact geo-referenced location of the defect. Furthermore, it is necessary to detect pipeline displacements caused by land movements. To facilitate this work a tool known as an inertial PIG is employed. In Brazil, there has been a great effort to nationalize pipeline inertial inspection technology, which was dominated by international companies. This has made the development of a Brazilian inertial PIG viable. This paper presents a new robust data processing method to reconstruct the inertial PIG trajectories, which has achieved results as low as a 0.1% uncertainty factor in field tests to validate the method. (author)

A pipeline of diameter 6'' with 17.694 km of extension was evaluated how much to the integrity of its external covering and the effectiveness of the system of cathodic protection, using the method DC-Voltage Gradient. The Cathodic Protection in this pipeline is made by seven rectifiers. The gotten data indicate that the potential pipe-ground registered in some check points to the long one of the pipeline is extremely negative, what has led to a super protection of the pipeline for the CP. This if explains for the great proximity between the anodes and the pipeline. For km had been identified 917 failures with a mean density of 50,1 per Km. Beyond the analysis of the data, this work includes conclusions and recommendations detailed for the repairs of the covering of the pipeline and for improvement of the effectiveness of the CP. One sends regards to a combination of repairs in the covering and reevaluation of the CP, in way to improve the protection level and to assure the reduction of the risk of external corrosion. (author)

Scientists and engineers in the robotics community have been attracted for years to automatic inspection for the interior of pipelines. Major achievements have been reported for large pipelines (300-600 mm) and medium pipelines (100-250 mm), but robots for small pipelines (20-30 mm) are relatively new. The authors reported on the research activities taking place in the field of robotics for inspection in small pipelines at Shanghai University. They touched on locomotion mechanisms and actuation and on the Tubot I, which was the first system of micro robotic inspection developed by the authors. They also described the control system and the sensory system of the Tubot II. It was successfully implemented and tested and demonstrated fast moving speed, large relative payload, low interference with sensory signals and adaptation to size and shape deviations of pipeline from standard value. They are now at work on the development of the Tubot III. It is an integrated demonstrative system with both visual and eddy current sensor. The authors are attempting to create a new robot locomotion mechanism capable of carrying a micro CCD camera at the front, screw motion wheels with improved performance, and a sensory system for pipe robot localization. Research and development is progressing on microwave power supply, wireless robot localization, high-resolution CCD camera application and integrated sensory data processing. 14 refs., 3 tabs., 8 figs.

Details of the In Salah gas export pipeline system were presented. Located in southern Algeria, the In Salah gas field has 7 proven fields that are expected to deliver 9 billion cubic meters of dry gas per year. Gas will be transported to market via a pipeline connecting the gas field to a collection point in Hassi R'Mel. Gas will then be fed into gas transport lines for delivery to Europe. The pipeline system consists of 600 km of pipelines, with 460 km of mainline pipes and 140 km of interfield trunk lines. Five Trencor machines were used to dig the trench for the pipeline. Line pipe was double jointed in storage yards, and semi-automatic welding was used for the field joints. A total of 600 km of roads were engineered and graded to gain access to the project. Pipes were purchased from a variety of sources, and continuous monitoring was conducted to ensure that pipes met the required specifications. Mainline welding commenced in September of 2002. Progress on the pipeline averaged 2.7 km per day. Overall weld repairs were estimated at 2.5 per cent. Mechanized UT was used to increase production and ensure quality. Pipelines facilities included 14 block valve stations and scraper traps along the right-of-way. Equipment for the project included 26 sidebooms; 5 graders; 65 dump trucks; 20 water tankers; 21 bulldozers; and 2 rockditchers. A fiber-optic communication cable was also installed alongside the pipeline in a separate ditch. Intensive equipment operator training was conducted during the project's construction period, and safety training was provided for all staff. Audits were conducted regularly throughout the project. Approximately 12 million man-hours were worked for the project, which had an excellent safety record. It was concluded that the project was completed 3 months ahead of schedule. 18 figs.

Project`s objective is to evaluate state-of-the-art methods for locating pipelines in shallow (less than 15 ft) water and for determining and monitoring their burial depths. The following recommendations are made on the research needed in three areas for locating near-shore, shallowly buried pipelines: (1) Sensors: The pipeline industry has selected the magnetic gradiometer array (GA) as a preferred sensor method. Other potential methods exist as backups. No additional research is recommended. (2) Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs): The Pipeline Research Committee is pursuing development of a prototype ROV is deliver the GA or other similar equipment to pipeline locations. (3) Phenomena: The data being collected from research on the phenomena affecting seabed conditions and the bathymetric data being collected along the Gulf Coast should be synthesized. This new effort should focus on identifying erosion-prone areas with respect to present and potential future pipeline locations. Technical approach is to get the broadest perspective on the concerns related to the determination of burial conditions for offshore pipelines, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) contacted individuals and organizations from the gas and petroleum industries, hardware and software vendors, academicians, and representatives from the government. A literature survey yielded the names of persons within academia who are presently working on similar applications with sensors. In the oil and gas industry, individuals and organizations involved in the Pipeline Research Committee made extensive contributions to the review and also provided the names of meaningful contacts from among their vendors. Discussions were held with the various persons both on the telephone and face to face. Vendors provided background materials and overview presentations on their capabilities for ANL to review.

A scheduling pipeline program can be easily developed and customized using Symphony spreadsheet software. Monsanto Research Corporation produces small electro-mechanical component subassemblies in large lot sizes which are subdivided into transfer quantities. Since production takes place in several buildings, the transfer quantities create wait time for parts not being worked. Batch production schedules are constructed and adjusted using the pipeline program. This application uses work centers and/or balanced workstation assignments to determine schedule dates for a given transfer quantity. Production routing information is summarized for each station assignment, and these are considered as schedule points. The program incorporates many data base management, input forms, and graphic features available in Symphony.

In the past, many operators have encountered failures due to MIC in pipelines and topside facilities contaminated with sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB). In some cases, severe pitting has resulted in flow lines being either abandoned or replaced (Davies and Scott, 2006). However, there are reports of little or no significant MIC in some systems, despite an apparent significant contamination with SRB (Maxwell, 2006). As most bacterial counts were conducted using serial dilution techniques such as the most probable number (MPN) technique selective enumeration of SRB strains (depending on the type of growth medium used) will inevitably be conducted. Therefore, high bacterial numbers derived from cultivation-based techniques do not necessarily correlate to high SRB numbers causing MIC in the production system (Larsen et al., 2005). In addition, MIC can be caused by other microbes such as sulphate-reducing archaea (SRA), methanogens and fermentative microbes (Larsen et al., 2008, 2009). Also most samples taken by the oil industry are water samples. However, the majority of microbial activity takes place in biofilms that attach to pipeline walls, well tubing and on the inside of topside facilities.

...Requirement Title: Pipeline Corporate Security...Form(s): Pipeline Corporate Security...Liquids and Natural Gas Pipeline Industry. Abstract...such as threat assessments, criticality...process to determine baseline security...

...Transportation (Continued) PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS...TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED) PIPELINE SAFETY TRANSPORTATION...HAZARDOUS LIQUIDS BY PIPELINE Corrosion Control § 195.565 How...you must install the system in accordance...

Many oil and gas producing fields in tile North Sea are now facing a period of production shut down and decommissioning as exploitable petroleum reserves in the earliest developments are decreasing. Most of the oil and gas fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) are located in areas with water depths in the range of 75-300 meters. Production installations on these fields are generally large, and removal of such installations may be costly and technically complex with high risk levels. It is therefore a major challenge to develop management tools for prioritizing and selection of abandonment solutions, to secure the best overall abandonment solution. Possibilities and problems associated with different abandonment and disposal options for installations should therefore be identified and assessed in detail on a case by case base. A specific methodology for performing Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and assessing impacts to the society of offshore installation abandonment and disposal is made. The methodology is based on the principles of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and is applicable for the whole spectrum of abandonment solutions including sea disposal, reuse, material recovery, and demolition. The methodology has so far been applied in four cases; three on the NCS and one on the UK Continental Shelf. The paper presents the principles which the methodology is based upon, with examples of application. Secondly, the paper presents how the results may be used in planning for decommissioning by oil operating companies. Finally, the paper focuses on general problems in performing such assessment work, and discuss how the methodology may be refined in the future.

This article reports the abandonment of cold fusion research at Harwell Laboratory. Following announcements in March 1989, that work in the laboratory, at the University of Utah had produced cold fusion, a team of scientists was assembled at Harwell to attempt to reproduce this exciting possibility. Despite repeated and wide ranging efforts, no evidence of cold fusion has been found by the Harwell team. (author).

This work takes place into the Bierzo Region, located in northeast of the province of Leon (Spain). In this area numerous open-pit and underground coal mines exist. Some of them are still in activity but almost have been abandoned. In any case, mining implies the presence of coal adits, spoil dumps, tailing dams, and coal-washing plants at the river bank. Most of them persist when mining have finished. (Author)

The average age of pipelines around the world is 30 to 40 years. These aging pipelines will leak under corrosive conditions and other destructive factors such as stress, misoperation of pressure control valves, soil humidity in buried pipelines, overpressure and human-induced damage. In order to reduce serious environmental pollution and economic loss caused by leakage, petroleum companies are working on finding new techniques to detect and accurately locate pipeline leaks. In China, the negative pressure wave method effectively locates leak positions since nearly all pipe leakage is paroxysmal. Although supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems can monitor pipeline operation, leak detection and location is not included in existing SCADA systems in China. In this study, pipe pressure, flow rate, temperature, bump current, and valve position were obtained using the dynamic data exchange method from the SCADA system. In the event of a pipeline leak, the leak point produces decompression wave propagation at the inlet and outlet. The detection of this negative pressure wave can be used to identify the leak position. This method has a high response speed and high precision. However, in order to avoid false alarms, the negative pressure waves caused by normal operations must be distinguished from real leaks. The wavelet packet analysis-based fault diagnosis method decomposes the leak pressure signal and then forms a time sequence on each decomposition node through the reconstruction of the decomposing coefficient on each frequency range. The time sequences are then analyzed in time domain and the eigenvector targets obtained from SCADA are used to identify the occurrence of real leaks. PetroChina has used this method successfully in its pipeline operations. 10 refs., 1 tab., 2 figs.

Subsequent to failures of gas pipelines in northern Ontario in 1985 and 1986, TransCanada PipeLines implemented a pipeline maintenance and research program to investigate and find a solution to the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) problem, which had been identified as the cause of the failures. In 1985, Canada's National Energy Board (NEB) formed a SCC working group to monitor and inspect TransCanada's activities and also conducted detailed site investigations of all SCC-related ruptures. Following investigation of two pipeline breaks in Ontario in 1991 and 1992, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) issued recommendations relating to pipeline safety, including measures to be taken by the NEB with respect to the SCC problem. As a response to the TSB recommendations, the NEB held an inquiry which solicited input from interested parties regarding the SCC question. A thorough analysis of the information submitted in the inquiry (or readily available to the NEB) about SCC is presented along with the NEB responses to the TSB recommendations. The TransCanada pipeline maintenance program is also assessed. The NEB concluded that restrictions on operating conditions are not a practical solution to the types of SCC problems found in Canadian pipelines. It is not currently possible to determine the threshold level for either initiation or propagation of non-classical SCC, and imposition of arbitrary restrictions would not result in any quantifiable improvement in safety and would have substantial negative effects on producers and consumers of natural gas. The NEB believes SCC is not a widespread problem in Canada and that where it exists, the problem is being managed in a responsible fashion. 8 refs., 1 fig.

Inert gas - in particular nitrogen - is used widely to purge vessels and pipework of toxic, explosive, and corrosive gases. It is in continuous use aboard production platforms where safety standards demand reliable sources of supply. This work describes the pressure swing absorption nitrogen generation process, highlighting its contribution toward improving safety in offshore pipeline pumping operations.

The results of the repeated in-tube nondestructive testing (INDT) of a gas pipeline section were analyzed. It was established that the process of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) develops at an increasing rate. The instability of the stressed state due to large-scale repair works was experimentally established to be one of the possible causes for the accelerated development of SCC processes.

The present work analyses the state-of-art of the environmental strategic evaluation in Brazil and presents the methods suggested by the Ministry of Environment for the realization of the ESE. As a case study one of the first of ESE done in Brazil, in the year of 1997, has been considered, specifically the Bolivia - Brazil gas pipeline (GASBOL)

Flash ADCs with resolutions from 3 to 5 bits have been implemented on a transistor level. These ADCs are to be incorporated as the backend of a higher resolution Pipeline ADC. The motivation for this work has been to see how much the resolution of this backend can be increased before the power...

As the new ccNUMA architecture became popular in recent years, parallel .... number of working arrays necessary for the MPI code can be reduced or ... tested two types of implementations for parallelization: “pipeline”, which is ...... applying the similar optimization technique to the MPI version, the performance has been ...

ing applications quickly and efficiently for new architectures, such as the SGI Origin ... this work involved the optimization of cache performance and array locality on the .... pipelining parallelism, it is necessary to modify the serial code. .... The second technique of padding array dimensions was used in the above example.

...possible effect of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline on U.S. and global oil markets...Petroleum Market Impacts of the Keystone XL Pipeline Project'' on the ``State...international pipeline project (the Keystone XL Pipeline Project) that is...

...Commission [Docket No. CP11-486-000 ] Gulf LNG Pipeline, LLC; Notice of Request Under...Take notice that on May 18, 2011, Gulf LNG Pipeline, LLC (GLNG Pipeline), Colonial...to Margaret G. Coffman, Counsel, Gulf LNG Pipeline Company, LLC, Colonial...

...threats to a covered pipeline segment, an operator...information on the entire pipeline that could be relevant...history, corrosion control records, continuing...conditions specific to each pipeline. (c) Risk assessment...segment in the pipeline system with such pipe...

The reduction in skin friction due to certain additives in two-phase gas-liquid flows in a pipeline is well known. The effect of such additives on the mass transfer characteristics is not well understood. There are conflicting reports suggesting an increase or decrease in mass transfer coefficient. This work is carried out to study the effect of dilute polymeric solutions on mass transfer characteristics, K/sub L/a and a, for two-phase gas-liquid flow in a pipeline. 8 references, 3 figures.

Alaska overtook Louisiana in 1979 to become the number 2 oil producing state in the US. The Prudhoe Bay field, largest ever discovered in the US, supplied most of the oil, and it was transported to market along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline system with an assist from drag reduction additives. Wildcatters are continuing to search for new fields from lower Cook Inlet to the Arctic slope. Alaska's production is approximately 1.5 million bpd. Operations activities in maintaining Prudhoe Bay and Cook Inlet basin's production are described, including plans for new pipelines. Development work in the Kuparuk area and for state-wide petrochemical and refining facilities also is described.

This review regarding safety for assets and financial interests for pipeline systems has showed how this aspect has been taken care of in the existing petroleum legislation. It has been demonstrated that the integrity of pipeline systems with the respect to maintaining petroleum transport is important for all parties involved, including third party`s interest and national interests. Examples have been given to provide a picture of the value of transported petroleum products. Finally, the scope of work for as well as observations after a supervisory activity related to safety for the transported product, have been referenced. 1 fig., 1 tab.

The cost of maintaining the structural integrity of the 650,000 kilometer high-pressure gas gathering and transmission pipeline network is a significant part of the operating budget of the US pipeline industry. To help in controlling thee costs, the Gas Research institute (GRI) has supported research resulting in the development of Clock Spring{reg_sign}, a low-cost fiberglass composite alternative to conventional steel sleeves for transmission line pipe reinforcement and repair. Investigation and development of engineering guidelines have been completed. Field validation of laboratory research on application of Clock Spring as a repair for corrosion and mechanical damage defects is in progress. This paper presents an overview of composite repair technology for pipeline corrosion and mechanical damage defects. It summarizes the results and conclusions of modeling and experiments on reinforcement and repair of both corrosion and mechanical damage (i.e., dent and gouge) pipeline defects. These investigations provide quantitative results on the operating envelope of composite reinforcements and installation requirements that ensure sound and reliable repair of pipeline defects. The paper further summarizes the work to date on field installation in verification of composite repair performance.

A new pipeline controller based on the Early Acknowledgement (EA) protocol is proposed for bundled-data asynchronous circuits. The EA protocol indicates acknowledgement by the falling edge of the acknowledgement signal in contrast to the 4-phase protocol, which indicates it on the rising edge. Thus, it can hide the overhead caused by the resetting period of the handshake cycle. Since we have designed our controller assuming several timing constraints, we first analyze the timing constraints under which our controller correctly works and then discuss their appropriateness. The performance of the controller is compared both analytically and experimentally with those of two other pipeline controllers, namely, a very high-speed 2-phase controller and an ordinary 4-phase controller. Our controller performs better than a 4-phase controller when pipeline has processing elements. We have obtained interesting results in the case of a non-linear pipeline with a Conditional Branch (CB) operation. Our controller has slightly better performance even compared to 2-phase controller in the case of a pipeline with processing elements. Its superiority lies in the EA protocol, which employs return-to-zero control signals like the 4-phase protocol. Hence, our controller for CB operation is simple in construction just like the 4-phase controller. A 2-phase controller for the same operation needs to have a slightly complicated mechanism to handle the 2-phase operation because of the non-return-to-zero control signals, and this results in a performance overhead.   

The transport of liquid or gas fluids, such as water, fuel, chemical products, minerals, among others, through underground pipelines, is becoming more significant in the whole world, specially in Brazil, due to low cost, operational security and low physical interference at the surface. By the other hand, the ambient matters, the population's security in pipeline tracing and economic aspects lead to greater requirements in relation to the integrity of those installations. Corrosion is one of the most important causes of underground pipelines' deterioration and coating and cathodic protection are recommended to prevent it from occurring. However, both techniques must be considered in the pipeline project for it to be successful. At the present work the most important kinds of coating for underground pipelines are presented, as well as the applications, limitations, reference norms and the interface with the cathodic protection systems in relation to the efficiencies to be adopted and the expected performance. Is it also discussed the welded piping joints confection and the protection difficulties when the efficiencies are not corresponded to those foreseen in the cathodic protection systems project. (author)

This working group provided an update on provincial, federal and industry directions regarding the security of pipeline facilities. The decision to include security issues in the NEB Act was discussed as well as the Pipeline Security Management Assessment Project, which was created to establish a better understanding of existing security management programs as well as to assist the NEB in the development and implementation of security management regulations and initiatives. Amendments to the NEB were also discussed. Areas of pipeline security management assessment include physical safety management; cyber and information security management; and personnel security. Security management regulations were discussed, as well as implementation policies. Details of the Enbridge Liquids Pipelines Security Plan were examined. It was noted that the plan incorporates flexibility for operations and is integrated with Emergency Response and Crisis Management. Asset characterization and vulnerability assessments were discussed, as well as security and terrorist threats. It was noted that corporate security threat assessment and auditing are based on threat information from the United States intelligence community. It was concluded that the oil and gas industry is a leader in security in North America. The Trans Alaska Pipeline Incident was discussed as a reminder of how costly accidents can be. Issues of concern for the future included geographic and climate issues. It was concluded that limited resources are an ongoing concern, and that the regulatory environment is becoming increasingly prescriptive. Other concerns included the threat of not taking international terrorism seriously, and open media reporting of vulnerability of critical assets, including maps. tabs., figs.

The condition of underground constructions, communication and supply systems in the cities has to be periodically monitored and controlled in order to prevent their breakage, which can result in serious accident, especially in urban area. The most risk of damage have the underground construction made of steal such as pipelines widely used for water, gas and heat supply. To ensure the pipeline survivability it is necessary to carry out the operative and inexpensive control of pipelines condition. Induced electromagnetic methods of geophysics can be applied to provide such diagnostics. The highly developed surface in urbane area is one of cause hampering the realization of electromagnetic methods of diagnostics. The main problem is in finding of an appropriate place for the source line and electrodes on a limited surface area and their optimal position relative to the observation path to minimize their influence on observed data. Author made a number of experiments of an underground heating system pipeline diagnostics using different position of the source line and electrodes. The experiments were made on a 200 meters section over 2 meters deep pipeline. The admissible length of the source line and angle between the source line and the observation path were determined. The minimal length of the source line for the experiment conditions and accuracy made 30 meters, the maximum admissible angle departure from the perpendicular position made 30 degrees. The work was undertaken in cooperation with diagnostics company DIsSO, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

This paper presents the experience of PETROBRAS Transporte S. A. - TRANSPETRO in the preparation for emergencies in the OSBRA pipeline, showing specific aspects and solutions developed. The company has a standardized approach for the emergency management, based on risk analysis studies, risk management plan and contingency plans. To cover almost 1,000 km of pipeline, the Company avails of Emergency Response Centers and Environmental Defense Center, located at strategic points. In order to achieve preparation, fire fighting training and oil leakage elimination training are provided. Additionally, simulation exercises are performed, following a schedule worked out according to specific criteria and guidelines. As a conclusion, a picture is presented of the evolution of the preparation for emergencies in the OSBRA System which bears the enormous responsibility of transporting flammable products for almost 1,000 km of pipeline, crossing 40 municipalities, 3 states and the Federal District. (author)

The High Schools That Work school improvement initiative is the nation's largest comprehensive school reform model with over a thousand schools adopting its framework. The initiative's premise is that all students can meet the demands of a college preparatory curriculum if provided the right supports. Analyzing over a decade of data on student course taking and performance, we employ a rigorous comparative interrupted time series strategy to assess the extent to which HSTW meets its goal by increasing students' successful progression through the mathematics and science pipelines. Each pipeline consists of three college preparatory courses: algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2 in mathematics and biology plus two physical science courses in science. The results show no effect on pipeline progr...

This paper reports a study of the feasibility of installing a condensate pipeline over uneven seabed offshore Norway. It concluded that the use of advanced design criteria can give cost savings in the order of 30% compared with a design approach based on the permissible stress criterion and use of simplified calculation procedures. The cost saving is related to intervention work, which in traditional studies takes place over the total length of the route across irregular stretches. The study investigated the possibility of installing a condensate pipeline through the deep waters of the Fensfjord to bring the condensate ashore at the Mongstad terminal, northwest of Bergen, Norway. A description of the Troll-Mongstad condensate-pipeline concept, particularly the outer Fensfjord route section is presented. The authors review the implications of introducing advanced design criteria into a project in which the sealine must face extremely irregular seabed topography in deep waters.

The Bolivia-Brazil Natural Gas Pipeline - GASBOL - begins in the city of Santa Cruz of La Sierra, in Bolivia, arriving in Canoas (RS), in Brazil, traveling an extension of 3.150 km. TBG is the owner and operator from 2.593 km in Brazilian soil, with maximum nominal diameter 32 inches, capacity of transportations until 30 million cubic meter a day, and MAOP 100 bar. This work presents the steps for the qualification the welding procedure and the jobs for the welding in service at 92 bar of pressure, the measures to guarantee the integrity of the gas pipeline, including lines support, requirements for hydrostatic testing and the main equipment used during the jobs. It is made reference to an accident happened several month after in service welding in gas pipeline and presents the respective cause. (author)

Liquefied petroleum products such as propane, butane, LPG and LNG are transported by ships and stored in tanks in storage terminals. These products are conveyed from the jetty by above-ground insulated pipelines to storage terminals that are typically situated 12-20km inland. Unloading of petroleum products is energy intensive and results in excessive BOG (boil off gas) generation and pressure build up in the storage tank. In this work, a dynamic model of the unloading operation is developed to predict temperature dynamics of pipeline, pressure and inventory changes in the storage tank. This model consists of a lumped dynamic model for the storage tank coupled with a distributed parameter model for the pipeline. The model is validated using limited data collected from an operating plant du...

The mechanical properties of submerged arc weldment (SAW) in gas transportation pipeline steel of grade API X65 (65 ksi yield strength) were investigated. This steel is produced by thermo mechanical control rolled (TMC), and is largely used in Iran gas piping systems and networks. The results from laboratory study on three different regions; i.e. base metal (BM), fusion zone (FZ) and heat affected zone (HAZ) were used to compare weldment mechanical characteristics with those specified by API 5L (revision 2004) standard code. Different laboratory experiments were conducted on test specimens taken from 48 inch outside diameter and 14.3 mm wall thickness gas pipeline. The test results showed a gradient of microstructure and Vickers hardness data from the centerline of FZ towards the unaffected MB. Similarly, lower Charpy absorbed energy (compared to BM) was observed in the FZ impact specimens. Despite this, the API specifications were fulfilled in three tested zones, ensuring pipeline structural integrity under working conditions.

Press Construction Ltd. has completed installation of the land portion of a new gas pipeline from the North Sea, including a tunnel beneath the River Tees in the north of England. The work was carried out under a multi-million dollar contract from Amoco (UK) Exploration Co. The pipeline is the land portion of the Central Area Transmission System. The 4.6-mile, 36-in. onshore pipeline connects a valve station at the CATS landfall at Coatham Sands, just south of Tees Bay, to a gas terminal north of the River Tees. This paper reports on the entire CATS system which runs for nearly 250 miles from a riser platform in the Central Graben area of the North Sea to the Coatham Sands landfall and then overland to the gas terminal. The gas will fuel a new combined heat-and-power generating plant on Teesside, currently under construction by Teesside Power.

In this work, two investment projects that are characteristic of the recent phase of the Brazilian natural gas industry were economically valued, taking into account the government going Thermoelectric Priority Program or PPT: economical design of a gas pipeline, to be built and operated by a Proprietary Carrier, where the interest variable is the transport tariff that will remunerate the investment and pipeline expansion through compressor stations, sponsored by the only shipper in the system, as it aims at selling gas to a thermoelectric plant, where the interest variable is the net present value of the project. In both cases, some sensitive analyses of the interest variable to variables that carry greater uncertainty are presented. Results show that pipeline expansion is viable. (author)

New developments and experimental evaluation of high-resolution controlled source and audiomagnetotelluric (CSAMT) techniques have been accomplished recently with the specific objectives of detecting and delineating shallow abandoned mine workings. Successful results have been demonstrated in detecting the presence of disturbed coal beds and in resolving surface locations of related underground mine entries in good agreement with established maps. Recent field trials of a new CSAMT system operating in the 3Hz to 50kHz frequency ranges were performed at an active mine having open coal haulage ways underlying a 110 ft thick sandstone overburden and at an abandoned mine having a partially collapsed room and pillar structure under a 220 ft thick shale and sand stone overburden. Brief summaries of these field tests are presented.

Motivated by manufacturing and service applications, we consider a single class multi-server queueing system working under the LCFS discipline of service. After entering the queue, a customer will wait a random length of time for service to begin. If service has not begun by this time she will abandon and be lost. For the GI/GI/s+M queue, we present some structural results to describe the relation between various performance measures and the scheduling policies. We next consider the LCFS M/M/s+M queue and focus on deriving new results for the virtual waiting time and the sojourn time in the queue (either before service or before abandonment). We provide an exact analysis using Laplace-Stieltjes transforms. We also conduct some numerical analysis to illustrate the impact of customer impatie...

Researchers in robot vision have access to several excellent image processing packages (e.g., Khoros, Vista, Susan, MIL, and X Vision to name only a few) as a base for any new vision software needed in most navigation and recognition tasks. Our work in automonous robot control and human-robot interaction, however, has demanded a new level of run-time flexibility and performance: on-the-fly configuration of visual routines that exploit up-to-the-second context from the task, image, and environment. The result is Gargoyle: an extendible, on-board, real-time vision software package that allows a robot to configure, parameterize, and execute image-processing pipelines at run-time. Each operator in a pipeline works at a level of resolution and over regions of interest that are computed by upstream operators or set by the robot according to task constraints. Pipeline configurations and operator parameters can be stored as a library of visual methods appropriate for different sensing tasks and environmental conditions. Beyond this, a robot may reason about the current task and environmental constraints to construct novel visual routines that are too specialized to work under general conditions, but that are well-suited to the immediate environment and task. We use the RAP reactive plan-execution system to select and configure pre-compiled processing pipelines, and to modify them for specific constraints determined at run-time.

This report documents work performed in the third quarter of the project entitled: ''Technologies to Enhance Operation of the Existing Natural Gas Compression Infrastructure''. The project objective is to develop and substantiate methods for operating integral engine/compressors in gas pipeline service, which reduce fuel consumption, increase capacity, and enhance mechanical integrity. The report describes the following work: first field test; test data analysis.

We argue that published results demonstrate that new insights into human brain function may be obscured by poor and/or limited choices in the data-processing pipeline, and review the work on performance metrics for optimizing pipelines: prediction, reproducibility, and related empirical Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve metrics. Using the NPAIRS split-half resampling framework for estimating prediction/reproducibility metrics (Strother et al., 2002), we illustrate its use by testing the relative importance of selected pipeline components (interpolation, in-plane spatial smoothing, temporal detrending, and between-subject alignment) in a group analysis of BOLD-fMRI scans from 16 subjects performing a block-design, parametric-static-force task. Large-scale brain networks were detected using a multivariate linear discriminant analysis (canonical variates analysis, CVA) that was tuned to fit the data. We found that tuning the CVA model and spatial smoothing were the most important processing parameters. Temporal detrending was essential to remove low-frequency, reproducing time trends; the number of cosine basis functions for detrending was optimized by assuming that separate epochs of baseline scans have constant, equal means, and this assumption was assessed with prediction metrics. Higher-order polynomial warps compared to affine alignment had only a minor impact on the performance metrics. We found that both prediction and reproducibility metrics were required for optimizing the pipeline and give somewhat different results. Moreover, the parameter settings of components in the pipeline interact so that the current practice of reporting the optimization of components tested in relative isolation is unlikely to lead to fully optimized processing pipelines.

The presentations by Working Group 9 included 8 papers dealing with the emerging expectations, policy and direction of objective-based public communication and consulting programs within the energy sector. The benefits of a proactive approach were illustrated in two case studies which highlighted the drilling of a critical sour gas well in the recreational resort community of Nordegg, Alberta, and the routing of a tie-in pipeline to be completed if the well is successful. The topics of discussion during this Working Group session included: a progressive philosophy and approach for public involvement and consultation; setting the stage for successful consultation; a regulatory perspective of effective communication through participant involvement; identification of communication issues and potential solutions; integrity and sour gas exploration; and, lessons learned and recommendations for implementation. Participants were invited to give recommendations on the direction of consultation requirements and implementation within the pipeline industry. It was noted that the public is becoming more educated about pipeline issues, their hazards and risks. It was therefore recommended that industry find a consistent approach to determine the impact of pipeline distribution corridors. tabs., figs.

Saudi Aramco pipelines network transports hydrocarbons to export terminals, processing plants and domestic users. This network faced several safety and operational-related challenges that require having a more effective Pipelines Integrity Management System (PIMS). Therefore Saudi Aramco decided to develop its PIMS on the basis of geographical information system (GIS) support through different phases, i.e., establishing the integrity management framework, risk calculation approach, conducting a gap analysis toward the envisioned PIMS, establishing the required scope of work, screening the PIMS applications market, and selecting suitable tools that satisfy expected deliverables, and implement PIMS applications. Saudi Aramco expects great benefits from implementing PIMS, e.g., enhancing safety, enhancing pipeline network robustness, optimizing inspection and maintenance expenditures, and facilitating pipeline management and the decision-making process. Saudi Aramco's new experience in adopting PIMS includes many challenges and lessons-learned associated with all of the PIMS development phases. These challenges include performing the gap analysis, conducting QA/QC sensitivity analysis for the acquired data, establishing the scope of work, selecting the appropriate applications and implementing PIMS. (author)

The Kepler Mission is designed to continuously monitor up to 170,000 stars at a 30-minute cadence for 3.5 years searching for Earth-size planets. The data are processed at the Science Operations Center at NASA Ames Research Center. Because of the large volume of data and the memory needed, as well as the CPU-intensive nature of the analyses, significant computing hardware is required. We have developed generic pipeline framework software that is used to distribute and synchronize processing across a cluster of CPUs and provide data accountability for the resulting products. The framework is written in Java and is, therefore, platform-independent. The framework scales from a single, standalone workstation (for development and research on small data sets) to a full cluster of homogeneous or heterogeneous hardware with minimal configuration changes. A plug-in architecture provides customized, dynamic control of the unit of work without the need to modify the framework. Distributed transaction services provide for atomic storage of pipeline products for a unit of work across a relational database and the custom Kepler DB. Generic parameter management and data accountability services record parameter values, software versions, and other metadata used for each pipeline execution. A graphical user interface allows for configuration, execution, and monitoring of pipelines. The framework was developed for the Kepler Mission based on Kepler requirements, but the framework itself is generic and could be used for a variety of applications where these features are needed.

Gay Renouf has opted for a work/life balance; with a chemistry degree she joined the Saskatchewan Research Council out of graduate school in 1986. She first worked on understanding surfactants in emulsions and then dealt more with petroleum engineering issues like pipeline specifications. She is looking at waterfloods in heavy and medium gravity pools and has discovered factors helping to produce heavy oil waterfloods. But all Renouf's life is not devoted to her work: she has been working part-time, spending her free time being a parent, training for marathons and being a running coach. Renouf believes that her passion for running is consistent with her work as a scientist.

Over the last ten years, LLNL has been developing Microtechnology for instrumentation with applications in the biosciences and environment. In order to build and field high-performance instruments, they have often had to alter their original premises and assumptions, significantly. This meant that they were forced to abandon materials and dimensions that were appealing to them when they began the R and D. Examples include work on silicon-based electrophoresis systems, etched-fluidics for sample/sheath flow nozzles in flow cytometers, and polymerase-chain-reaction thermal-cycling chambers based on silicon-nitride. This presentation discusses these and their work on other devices and instruments.

The work in this thesis focuses equally on two main topics. The set of these subjects deals with development of criteria for monotonicity of control volume methods. These methods are important and frequently used for solving the pressure equation arising in porous media flow. First we consider homogeneous parallelogram grids, and subsequently general logical Cartesian grids in heterogeneous media. This subject is concluded by the development of a new class of Multi Point Flux Approximation methods, motivated by the monotonicity results obtained. The second topic of this thesis is the development of analytical and semi- analytical solutions to the problem of leakage through abandoned wells. More specially, we look at a set of aquifers, separated by impermeable layers (aquicludes), where injection of water or CO{sub 2} takes place in some or all the aquifers. The aquifers and aquicludes are frequently penetrated by abandoned wells from oil exploration, and our problem consists of finding solutions to flow and leakage through these wells. The goal is to obtain expressions for leakage rates that may be evaluated quickly enough such that Monte Carlo realizations over statistical distributions of properties for abandoned wells can be performed. (author)

The two broad categories of fiber-reinforced composite liner repair and deposited weld metal repair technologies were reviewed and evaluated for potential application for internal repair of gas transmission pipelines. Both are used to some extent for other applications and could be further developed for internal, local, structural repair of gas transmission pipelines. Principal conclusions from a survey of natural gas transmission industry pipeline operators can be summarized in terms of the following performance requirements for internal repair: (1) Use of internal repair is most attractive for river crossings, under other bodies of water, in difficult soil conditions, under highways, under congested intersections, and under railway crossings. (2) Internal pipe repair offers a strong potential advantage to the high cost of horizontal direct drilling when a new bore must be created to solve a leak or other problem. (3) Typical travel distances can be divided into three distinct groups: up to 305 m (1,000 ft.); between 305 m and 610 m (1,000 ft. and 2,000 ft.); and beyond 914 m (3,000 ft.). All three groups require pig-based systems. A despooled umbilical system would suffice for the first two groups which represents 81% of survey respondents. The third group would require an onboard self-contained power unit for propulsion and welding/liner repair energy needs. (4) The most common size range for 80% to 90% of operators surveyed is 508 mm (20 in.) to 762 mm (30 in.), with 95% using 558.8 mm (22 in.) pipe. Evaluation trials were conducted on pipe sections with simulated corrosion damage repaired with glass fiber-reinforced composite liners, carbon fiber-reinforced composite liners, and weld deposition. Additional un-repaired pipe sections were evaluated in the virgin condition and with simulated damage. Hydrostatic failure pressures for pipe sections repaired with glass fiber-reinforced composite liner were only marginally greater than that of pipe sections without liners, indicating that this type of liner is only marginally effective at restoring the pressure containing capabilities of pipelines. Failure pressures for larger diameter pipe repaired with a semi-circular patch of carbon fiber-reinforced composite lines were also marginally greater than that of a pipe section with un-repaired simulated damage without a liner. These results indicate that fiber reinforced composite liners have the potential to increase the burst pressure of pipe sections with external damage Carbon fiber based liners are viewed as more promising than glass fiber based liners because of the potential for more closely matching the mechanical properties of steel. Pipe repaired with weld deposition failed at pressures lower than that of un-repaired pipe in both the virgin and damaged conditions, indicating that this repair technology is less effective at restoring the pressure containing capability of pipe than a carbon fiber-reinforced liner repair. Physical testing indicates that carbon fiber-reinforced liner repair is the most promising technology evaluated to-date. In lieu of a field installation on an abandoned pipeline, a preliminary nondestructive testing protocol is being developed to determine the success or failure of the fiber-reinforced liner pipeline repairs. Optimization and validation activities for carbon-fiber repair methods are ongoing.

In the oil industry, the environmental impact assessment of an accident is both multi and interdisciplinary and goes through several approaches and depths. Due to the enormous complexity of the environmental analyses issues, mainly for being a science in development and not technological consensus, a macro methodology is presented for the purpose of identify areas that can be impacted by pipeline leakages and recommend improvements are applicable working as a table top response plan. The methodology of the Environmental Risk Mapping-MARA for pipelines rows, describes its concept and justifies the adoption of the environmental mapping during Risk Analyses studies, for PETROBRAS/TRANSPETRO new and existing pipelines. The development of this methodology is justified by the fact that it is a practical tool for identification, analysis and categorization of the more vulnerable environmental elements along a pipeline row and vicinities, during simulated occurrence of accidental spills of hydrocarbons in the environment. This methodology is a tool that allows Environmental Agencies and PETROBRAS a better way to manage in advance the Company emergencies. (author)

Before LAMOST spectra release, raw data need to go through a series of processes, i.e. a pipeline after observed, including 2D reduction, spectral analysis, eyeball identification. It is a proper strategy that utilizing a database to integrate them. By using database the coupling between relative modules would be reduced to make the adding or removing of them more convenient, and the dataflow seems to be more clearly. The information of a specific object, from target selection to intermediate results and spectrum production, can be efficiently accessed and traced back through the database search, rather than via FITS reading. Furthermore, since the pipeline has not been perfected yet, the eyeball check is needed before the spectra are released, and an appropriate database can make the feedback period of eyeball check result more conveniently, thus the improvement of the pipeline will be more purposely. Finally, database can be a data mining tools for the statistics and analysis of massive astronomical data. This article focuses on the database design and the data processing flow built on it for LAMOST. The database design requirement of the existing routines, such as input/output, the relationship or dependence between them is introduced. Accordingly, the database structure suited for multiple version data process and eyeball verification is presented. The dataflow, how the pipeline is integrated relied on such a dedicated database system and how it worked are also explained. In addition, some user interfaces, eyeball check interfaces, statistical functions are also presented.

Concerning the surrounding flora, the implementation of pipelines may cause fragmentation and isolation of the remaining natural vegetation, possibly changing the forest structure; thus raising the border effect; modifying the ratio of species and life forms, decreasing the vegetal diversity and/or causing a lack of connectivity among the remaining indigenous forest resources. In the case of pipelines, the most important environmental measure intended to mitigate the damage caused to the flora is the adoption of Indigenous Flora Rescue Programs. This paper is aimed at analyzing the programs currently applied during the implementation of the GASENE project, by conducting a case study. The main targets of such program are obtaining seeds and fruits with a view to subsidize the potential production of sapling to be further employed in the recovery of areas impacted by the pipeline works; and then relocate the most significant samples of species rescued from the suppressed areas in order to comprise forest areas adjacent to the pipeline's right-of-way. The programs had little differences in their methodology while being implemented, however, we consider that up to the present moment the results obtained in the preservation of species of native flora have been satisfactory. (author)

Working Group 7 discussed challenges facing the oil and gas pipeline industry with particular reference to the fundamentals of risk assessment and management. Risk assessment algorithms, methods, techniques and approaches were reviewed along with the likelihood and consequences of algorithms. Underlying programs, processes and procedures were identified, including decision support and performance measures that support a company's risk management program. Emerging focus areas that may require further investigation or industry collaboration were also identified. It was shown that high risk segments of pipelines can be identified through risk-based prioritization which relies on threat identification data, threat assessment data and consequence data. Three basic risk assessment methods were identified, namely subject matter expert (SME); relative assessment and probabilistic assessment. Each was shown to have advantages and limitations. The choice of risk assessment method depends on the needs of individual companies. It was determined that the size of the pipeline also determines the choice of risk assessment method and that the complexity of risk assessment should reflect the outcomes that are needed. Data quality is important, as are validation and feedback for calibration and continuous improvement. The basics for developing a facility risk assessment model were also presented along with a review of regulatory expectations. The National Energy Board strives for goal oriented risk assessment to ensure safe and secure systems that protect the environment and people. Public perception is also an issue that some pipeline companies consider in their risk assessment models. tabs., figs.

The execution of the OSBAT 24{sup o}il pipeline rehabilitation project, comprising the substitution of a 30 km section of the 37 years old pipeline has become a real benchmark in the history of this kind of job. The pipeline is inserted in one of the most sensitive environmental areas of the Sao Paulo State - the last Environmental Protection Area of the Mata Atlantica . The growth of human presence in its surroundings during the last three decades, has caused the right-of-way to be totally confined by luxury housing developments, streets, highways and resorts, as well as by the local communities and their activities, schools, and commerce. The pipeline runs through the Serra do Mar unstable mountain range slopes, with sequences of very steep hills and ravines followed by swamps and rivers. The success of such a challenging project - assembling the new line in a narrow ROW with all its restrictions, where the old line was still in operation, and complying with the tight work schedule required by PETROBRAS, was only possible due to a carefully managed combination of: accurate planning, best engineering methods and equipment and experienced workforce, deeply integrated in a massive effort towards safety, environmental care and social responsibility. (author)

This paper presents the development of an integrated simulation model, for the numerical calculation of thermal-hydraulic behaviors in the Brazilian southeast onshore gas pipeline flow system, remotely operated by TRANSPETRO's Gas Pipeline Control Centre (CCG). In its final application, this model is supposed to provide simulated results at the closer range to reality, in order to improve gas pipeline simulation studies and evaluations for the system in question. Considering the fact that numerical thermo-hydraulic simulation becomes the CCG's most important tool to analyze the boundary conditions to adjust the mentioned gas flow system, this paper seeks and takes aim to the optimization of the following prime attributions of a gas pipeline control centre: verification of system behaviors, face to some unit maintenance stop or procedure, programmed or not, or to some new gas outlet or inlet connection to the system; daily operational compatibility analysis between programmed and realized gas volumes; gas technical expedition and delivery analysis. Finally, all this work was idealized and carried out within the one-phase flow domain (dry gas) (author)

Advances in heavy oil transportation technology and their benefits to the petroleum industry were discussed. Interprovincial Pipe Line Inc., (IPL) uses two in-line heaters on its heavy oil pipelines at Edmonton and Hardisty to lower viscosity. The heaters are normally installed in hot, dry climates, but they can also work well in cold weather applications. The heaters warm-up the crude to reduce its viscosity and to increase pipeline capacity. The use of the heaters is restricted for two reasons: (1) environmental damage caused by the effects of heat on surrounding soils and vegetation, and (2) heat loss suffered by pipelines that can not be properly re-insulated. IPL is also developing the use of Drag Reducing Agents (DRA) to increase heavy oil flow rates. DRA is a long-chained polymer that reduces friction of crude against the pipeline wall to increase capacity. It is not yet economical for system-wide application. Ultimately, it would be desirable to have a technology that could eliminate completely the use of diluent to transport heavy oil. It was noted that with time and effort, this ideal should be achievable. 3 figs.

Freight pipelines are reviewed in terms of their application in the materials handling spectrum. Both the technical and economic aspects of these pipelines are discussed. The paper concentrates on the overall development of freight pipelines in terms of current applications, the multipurpose pipeline concept and finally the people pipeline. Examples of existing and proposed systems are cited.

The PETROBRAS is currently repairing about 500 km of thermal insulated pipelines. This fact is directly connected to the failure caused by the deterioration of polyurethane foams. The thermal stability of these foams limited to 80 deg C, the possibility of disruption of the external layer allowing the water penetration, the generation of acid media and the absence of a specific anticorrosive protection for the external pipe surface, are possible causes for severe external pipe corrosion. In the past, gases with halogens derivatives were used for blowing of the polyurethane foam, which is the most used option for thermal insulation of pipelines. Recently, environmentally correct and less corrosive products are developed. In the present work we will examine some of these options. With the results of this work we expect to reduce leakage risks in ground and sea. As well as, create laboratorial methodology to evaluate materials for thermal insulation of pipes, including their compatibility with anticorrosive coatings. (author)

One of the largest South America's enterprises of energy integration of the Bolivia/Brazil gas pipeline in Brazilian side own and operated by TBG has interacted with 05 states, 137 districts and 06 environment governmental entities (IBAMA and States' department) of environment multilateral financial institutions and group of ten of other governmental and not governmental organizations. The level of approved investment was of the order of 1,5 billion dollars, of which about 29 million had been destined the ambient activities. Thus, without precedents in Brazil this work presents the plan of ambient management of the enterprise, created to develop and implement the ambient programs during the construction and operation of the gas pipeline stage. The work here presented will give prominence to the programs of ambient compensation and social communication inside Brazil. (author)

Despite various efforts, no reliable tools and techniques are available to enable an operator to quantify the impact of an SCC (Stress Corrosion Cracking) colony on the safety and integrity of a pipeline. Reliable non-destructive detection and measurement tools are not available either. There is therefore a large gap between current technology and the needs of the pipeline industry. Recent developments promise that with a concentrated effort, a comprehensive solution can be devised. This paper describes technical work performed to develop and validate both the inspection tool and the time of flight diffraction (TOFD) technique for sizing the depth of SCC. It also presents preliminary results of work on a closely related project that provides, on the basis of this technology, an integrated approach and tool for mapping, sizing, and evaluating SCC, through which significant cracks are filtered from more benign cracks within an SCC colony.

Since the last update of these Guidelines in 1987 there have been several important changes in legislation that should be addressed in relation to their effect on Offshore Installations on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). The Food Safety Act 1990 and the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995 are applicable. In addition to the above Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (First-Aid) Regulations 1989 place a duty on employers to make sure that adequate first aid and basic health care provision is made for all personnel on the installation. The Regulations and Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) came into force on 13 September 1990. The amendments presented are thought to be a practical approach to the intentions of the respective Acts and, where applicable, adjust requirements for the particular need and constraints of the industry in the light of modern thinking. (author)

Gas and water accumulations in old mine workings, voids and fault zones are threats to safety in coal mining. There are a variety of measures that can be taken to extract fluids prior to, or during mining; therefore, the ability to locate geological structures and old abandoned working and voids which may not have been mapped accurately are the key to overall success. However, current techniques are of limited use because of either high cost or low resolution. We simulate and evaluate use of high-frequency seismic data acquired in an in-seam geometry through the use of synthetic two-component elastic data for 2-D models. Elastic common-source seismic data collected at the mining coalface contain body waves reflected at coalbed interfaces such as faults and old workings. Reverse-time prestack elastic migration is used to image the interfaces. Numerical tests on synthetic data indicate that this approach is expected to be effective to detect abandoned mining workings containing different fluids (such as water or gas/air) and faults. However, the use of this approach is restricted to the nearest in-seam interface from the mine face. The three items that are new in this paper are (1) the application of wave equation migration to in-seam data, (2) use of a multiplicative (data derived) mask to enhance the migrated image, and (3) the demonstrated potential to distinguish fluids in mine voids from seismic data.

The Louisiana Artificial Reef Program established in 1986, utilizes abandoned oil and gas platforms as artificial reefs. Many factors are considered for site evaluation with the main focus on high-resolution (3.5-12 kHz echograms, single channel seismic, and side-scan sonar) geophysical techniques. By employing these techniques in conjunction with geotechnical information, an accurate determination of potentially hazardous and unstable geologic conditions can be made. The geologic hazards important in this study are gas zones, faults, and mass wasting deposits (slumps, slides, and debris flows), all of which are characteristic along Louisiana's outer continental shelf. Procedures for the evaluation of high-resolution geophysical data have both geologic and engineering applications as illustrated by the following procedures: (1) developing a seafloor geologic map using high-frequency (3.5-12 kHz) echograms in combination with side-scan sonar; (2) mapping of shallow structures such as small faults, channels, and unconformities; (3) determination of gas seeps and near surface accumulations; (4) analysis of near bottom sedimentation processes (turbidity currents, slumps and debris flows) by construction of echo character maps; (5) construction of a hazard map showing geologic features as well as man-made features (pipelines etc.) The main seismic characteristics observed within the planning areas are parallel continuous reflectors (related to pelagic and hemipelagic sedimentation), broken parallel discontinuous reflections (probably turbidite deposition), acoustically chaotic reflectors (indicative of mass wasting deposition), acoustically semitransparent to transparent reflectors (slumping and small debris flows), and wipe out zones or acoustic voids (indicating gas zones).

This paper is a progress report on a research project aimed at the development of coal log technology. Efforts have been directed at the development of technology for the fabrication of stable coal logs, as well as the energy efficient transport of these logs, in particular by pipelines. Work has been directed at new types of binders, new fabrication presses, the application of polymers to reduce transport losses, and modeling efforts.

The United States has a scarcity of capable principals ready to successfully lead schools in an era of outcome-based accountability. This is especially true in high-poverty, high-minority schools. Policy makers welcome opening the principal pipeline to untraditional leaders. Research finds that teachers who have entered education through Troops to Teachers funding make a measurable impact on student learning and tend to work in high-poverty schools. This study suggests that they also may be highly effective principals. (Contains 3 tables.)

The emerging concept of SoC-AMS leads to research new top-down methodologies to aid systems designers in sizing analog and mixed devices. This work applies this idea to the high-level optimization of pipeline ADC. Considering a given technology, it consists in comparing different configurations according to their imperfections and their architectures without FFT computation or time-consuming simulations. The final selection is based on a figure of merit.

A vibration drill is suggested which includes a working organ and vibration mechanism arranged in its housing. For design simplification of the vibration drill, the vibration mechanism is made from two pipelines connected by an elastically pinched tie equipped with an attachment for regulating the wall of its constriction. In addition, the constricting device is made in the form of a regulation screw, while the outer surface of the vibration drill has a screw cut falling towards the top of the profile.

This article reviews the activities of a pluridisciplinary working group founded in 1981 by the Prefect of the Loire region. It was given the task of planning and controlling the filling of the abandoned mines in the region west of Saint-Etienne (Vallee de l'Ondaine). As a result of a number of studies (hydraulic, hydrodynamic, hydrochemical, thermographic, etc.), it was possible to forecast the location of natural or induced flooding, stabilizing the various underground water levels without use of pumps, thus demonstrating that the entire Saint-Etienne coal-mining basin has naturally and gradually developed a new underground hydrodynamic balance (quantity and quality) following initial pumping of drained water. (authors).

The Wavegen Project which set out to develop a floating externally tensioned articulated wave-energy generator based on work carried out at RMCS Shrivenham in the 1980s has been abandoned until further notice. The computer modelling carried out in the early days indicated much promise, but the promise turned to disappointment when difficulties cropped-up in attempting to put the design into practice. A particular problem arose in matching the external tension to an equivalent beam stiffness to tune the natural bending frequency of the raft to that of the driving waves. A further eleven practical problems encountered are discussed.

Beyond collecting traditional circulation statistics, tracking in-house use of library materials is a significant measure of how patrons use our resources. In our pilot project, Lending Services staff members conducted nightly pick-ups of library materials left on tables, in carrels, in study rooms, as well as books cast aside in the stacks areas as patrons browsed the book stacks. We obtained a two week sample of these "abandoned" materials, quantifying the in-house use by our patrons while also counting the routine work of our Lending Services department. (Contains 5 figures.)

The purpose of this technical note is to present preliminary results of an acoustic monitoring study performed as part of a comprehensive rock mechanic and geophysics research program (Ref.20) associated with large-scale heater tests in an abandoned iron-ore mine in central Sweden. The investigation was performed in a fractured granitic rock mass at a sub-surface depth of 340 m, in a drift adjacent to the original iron-ore mine workings. Acoustic monitoring took place between four empty, dry, vertical boreholes of 10 m depth spaced in the vicinity of a vertical heater borehole in the floor of a drift.

One of the severe problems of the nuclear industry that should be resolved to facilitate its acceptance like viable energy alternative is of the wastes. In spite of having alternative of fuel reprocessing, many of them have been abandoned by economic or security reasons. In the present work, the alternative is described for using reactors of nuclear fusion as sources of fast neutrons with two important applications in mind: the plutonium burning and the transmutation of the elements that contribute in way more important to their radioactivity, mainly the smaller actinides and the fission products of long half life. (Author)

Research work has been carried out to in view of developing an expert system for the aid in fault diagnosis. Research activities in expert systems focus more on knowledge representation than on the other aspects as knowledge acquisition or knowledge processing. In the case of diagnosis, the event-oriented approach was first applied. Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) methods were used to represent all the possibilities which lead to a plant failure. Due to the non-exhaustivity of failure events, this approach was abandoned. It is however concluded that the PSA is a reasonable approach if the objective of the expert system is to diagnose precursors to potential accidents and to alert the operators.

A geophysical investigation was conducted at Cluster 6 Site 5, located in Westwood Area of the U.S. Army Aberdeen Proving Ground. This site is the former Westwood Area Radioactive Material Disposal Facility (WRMDF) which was used for processing and packaging radioactive waste material prior to disposal. Original structures at the site included Building 3013 and adjacent concrete slabs where the waste handling work was performed, a small equipment shed, and a wastewater holding and drain system which included tanks in a concrete pit. Discharge of wastewater from the tanks was to Reardon Inlet, located a short distance south of the tank pit. Possible release of radioactive waste to the environment would have been due to either spillage, leakage, or discharge from the wastewater system. Two terra cotta pipelines, one on the western end and one of the eastern end, extended from Building 3013 to Reardon Inlet. The east pipeline handled low-level radioactive wastewater. The west pipeline was the original wastewater line and it is presumed that radioactive wastewater was not discharged through this line. After radioactive waste handling activities were discontinued at WRMDF, the west pipeline system was upgraded to include a septic tank, sand filter bed, and a chlorine contact chamber. The structures associated with the WRMDF were removed during the early 1970`s, including the concrete tank pit. Both pipelines are visible near the edge of Reardon inlet, suggesting that the pipes and related structures have not been removed. Geophysical surveys, including magnetics, electromagnetics (EM), and ground penetrating radar, were performed to identify the location of the two terra cotta pipes, septic tank, and sand filter bed.

The Kepler Science Operations Center (SOC) is responsible for several aspects of the Kepler Mission, including managing targets, generating onboard data compression tables, monitoring photometer health and status, processing science data, and exporting Kepler Science Processing Pipeline products to the Multi-mission Archive at Space Telescope [Science Institute] (MAST). We describe how the pipeline framework software developed for the Kepler Mission is used to achieve these goals, including development of pipeline configurations for processing science data and performing other support roles, and development of custom unit-of-work generators for controlling how Kepler data are partitioned and distributed across the computing cluster. We describe the interface between the Java software that manages data retrieval and storage for a given unit of work and the MATLAB algorithms that process the data. The data for each unit of work are packaged into a single file that contains everything needed by the science algorithms, allowing the files to be used to debug and evolve the algorithms offline.

...Act of 2011 Relating to the Keystone XL Pipeline Permit Presidential Documents...Act of 2011 Relating to the Keystone XL Pipeline Permit Memorandum for the Secretary...enactment, of whether the Keystone XL pipeline project as set forth in...

...Final EIS, BLM, 00, UNEV Pipeline Project, Construction of a 399-mile Long Main Petroleum Products Pipeline, Salt Lake, Tooele, Juab...20100126, Draft EIS, DOS, 00, Keystone XL Oil Pipeline Project, Presidential...

...OF NATURAL AND OTHER GAS BY PIPELINE: MINIMUM FEDERAL SAFETY STANDARDS Gas Transmission Pipeline Integrity Management...pipeline. (c) Risk assessment. An operator must...covered segments for the baseline and continual...

...OF NATURAL AND OTHER GAS BY PIPELINE: MINIMUM FEDERAL SAFETY STANDARDS Gas Transmission Pipeline Integrity Management...process of evaluation and assessment to maintain a pipeline's...After completing the baseline integrity...

...regional pipeline system based on the IEUA's...modifying the pipeline profiles to accommodate...valves that must be buried would require lowering the pipeline depth several...indicating there are no systems of comparable...ARRA recipient or loss on behalf...

...pipeline with 24-inch- diameter natural gas transmission pipeline; Installing...miles of new 24-inch- diameter natural gas pipeline; [[Page 45109...Modifying piping at two existing compressor stations. The EA has been...

...TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED) PIPELINE SAFETY TRANSPORTATION OF HAZARDOUS LIQUIDS BY PIPELINE Construction § 195...Except for offshore pipelines, pumping equipment...property that is under the control of the operator and...the fire protection system installed...

...2010-10-01 false Control of the pressure...distribution systems. 192.197...Continued) PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS...OTHER GAS BY PIPELINE: MINIMUM FEDERAL...STANDARDS Design of Pipeline Components § 192.197 Control of the pressure...distribution systems. (a)...

...TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED) PIPELINE SAFETY TRANSPORTATION...NATURAL AND OTHER GAS BY PIPELINE: MINIMUM FEDERAL SAFETY STANDARDS Design of Pipeline Components § 192.203 Instrument, control, and sampling pipe...to permanently closed systems, such as...

...Continued) PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS...CONTINUED) PIPELINE SAFETY LIQUEFIED...that the transfer system is ready for use, with connections and controls in proper positions, including if the system could contain a...transfers into a pipeline system will...

...NATURAL AND OTHER GAS BY PIPELINE: MINIMUM FEDERAL SAFETY...STANDARDS Gas Distribution Pipeline Integrity Management...its gas distribution system developed from reasonably...characteristics of the pipeline's design and operations...history, corrosion control records,...

...TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED) PIPELINE SAFETY TRANSPORTATION OF HAZARDOUS LIQUIDS BY PIPELINE Pressure Testing...replaced or added to the pipeline system need not be hydrostatically...manufactured under a quality control system that...

...Business Practices for Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines AGENCY: Federal Energy...Standards Board (NAESB) applicable to natural gas pipelines. The Commission, however...Standards Board (NAESB) applicable to natural gas pipelines. The Commission,...

The Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 established a risk-based program for gas transmission pipelines-the integrity management program. The program requires operators of natural and other gas transmission pipelines to identify 'high consequence area...

Results obtained from investigations and adjustment works on a K-300-170-1R steam turbine carried out concurrently with a comprehensive set of works (adjustment of the support and suspension system of pipelines, analysis of thermal expansions of the cylinders and operating conditions of the bearings, optimization of the steam admission system, balancing works, and others) aimed at improving the turbine unit vibration performance are presented. The use of such integrated approach makes it possible to efficiently settle matters concerned with removing increased vibration of a turbine unit.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is responsible for ensuring the safe, reliable, and environmentally sound operation of the nation's natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines. Regulations adopted by PHMSA for gas pipelines are provided in 49 CFR 192, and spacing requirements for valves in gas transmission pipelines are presented in 49 CFR 192.179. The present report describes the findings of a scoping study conducted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to assist PHMSA in assessing the safety impact of system valve spacing. Calculations of the pressures, temperatures, and flow velocities during a set of representative pipe depressurization transients were carried out using a one-dimensional numerical model with either ideal gas or real gas properties for the fluid. With both ideal gas and real gas properties, the high-consequence area radius for any resulting fire as defined by Stevens in GRI-00/0189 was evaluated as one measure of the pipeline safety. In the real gas case, a model for convective heat transfer from the pipe wall is included to assess the potential for shut-off valve failures due to excessively low temperatures resulting from depressurization cooling of the pipe. A discussion is also provided of some additional factors by which system valve spacing could affect overall pipeline safety. The following conclusions can be drawn from this work: (1) Using an adaptation of the Stephens hazard radius criteria, valve spacing has a negligible influence on natural gas pipeline safety for the pipeline diameter, pressure range, and valve spacings considered in this study. (2) Over the first 30 s of the transient, pipeline pressure has a far greater effect on the hazard radius calculated with the Stephens criteria than any variations in the transient flow decay profile and the average discharge rate. (3) Other factors besides the Stephens criteria, such as the longer burn time for an accidental fire, greater period of danger to emergency personnel, increased unavoidable loss of gas, and possible depressurization cooling of the shut-off valves may also be important when deciding whether a change in the required valve spacing would be beneficial from a safety standpoint. (4) The average normalized discharge rate of {lambda}{sub avg} = 0.33 assumed by Stephens in developing his safety criteria is an excellent conservative value for natural gas discharge at the pressures, valve spacings, and pipe diameter used in this study. This conclusion remains valid even when real rather than ideal gas properties are considered in the analysis. (5) Significant pipe wall cooling effects (T{sub w} < -50 F or 228 K) can extend for a mile or more upstream from the rupture point within 30 s of a break. These conditions are colder than the temperature range specifications for many valve lubricants. The length of the low-temperature zone due to this cooling effect is also essentially independent of the system shut-off valve spacing or the distance between the break and a compressor station. (6) Having more redundant shut-off valves available would reduce the probability that pipe cooling effects could interfere with isolating the broken area following a pipeline rupture accident.

This work, aims to sharpen the main difficulties of acting in SMS and the corrective and preventive measures in the work of the pipeline Urucu / Manaus, located in the influence of the Solimoes River, covering several municipalities in the state of Amazonas (Coari, Codajas, Caapiranga, Anama, Iranduba, Manaus). Such pipeline has three spread, namely Spread A, from Urucu to Coari, Spread B1, from Coari to Anama, and Spread B2, from Anama to Manaus. For the purpose of the present case, we have focused on the Spread B2, from the city of Anama to Manaus, from km 475 to Km 662, being 174,400 m long. Its main line ends right within the premises of the Refinaria Isaac Sabba (a local refinery), which is located at Rua Rio Quixito - Distrito Industrial. The purpose of the pipeline is to convey natural gas to the Pressure Regulating Station, which is located close by the aforementioned refinery. The gas is transported to Maua Thermoelectrical, to generate energy for certain areas of the Amazon capital city. The information has been obtained through observations made on the difficulties faced by the workers to comply with safety behaviour while carrying out their activities. Also, by using several tools, such us Auditoria Comportamental (Behaviour Auditing) - Audicomp, Aplicacao de Listas de Verificacao - LV's (Verification Lists), as well as Indice de Praticas Seguras - IPS (Safety Practices Index). The collected data is analysed, and displayed in graphics, tables and processed in PETROBRAS internal systems, such Audicomp (Behaviour Auditing), SALV (Verification Lists Application System), and Auditoria de IPS (Safety Practices Index Auditing). The main difficulties to implement SMS (Safety, Environment and Health) in a pipeline works in the Amazon require from the transportation logistics, communication problems, lack of enough local skilled labor, the adverse region's season conditions, both flood and dry seasons, as well as to commit the local population with Safety, Environment and Health principles, since they are not used to deal with such subject. (author)

...Commission's regulations under the Natural Gas Act for authorization to abandon, in...abandon, in place, the Lake Charles Compressor Facilities, which include two natural gas-driven compressor units totaling 2,464 horsepower....

...TN-001-FOR; OSM 2011-0010] Tennessee Abandoned Mine Land Program AGENCY...receipt of a proposed amendment to the Tennessee Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Reclamation...Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Tennessee has submitted the amendment to...

...CONTINUED) PIPELINE SAFETY TRANSPORTATION...Office of Pipelline Safety, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration...Standardization Society of the Valve and Fittings Industry...American Society for Testing and Materials...

...Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) PIPELINE...ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED) PIPELINE SAFETY TRANSPORTATION OF HAZARDOUS LIQUIDS...endangered species, depleted marine mammal species,...

...Transportation (Continued) PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS...TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED) PIPELINE SAFETY LIQUEFIED NATURAL...Each cathodic protection system must be designed and...with communications and control...

Total Infrastructure Gaz France (TIGF) provides and develops natural gas transport and storage services on a European scale to meet its customers' needs. It achieves a turnover of almost 300 million Euros and employs some 370 people. Backed by 50 years of expertise, TIGF is a major player in the natural gas market in 15 departements in South-West France. TIGF has drawn up an indicative development plan for the network for 2008-2017. This document gives an overview of proposed investments and of the development of transport services provided by TIGF, responding to changes in the gas market, the shippers' growing need for transport capacity and the forecast growth in gas consumption in the TIGF area (proposed CCGT gas fired power stations). Investment in gas infrastructure is a major step forward towards assuring the development of a competitive market that is fair, transparent and non-discriminatory for the years to come. That is why TIGF is focussing its development in the coming years on increasing the fluidity of transits entering/leaving its area. As the gas market is currently in a state of continuous change, and major uncertainties hang over the needs of the various players particularly over exchanges with the area to the north of TIGF, with Spain and the installation of a methane terminal at Verdon. In this uncertain climate, TIGF will focus on developing the WEST corridor for the next 5 years (2008- 2013), to provide reversibility of flows between France and Spain. This will cover the following works: the LACAL pipeline (Lacq-Calahorra), the Bearn Pipeline Artery (Lussagnet - Lacq), increased capacity on the Guyenne Pipeline Artery and on the EUSKADOUR pipeline (Coudure - Arcangues). This pipeline corridor, on which TIGF's development work started in 2007, is currently the one at the most advanced stage. For the next few years it will become the sole exchange hub between northern Spain and southern France. Beyond 2013, depending on market developments, TIGF has quantified the following projects: - The development of the existing EUSKADOUR link (Lussagnet - Bilbao connection) to increase exchange capacity on the Western Pipeline Corridor. - The development of a new connection with Spain to the east of the TIGF area (MIDCAT project (Midi - Catalonia)). If the market, which will be consulted in the near future, shows itself to be attracted to capacities in excess of those developed on the Western Corridor, then TIGF may decide to develop a new interconnection to the East of its area between Le Perthus and Barbaira (Carcassonne)

This work attempts to summarize the results of extensive research work and fullscale tests with regard to some important criteria about pipeline safety that can be used in practice by the pipe manufacturer and the pipeline operator and to supplement them with new results and comments. Especially, it is demonstrated that the DWTT specimen to API is well suited to define the ductile-brittle transition temperature. To avoid long-running fractures, recommendations about the necessary toughness are made. The evaluation of the flaws in girth welds can be made by means of a guideline that can be used easily. Finally, the results concerning the fatigue strength of linepipe in service are presented and suggestions are made regarding the design of sea bed pipelines in deep waters, which are subjected to external pressure from ambient water. (orig.) [German] Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird versucht, die Ergebnisse umfangreicher Forschungsarbeiten an Grossrohren bezueglich einiger wichtiger Kriterien fuer die Leitungssicherheit fuer den praktischen Gebrauch durch Rohrhersteller und Betreiber zusammenzufassen und sie mit einigen neuen Ergebnissen und Bemerkungen zu ergaenzen. Insbesondere wird gezeigt, dass die DWTT-Probe nach API die Uebergangstemperatur vom sproeden zum zaehen Bruch gut beschreibt. Zur Vermeidung langlaufender Risse werden Empfehlungen fuer die notwendige Zaehigkeit gegeben. Die Bewertung von Fehlern in Rundschweissnaehten kann anhand einer leicht anwendbaren Richtlinie erfolgen. Schliesslich werden neue Versuchsergebnisse zur Betriebsfestigkeit von Grossrohren mitgeteilt und Hinweise fuer die Auslegung von aussendruckbeanspruchten Rohrleitungen bei Tiefseeverlegung gegeben. (orig.)

For certain applications, pipelines may be submitted to biaxial loading situations. In these cases, it is not clear the influence of the biaxial loading on the fracture mechanics behavior of cracked pipelines. For further understanding of biaxial loading effects, this work presents a numerical simulation of ductile tearing in a circumferentially surface cracked pipe under biaxial loading using the computational cell methodology. The model was adjusted with experimental results obtained in laboratory using single edge cracked under tension (SENT) specimens. These specimens appear as the better alternative to conventional fracture specimens to characterize fracture toughness of cracked pipes. The negligible effect of biaxial loadings on resistance curves was demonstrated. To guarantee the similarities of stress and strains fields between SENT specimens and cracked pipes subjected to biaxial loading, a constraint study using the J-Q methodology and the h parameter was used. The constraint study gives information about the characteristics of the crack-tip conditions. (author)

Pressure pipe inspection in nuclear power plants is one of the mandatory regulation items. Comparing to manual ultrasonic inspection, automatic inspection has the benefits of more accurate and reliable inspection results and reduction of radiation disposal. final object of this project is to develop an automatic pipeline inspection system of pressure pipe welds in nuclear power plants. We developed a pipeline scanning robot with four magnetic wheels and 2-axis manipulator for controlling ultrasonic transducers, and developed the robot control computer which controls the robot to navigate along inspection path exactly. We expect our system can contribute to reduction of inspection time, performance enhancement, and effective management of inspection results. The system developed by this project can be practically used for inspection works after field tests. (author)

Pneumatic conveying of bulk materials has become an important technology in many industries: from pharmaceuticals to petro-chemicals and power generation. Particulate segregation has been investigated in many solids handling processes. However, little work has been published on the segregation and mixing in pneumatic conveying pipelines, particularly in dense phase pneumatic conveying. Due to the character of dense phase flow, it is difficult to investigate the segregation in a flowing plug. A sampling device was designed and built to take samples from the pneumatic conveying pipeline after ?catching a plug??. Several experiments were conducted over a range of gas?solids flow conditions with 3?mm nylon pellets and 3?mm ballotini as a segregating mixture. Experimental data combined with vid...

Pipelined Frequency Transform (PFT) is a new real-time conversion and filtering architecture that is said to be faster than Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT). When signals with large bandwidth (80 MHz and above) must be channelled in true-time, the power of the hardware and the effort laid down in the development of new software, and the work done on systems integration, all often increase exponentially with operational frequency and the number of channels to be processed. The challenge is no longer on the analogue side, but to handle the mass of digital data in true time. Pipelined Frequency Transform (PFT), which was developed and patented by RF Engines Ltd. in Great Britain, is a new type of hardware by means of which it is possible to achieve a much higher quality of real-time data at simpler hardware than with traditional use of FFT.

The authors describe a word-spotting algorithm that allows to compare the words of a given vocabulary against the outputs of the phonemic analysis of a pronounced sentence. The word-spotting algorithm (a simplified version) has been implemented in the Keal speech understanding system for the recognition of large vocabularies. This version constitutes the basis of the authors work. The parallel execution scheme of this algorithm combines classical multiprocessing and pipelining. The computation is decomposed into a great number of elementary activities that may be run in parallel. An important characteristic of these activities is that they are all built from the same unique model. In the following, the authors show that this computation may be supported by a simple and regular processor array which is capable of pipelining searches of successive words. 7 references.

The aim of this work is to evaluate the reliability of non-destructive test (NDT) techniques for the inspection of pipeline welds employed in the petroleum industry. Radiography, manual and automatic ultrasonic techniques using pulse-echo and time of flight diffraction (TOFD) were employed. Three classes of defects were analyzed: lack of penetration (LP), lack of fusion (LF) and undercut (UC). The tests were carried out on specimen made from pipelines containing defects, which had been artificially inserted on laying the weld bead. The results showed the superiority of the automatic ultrasonic tests for defect detection compared with the manual ultrasonic and radiographic tests. Additionally, artificial neural networks (ANN) were used in the detection and automatic classification of the defects.

When crude oil and water are simultaneously transported in mild steel pipelines, corrosion problems are generally associated with the water phase being in contact with the metal surface at the bottom of the pipe. Consequently, knowing whether oil or water wets the pipe wall is an important factor, which can affect the corrosion mitigation strategy and increase confidence in the integrity of the pipeline. There are large knowledge gaps in this area of research and consequently only very crude empirical criteria are used in the industry. In the present work an experimental study of oil-water flow was conducted in a large diameter (0.1m ID) horizontal multiphase flow loop using four measurement techniques: flow pattern visualization, conductivity pins, fluid sampling and monitoring of corrosi...

Research relating to the strength of first year ice ridge keels and the current methods to calculate ice forces were described, and the application of this work to subsea facilities such as pipelines was discussed. Consideration of three possible limits to ice loads which affect ice scouring processes was suggested. First, ice was sometimes found to fail close to a structure as it was pushed into it by large driving forces. Second, to calculate limit stress load it is necessary to understand the strength of the ice feature in the appropriate failure mode. Third, the strength of ridge keels will limit ice scour depth and the loads imposed on subsea pipelines and other seabed facilities. Ice forces can also be limited by the driving forces on the ice feature, or by its momentum. These limit may also have relevance to ice scour processes. 2 refs.

The environmental Control Plan of the Construction Activities of the Pipeline is a planning tool which sets forth the guidelines and procedures to be adopted by the companies in charge of the construction, so as to manage and minimize the environmental impacts arising from its implementation throughout the several steps of the work. Most of the impacts on the soil, vegetation, wildlife and population are local, on a space and timely basis, and occur mainly during the pipeline implementation. Such impacts may, to a great extend, be mitigated to acceptable levels through the application of the measures provided here under during and after the construction. So, the main purposes of the present Plan are to avoid, minimized, control and litigate potential impacts arising from the construction and operation, and to assure continuous compliance with the applicable environmental legislation. (author)

The pipe-soil interaction at the touchdown zone (TDZ) during pipeline installation is of great importance as the pipe embedment has significant influence on various aspects of the performance of the pipeline. Most of the published works focus on the pipe-soil interaction at a pipe segment of unit length ignoring the lay effects, or simplify the seabed as a series of springs. Deepwater deposits are usually very soft, exhibiting low strength and plasticity. This paper aims to reveal the pipe-soil interaction mechanism on plastic seabed during J-lay through an analytical model. The seabed deforms plastically during loading with certain stiffness, but the stiffness during unloading is infinitely large so that the deformation of the seabed is irrecoverable. This model is established based on a ...

A systematic design approach for low-power 10-bit, 100MS/s pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is presented. At architectural level various per-stage-resolution are analyzed and most suitable architecture is selected for designing 10-bit, 100MS/s pipeline ADC. At Circuit level a modified wide-bandwidth and high-gain two-stage operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) proposed in this work is used in track-and-hold amplifier (THA) and multiplying digital-to-analog converter (MDAC) sections, to reduce power consumption and thermal noise contribution by the ADC. The signal swing of the analog functional blocks (THA and MDAC sections) is allowed to exceed the supply voltage (1.8V), which further increases the dynamic range of the circuit. Charge-sharing comparator is proposed in thi...

This Insight conference was held to review many of the legal aspects, legislation and regulations dealing with abandoned wells within the petroleum and natural gas industry. Remedial actions to rehabilitate the abandoned sites, legal issues in abandonment, obligations of the owner, the industry-sponsored Orphans Wells Program, were some of the topics discussed.

IR (infrared) inspection is being used to inspect oil pipelines on the North Slope of Alaska. The object of this inspection is to detect water trapped in the foam insulation around the steel pipes before it can cause corrosion that could result in a pipeline leak. This is referred to as Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI). The same method can be used to inspect insulated pipelines containing LNG (liquid natural gas), steam, heated chemicals, cryogenic fluids, etc. As long as the temperature in the pipe is substantially different (+ or -) than the ambient temperature, the IR evaluation method can work. Analysis can predict whether it will work for a specific application and operating conditions. IR can scan multiple pipes quickly and is a good qualitative screening method for detecting water trapped in insulation. Anomalies found by IR are evaluated further using RT ("C-Arm" or other RT technique) or other NDT methods. RT is a relatively slow technique compared to IR, but it is capable of detecting both water and pipe wall thinning. When the water level is high enough to reach the steel pipeline, corrosion of the pipe can occur. In this case, the corrosion is from the outside of the pipe inward. Other corrosion and erosion may take place from the inside out. Corrosion and erosion can eventually result in a hole in the pipe, which results in a leak. Thermal modeling has been performed to predict the environmental conditions under which IR testing will be successful. IR test procedures have been written and a personnel certification program has been implemented.

This report represents the thirteenth Technical Progress Report issued in connection with the subsidence remediation projects undertaken by Rockaway Township in Morris County, New Jersey. This report provides a summary of the major project work accomplished during this semi annual reporting period and contemplated for the subsequent reporting period. This report is issued as part of the project reporting provisions set forth in the Cooperators Agreement between the United States Government--Department of Energy, and Rockaway Township. The purpose of the Cooperators Agreement is for the Department of Energy to provide technical and financial assistance in a coordinated effort with Rockaway Township to develop and implement a multi-phased plan to remediate ground stability problems associated with abandoned mining activity. Primarily during the 1800's, extensive iron ore mining and prospecting was undertaken in Rockaway Township, part of the Dover District Mining region in Morris County. The abandoned mining activity has resulted in public safety hazards associated with ground collapse and surface subsidence features evolving in both developed and undeveloped areas within Rockaway Township. At the Green Pond Mine site at the Township's Jacobs Road Compost Storage Facility, construction was completed during this reporting period and surface monitoring began. Surface monitoring was conducted periodically at the Mt. Hope Road subsidence work area and adjacent areas after the January 2000 construction effort.

A nuclear reactor for generating electricity is disposed underground at the bottom of a vertical hole that can be drilled using conventional drilling technology. The primary coolant of the reactor core is the working fluid in a plurality of thermodynamically coupled heat pipes emplaced in the hole between the heat source at the bottom of the hole and heat exchange means near the surface of the earth. Additionally, the primary coolant (consisting of the working flud in the heat pipes in the reactor core) moderates neutrons and regulates their reactivity, thus keeping the power of the reactor substantially constant. At the end of its useful life, the reactor core may be abandoned in place. Isolation from the atmosphere in case of accident or for abandonment is provided by the operation of explosive closures and mechanical valves emplaced along the hole. This invention combines technology developed and tested for small, highly efficient, space-based nuclear electric power plants with the technology of fast-acting closure mechanisms developed and used for underground testing of nuclear weapons. This invention provides a nuclear power installation which is safe from the worst conceivable reactor accident, namely, the explosion of a nuclear weapon near the ground surface of a nuclear power reactor.

Guided time-harmonic shear horizontal (SH) waves propagating in the circumferential direction of an isotropic hollow cylinder are studied. The dispersion equation as well as the displacement and stress field across the wall thickness is derived analytically. Compared with the SH waves in a plate, a quantitative guideline of how well a plate model can approximate a pipe in the circumferential direction is given for defect characterization purpose. The work is also crucial for initiating work efforts on three-dimensional wave scattering for pipeline inspection.

The works involved in laying and operating networks in built-up areas generally induce large earthworks. The resulting disturbances are less and less tolerated by the public and local government units which bear their social cost. Lack of coordination between players in the public sector is especially badly perceived. Accordingly, Electricite de France and Gaz de France, notably in the region of Paris, are, first, making every effort to coordinate works in order to minimize the number and size of earthworks, and, secondly, promoting the use of techniques which reduce environmental nuisances, such as reusing existing ducts as sleeves (sheathing and tubing), carrying out diggings with small surface dimensions or laying new ducts by guided horizontal drilling. All these methods are part of a shared EDG/GDF project named {open_quotes}TRD{close_quotes} (Travaux Rapides et Discrets - Rapid and Discrete Works). Moreover, as the subsoil in the Paris area and the lle-de-France is already close to congestion, it seemed of interest to optimize management of underground space. The purpose of this paper is to describe a method which combines the two concepts {open_quotes}coordination and rapid and discrete works{close_quotes}. More precisely, this paper will take up an easy, confidential information system enabling the different players to notify each other of the works planning toward coordinated solutions and to jointly develop works techniques without trench. We shall take a close look at the management of an {open_quotes}abandoned duct{close_quotes} database, as any player should be able to reuse such abandoned ducts.

...carbon dioxide through a low-stress pipeline or segment of pipeline...in subpart B, a rural low-stress pipeline of any diameter...Coast Guard; (4) A low-stress pipeline that serves refining...facilities or storage or in-plant piping systems associated with...

This report summarizes a research program on the transport of coal by formation of coal logs, and subsequent transport in pipelines. Separate projects within this program address questions on the formation of the coal logs, flow in pipelines, including slurry pipelines, interaction with water, wear in pipelines, and questions on economics and legal aspects.

In high-order alluvial river systems, physical factors of flooding and channel migration are particularly important drivers of riparian forest dynamics because they regulate habitat creation, resource fluxes of water, nutrients and light that are critical for growth, and mortality from fluvial disturbance. Predicting vegetation composition and dynamics at individual sites in this setting is challenging, both because of the stochastic nature of the flood regime and the spatial variability of flood events. Ecological models that correlate environmental factors with species’ occurrence and abundance (e.g., ’niche models’) often work well in infrequently-disturbed upland habitats, but are less useful in river corridors and other dynamic zones where environmental conditions fluctuate greatly and selection pressures on disturbance-adapted organisms are complex. In an effort to help conserve critical riparian forest habitat along the middle Sacramento River, CA, we are taking a mechanistic approach to quantify linkages between fluvial and biotic processes for Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii), a keystone pioneer tree in dryland rivers ecosystems of the U.S. Southwest. To predict the corridor-wide population effects of projected changes to the disturbance regime from flow regulation, climate change, and landscape modifications, we have coupled a physical model of channel meandering with a patch-based population model that incorporates the climatic, hydrologic, and topographic factors critical for tree recruitment and survival. We employed these linked simulations to study the relative influence of the two most critical habitat types--point bars and abandoned channels--in sustaining the corridor-wide cottonwood population over a 175-year period. The physical model uses discharge data and channel planform to predict the spatial distribution of new habitat patches; the population model runs on top of this physical template to track tree colonization and survival on each patch. Model parameters of tree life-history traits (e.g., dispersal timing) and hydrogeomorphic processes (e.g., sedimentation rate) were determined by field and experimental studies, and aerial LIDAR, with separate range of values for point bar versus floodplain habitats. In most runs, abandoned channels were colonized one third as frequently as point bars, but supported much larger forest patches when colonization was successful (from 15-99% of forest area, depending on point bar success). Independent evaluation of aerial photos confirm that cottonwood forest stands associated with abandoned channels were less frequent (38% of all stands) but more extensive (53% of all forest area) relative to those caused by migrating point bars. Results indicate that changes to the rate and scale of river migration, and particularly channel abandonment, from human and climatic alterations to the flow regime will likely influence riparian corridor-wide tree population structure and forest dynamics, with consequences for the community of organisms that depend on this habitat.

Pigs have gotten an unfortunate reputation for getting stuck in pipelines. As a result, for many years few pigged their pipelines and consequently, many companies are paying the price to repair or replace their corroded pipelines. It is currently considered a necessary evil to run pigs to improve pipeline efficiency and prevent corrosion. Some pipelines were not designed to run pigs and occasionally the wrong type of pig is selected to run in a particular pipeline, increasing the chances of sticking a pig. A pipeline properly designed for pigging along with proper pig selection greatly reduces chances of sticking a pig.

The invention relates to a pipeline vehicle designed for inspection and maintenance. Self-driven vehicle for pipelines characterized by comprising: a cylindrically designed vehicle body through which and/or around which the pipeline`s medium flows, a drive unit on the vehicle body which resiliently bears against the pipeline`s internal surface, a hydraulic system which powers the drive module, a power supply system for operation of the hydraulic system, and a controller which at least controls the vehicle`s movement in the pipeline. 20 figs.

The impacts to wildlife in areas where gas pipelines will be implemented are considerable, changing the existing balance. The main environmental measure adopted in the cases is the deployment of the Fauna Management Programme. This programme is sub - divided into two: Monitoring and Rescue of the fauna. The tracking step starts before the installation of the venture, with the completion of a first in order to identify the impacts before the venture, and finishes two years after the end of the works. These studies are based on guidelines set in the Normative Instruction of the environmental licensor agency, in which the criteria for implementation are restrictive, often without making a license agency distinction of methodology for enterprises with different characteristics. This article intended to review the criteria and the procedures established by the legislation and its real applicability in gas pipeline projects face to the environmental impacts identified to this activity. For this analysis, the methodology used was the case study of two gas pipelines: Cabiunas - Vitoria (GASCAV) and Cacimbas - Catu (GASCAC). The results allowed to conclude that the actions developed to the Sub-Programme of Rescue of the fauna are satisfactory to control environmental impacts and that the Sub-Programme of Monitoring of the fauna just confirm behaviors and information's previous detected. (author)

The environmental assessment process is one of the most important phases in the implementation of pipeline projects. For that reason, new technologies and work procedures are used to perform the environmental assessment of areas where pipeways will be implemented. Since the quality of environmental assessment studies influences the social acceptance of projects and, consequently, the time required to obtain the environmental permits, PETROBRAS (Engenharia/IETEG/ETEG/EAMB) applies advanced technological tools to acquire remote sensing data (conventional / digital aero-surveys and satellite images), as well as software for digital image processing and integration and spatial analysis of information. Information about the physical, biological and socioeconomic environments are further verified and complemented through field trips using helicopters. This process makes it possible to identify environmentally favorable corridors to develop guidelines for the implementation of the pipeline, assuring its environmental feasibility, and produces relevant data to support the Environmental Impact Assessment Study, the Environmental Impact Assessment Report and the Risk Analysis Study. As an example of the application of this methodology, this paper presents results of the assessment of the Cacimbas / Catu gas pipeline, which is currently being permitted and is planned to be implemented in areas of high environmental complexity. (author)

Due to the rapid development of the information technology, ageing is not the only driving force for replacing old computer systems with more sophisticated ones. The Finnish natural Gas company, Gasum Oy, has recently taken into use a new control and monitoring system for natural gas pipeline. A special customer service system, developed by Gasum Oy, is closely connected to monitoring system. It provides up-to-date information to all customers of Gasum Oy. The information is layered in three confidential levels: general information, operational data and invoicing information. The system is operating interactively in confidential Extranet. Inside Gasum Oy to meet the needs of departments outside the control room, a new GID system is developed. GID is a way to present pipeline process data and its further modifications with a very user-friendly interface based on geographical map. The system is based on data warehouse architecture and it is working on company's Intranet. This makes it possible to present various secrecy level information based on user ID. Gasum's new SCADA is not only the base for operating the pipeline, but it also provides lot of vital information to other systems serving different user groups within natural gas business in Finland. (authors)

Accurate evaluation of the residual strength for corroded pipes remains essential in fitness for service analyses, including repair decisions and life-extension programs, of onshore and offshore oil and gas transportation. As the pipeline infrastructure ages, material loss due to corrosion represents one of the main degradation factors of steel pipes which leads to strength reduction and potential catastrophic failures. Current high resolution methods can precisely measure the geometry of corrosion defects. Despite the improvement of those techniques, they are insufficient to ensure high levels of reliability in the burst pressure assessment because the recognized semi-empirical nature of conventional procedures. This work studies the applicability of a stress based criterion based upon plastic instability to predict the burst pressure of pipelines with axial corrosion defects. Verification studies based on experimental burst tests of large diameter pipes made of API X65 and X100 steels with different defect length showed the effectiveness of the proposed criterion based on {sigma}{sup ref} ={eta}{sigma}{sub u} in failure predictions, even though the {eta} factor exhibits a potential strong dependence of the defect geometry and material properties. In general, the results presented here provide an effective support to the ability of the proposed stress based criterion in the integrity assessment of corroded pipelines. (author)

Microbiology induced corrosion (MIC) process associated with sulfate reducing bacteria (BRS) are one of the most important matter of concern for the oil and gas industry as 77% of failures have been attributed this sort of degradation. Corrosion products found present in gas transportation pipelines, the so-called 'black-powder' problem, are also a nuisance and source of economic losses for the gas industry. According to the literature, the incidence of black-powder can be ascribed to the metabolism of BRS that can be found in the gas environment. Integrity monitoring programs of gas pipelines adopt pigging as an important tool for internal corrosion monitoring. Solid residue such as the black-powder, collected by pigging, as well as the condensed, can be seen as a very valuable samples for microbiological analyses that can be used to detect and quantify bacteria related to the incidence of MIC processes. In the present work results concerning samples collected by pigging and condensed are presented. Small populations of viable BRS have been found in the pipeline. It can be seen that the inclusion of microbiological analyses of solid and liquid residues as a complementary action in the integrity monitoring programs adopted by gas transportation industry can be very helpful on the decision making concerning preventive and corrective actions to be taken in order to maintain the CIM processes under control. (author)

Arakis Energy Corporation is a Calgary-based independent oil exploration company targeting international exploration and development opportunities. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, the State Petroleum Corporation, Arakis is currently engaged to help discover, produce and transport oil in the Sudan. With an accelerated drilling program and pipeline preconstruction activities the Sudan project is on target for production start-up of 150,000 barrels a day in the fourth quarter of 1999, with pipeline throughput rising to 250,000 barrels a day by 2002. Total proved and probable crude oil reserves on that part of the Concession upon which exploration work has been conducted (about 30 per cent of the field) was estimated at 417.9 million barrels in 1997 by Sproule and Associates, an independent engineering consultant firm. Contracts for the supply of pre-coated steel pipe and related gathering lines were awarded late last year, and pipeline engineering, procurement and construction contracts earlier this year. The project already had significant effect on the Sudanese economy by providing employment opportunities in rig operation, labour, office administration and the various trades and professions. Arakis expects to market the oil at a price discounted to WTI at $2.33 per barrel.

A dent means a permanent plastic deformation of the circular cross-section of the pipe. Dents are potentially danger for structural integrity of onshore and offshore pipelines, because it causes a local stress and strain concentration. It is also expected that residual stresses are introduced by the non-uniform plastic deformation. A plain dent is a dent which causes a smooth change in the curvature of the pipe wall that contains no wall thickness reductions (such as a gouge or a crack) or other defects or imperfections (such as a weld). This work presents an experimental evaluation of residual stresses intensification due to plain dents introduced through the same indentation process, in samples made of the same steel line pipe, commonly used in the pipeline industry. The residual stresses were measured in the longitudinal and circumferential directions in preselected points by X-ray diffraction technique, before indentation. After the samples have been dented, the residual stresses were measured once more at the same points, for comparison. All samples presented a similar behavior of the residual stresses due to induced plain dents, and the X-ray diffraction technique shows itself as an efficient methodology of stress measurement in pipelines. (author)

Burn through is a concern when welding onto in-service pipelines. Burn through prediction using the Battelle model has been successfully applied to determine safe in-service welding parameters for a range of conditions, but is rarely used for elevated temperature applications. Recently completed work at EWI developed an in-service welding procedure for carbon steel pipelines up to 800 deg F (427 deg C). The Battelle model showed that increasing the temperature and heat input, but decreasing the wall thickness, increased burn through risk. Laboratory trial welds were metallographically analyzed and compared to Battelle model predictions and correlated well. Test plates were also placed in an 800 deg F (427 deg C) oven after welding for different times to determine if exposure at temperature affected the weld metal mechanical properties. Both plates passed destructive testing and a WPS was developed. For safety, the WPS specifies a maximum allowable heat input of 25 kJ/in. (1.0 kJ/mm) using 3/32-in. (2.4-mm) -diameter electrodes only. The two field trials on an operating pipeline verified the WPS by producing sound welds that were pressure tested and non-destructively examined upon cooling. NDE was performed during one field trial, at temperature, prior to making the hot tap but was unable to be done on the second due to technique limitations. (author)