[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 186 (Thursday, September 25, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50429-50430]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-25434]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs Administration
[Contract DTRS-56-96-C-0010]


Fifth Quarterly Performance Review Meeting on the Contract 
``Detection of Mechanical Damage in Pipelines''

AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of meeting.

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SUMMARY: RSPA invites the pipeline industry, in-line inspection 
(``smart pig'') vendors, and the general public to the fifth quarterly 
performance review meeting of progress on the contract ``Detection of 
Mechanical Damage in Pipelines.'' The meeting is open to anyone, and no 
registration is required. This contract is being performed by Battelle 
Memorial Institute (Battelle), along with the Southwest Research 
Institute, and Iowa State University. The contract is a research and 
development contract to develop electromagnetic in-line inspection 
technologies to detect and characterize mechanical damage and stress 
corrosion cracking. The first hour of the meeting will be devoted to 
reviewing the overall project plan. The remainder of the meeting will 
cover the status of the contract tasks, progress made during the past 
quarter, and projected activity for the next quarter.

DATES: The fifth quarterly performance review meeting will be held on 
October 9, 1997, beginning at 1:00 p.m. and ending around 5:00 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The quarterly review meeting will be held at the Sheraton at 
Fisherman's Wharf, 2500 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA 94133. The 
hotel's telephone number is (415) 362-5500.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lloyd W. Ulrich, Contracting Officer's 
Technical Representative, Office of Pipeline Safety, telephone: (202) 
366-4556, FAX: (202) 366-4566, e-mail: lloyd.ulrich @ rspa.dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    RSPA is conducting quarterly public meetings on the status of its 
contract ``Detection of Mechanical Damage in Pipelines'' (Contract 
DTRS-56-96-C-0010) because in-line inspection research is of immediate 
interest to the pipeline industry and in-line inspection vendors. RSPA 
will continue this practice throughout the contract, which may be three 
years. The research contract with Battelle is a cooperative effort 
between GRI and DOT, with GRI providing technical guidance. The 
meetings allow disclosure of the results to all interested parties and 
provide an opportunity for interested parties to ask Battelle questions 
concerning the research. Attendance is open to all and does not require 
advanced registration nor advanced notification to RSPA.
    An objective is to hold alternate meetings in Washington, DC. The 
first meeting was conducted on October 22, 1996, in Washington, DC. 
Another objective is to conduct the alternate meetings held outside 
Washington immediately after meetings of the Gas Research Institute's 
(GRI) Nondestructive Evaluation Technical Advisory Group to enable 
participation by pipeline technical personnel involved with 
nondestructive evaluation. However, future meetings may also be held at 
other locations. This meeting is being held in San Francisco as a 
dovetail to a meeting of the GRI Nondestructive Technical Advisory

[[Page 50430]]

Group. Each of the future meetings will be announced in the Federal 
Register at least two weeks prior to the meeting.
    We specifically want that segment of the pipeline industry involved 
with in-line inspection to be aware of the status of this contract. To 
assure that a cross section of industry is well represented at these 
meetings, we have invited the major domestic in-line inspection company 
(Tuboscope-Vetco Pipeline Services) and the following pipeline industry 
trade associations: American Petroleum Institute, Interstate Natural 
Gas Association of America, and the American Gas Association. Each has 
named an engineering/technical representative.
    The first hour of the meeting will be devoted to reviewing the 
overall project plan. This review will assist those attending a 
quarterly meeting for the first time to better understand the overall 
project. The remainder of this meeting will be devoted to a review of 
progress made during the past quarter and plans for the next quarter.

II. The Contract

    The Battelle contract is a research and development contract to 
evaluate and develop in-line inspection technologies for detecting 
mechanical damage and cracking, such as stress-corrosion cracking 
(SCC), in natural gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines. 
Third-party mechanical damage is one of the largest causes of pipeline 
failure, but existing in-line inspection tools cannot always detect or 
accurately characterize the severity of some types of third-party 
damage that can threaten pipeline integrity. Although SCC is not very 
common on pipelines, it usually appears in high-stressed, low-
population-density areas and only when a limited set of environmental 
conditions are met. Several attempts have been made to develop an in-
line inspection tool for SCC, but there is no commercially successful 
tool on the market.
    Under the contract, Battelle will evaluate and advance magnetic 
flux leakage (MFL) inspection technology for detecting mechanical 
damage and two electromagnetic technologies for detecting SCC. The 
focus is on MFL for mechanical damage because experience shows MFL can 
characterize some types of mechanical damage and can be successfully 
used for metal-loss corrosion under a wide variety of conditions. The 
focus for SCC is on electromagnetic technologies that can be used in 
conjunction with, or as a modification to, MFL tools. The technologies 
to be evaluated take advantage of the MFL magnetizer either by 
enhancing signals or using electrical currents that are generated by 
the passage of an inspection tool through a pipeline.
    The contract includes two major tasks during the base two years of 
the contract. Task 1 is to evaluate existing MFL signal generation and 
analysis methods to establish a baseline from which today's tools can 
be evaluated and tomorrow's advances measured. Then, it will develop 
improvements to signal analysis methods and verify them through testing 
under realistic pipeline conditions. Finally, it will build an 
experience base and defect sets to generalize the results from 
individual tools and analysis methods to the full range of practical 
applications.
    Task 2 is to evaluate two inspection technologies for detecting 
stress corrosion cracks. The focus in Task 2 is on electromagnetic 
techniques that have been developed in recent years and that could be 
used on or as a modification to existing MFL tools. Three subtasks will 
evaluate velocity-induced remote-field techniques, remote-field eddy-
current techniques, and external techniques for sizing stress corrosion 
cracks.
    A Task 3 is being considered for an option year to the contract. 
Task 3, if done, will verify the results from Tasks 1 and 2 by tests 
under realistic pipeline conditions. Task 3 will: (1) Extend the 
mechanical damage detection, signal decoupling, and sizing algorithms 
developed in the basic program to include the effects of pressure, (2) 
verify the algorithms under pressurized conditions in GRI's 4,700 foot, 
24-inch diameter Pipeline Simulation Facility (PSF) flow loop, and (3) 
evaluate the use of eddy-current techniques for characterizing cold 
working within mechanical damage.
    A drawback of present pig technology is the lack of a reliable pig 
performance verification procedure that is generally accepted by the 
pipeline industry and RSPA. The experience gained by the pipeline 
industry and RSPA with the use of the PSF flow loop in this project 
will provide a framework to develop procedures for evaluating pig 
performance. Defect detection reliability is critical if instrumented 
pigging is to be used as an in-line inspection tool in pipeline 
industry risk management programs.
    The ultimate benefits of the project could be more efficient and 
cost-effective operations, maintenance programs to monitor and enhance 
the safety of gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines. Pipeline 
companies will benefit from having access to inspection technologies 
for detecting critical mechanical damage and stress-corrosion cracks. 
Inspection tool vendors will benefit by understanding where 
improvements are beneficial and needed. These benefits will support 
RSPA's long-range objective of ensuring the safety and reliability of 
the gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipeline infrastructure.

    Issued in Washington, D.C., on September 19, 1997.
Richard B. Felder,
Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 97-25434 Filed 9-24-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P