[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 164 (Tuesday, August 25, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45288-45289]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-22805]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs Administration


Quarterly Performance Review Meeting on The Contract ``Detection 
of Mechanical Damage in Pipelines'' (Contract DTRS-56-96-C-0010)

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 next 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 meeting will cover a review of the overall 
project plan, the status of the contract tasks, progress made during 
the past quarter, and projected activity for the next quarter.

DATES: The next quarterly performance review meeting will be held on 
Wednesday, September 23, 1998, beginning at 1:00 p.m. and ending around 
5:00 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The quarterly review meeting will be held at The Hotel 
Allegro, 171 West Randolph, Chicago, Illinois 60601. The hotel's 
telephone number is (312) 236-0123.

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: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    RSPA is conducting quarterly 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 three year contract. The research 
contract with Battelle is a cooperative effort between the Gas Research 
Institute (GRI) and DOT, with GRI providing technical guidance. The 
meetings allow disclosure of the results to interested parties and 
provide an opportunity for interested parties to ask Battelle questions 
concerning the research. Attendance at this meeting is open to all and 
does not require advanced registration nor advanced notification to 
RSPA.
    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 and, along with the GRI 
representative providing technical guidance, form the Industry Review 
Team (IRT) for the contract.
    The original objective was to open each quarterly performance 
review meeting to the public. The first quarterly meeting was conducted 
on October 22, 1996, in Washington, DC. However, preparing for a formal 
briefing each quarter takes a considerable amount of time and resources 
on Battelle's part that could be better used to conduct the research. 
Therefore, Battelle requested and RSPA concurred that future public 
meetings would be conducted semi-annually. Conducting public meetings 
semi-annually will provide all interested parties with sufficient 
update of progress in the research. Only the IRT and RSPA staff 
involved with the contract will be invited to the quarterly performance 
review meetings held between the public semi-annual meetings.
    Another objective is to conduct each semi-annual meeting at the 
same location and either before or after a meeting of GRI's 
Nondestructive Evaluation Technical Advisory Group to enable 
participation by pipeline technical personnel involved with 
nondestructive evaluation. This meeting is being held in Chicago as a 
dovetail to a meeting of the GRI Nondestructive

[[Page 45289]]

Technical Advisory Group. Each of the future semi-annual meetings will 
be announced in the Federal Register at least two weeks prior to the 
meeting.

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 presently being conducted in the option year to the 
contract. Task 3 is verifying the results from Tasks 1 and 2 by tests 
under realistic pipeline conditions. Task 3 is (1) extending the 
mechanical damage detection, signal decoupling, and sizing algorithms 
developed in the basic program to include the effects of pressure, (2) 
verifying the algorithms under pressurized conditions in GRI's 4,700 
foot, 24-inch diameter Pipeline Simulation Facility (PSF) flow loop, 
and (3) evaluating 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, DC on August 20, 1998.
Richard B. Felder,
Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 98-22805 Filed 8-24-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P