The Energy Pipelines Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) holds two research seminars per year – in June and November. The latest seminar contained talks on some of the research findings and an update on the Energy Pipelines CRC’s education activities.
The University of Wollongong’s Ananth Marimuthu talked about the influence of titanium and nitrogen additions to steel on the performance of the heat-affected zones of welds made in that steel. The results have shown that the composition has a significant effect on properties and the work has provided insight into the mechanism by which this occurs.
Guillaume Michal, also of the University of Wollongong, discussed the effects of pipe diameter and wall roughness on pipeline decompression. The experimental and modelling results show that both have an influence on decompression and so need to be considered when developing a fracture plan.
The status of asset management in the pipeline industry was reviewed by Richard Dwight, from the University of Wollongong, who also provided an update on the related research work.
Sarah Maslen of the Australian National University presented findings from her work on formal and informal aspects of learning and expert practice. Sarah provided insight into how people learn and how this can be used in practice to make sure that maximum use is made of the opportunities to improve skills and knowledge.
Peter Tuft gave the final talk of the day, reporting on findings of a benchmarking study that evaluated the AS2885 safety management approach against the quantitative risk assessment and reliability-based analysis approaches. Peter discussed the analysis of some sample pipelines which had been evaluated by all three techniques and compared the results.
Information is available for members of the APIA Research and Standards Committee and Energy Pipelines CRC researchers at the Energy Pipelines CRC Education Hub.
Industry advisors who have worked closely with researchers on a particular project, and effectively completed a secondment, were recognised with certificates of appreciation. Recipients were Leigh Fletcher, Frank Barbaro, John Piper, Alan Bryson, Grant Pearson, Mark Coates, Phil Venton and Peter Tuft. I am very grateful to these people for their interest and support of the Energy Pipelines CRC’s research. The point of a secondment is that both parties benefit from the experience.
At present, the Energy Pipelines CRC has around 40 active projects, spanning a range of topics including pipeline steels, construction, operations, alternative energy fluids, safety and sociology aspects of the pipeline industry. Two of the projects, being undertaken by Cheng Lu and YouYou Wu at the University of Wollongong, are investigating the use of the Drop Weight Tear Test (DWTT) and the Charpy V-Notch (CVN) test.
The DWTT is used to assess a steel’s resistance to brittle fracture. The DWTT uses a relatively large sample, which means that the test is usually limited to pipe with a diameter of 500 mm and above. In Australia, where small diameters are commonly used for pipelines, it is beneficial to extend the testing diameter range down to 300 mm to ensure that the performance of small diameter pipelines in service can be predicted confidently. This experimental and modelling work will provide an understanding of the effects of testing variables so that a standardised test can be developed that consistently gives valid tests.
The value of CVN absorbed energy is used to determine whether a pipeline will be able to arrest a fracture. With small diameter pipe tests are necessarily done on sub-size Charpy samples and the relationship between the results from these sub-size samples and the absorbed energy by the full-scale pipe is ambiguous. Experimental work and modelling will be used to derive a new thickness-dependent toughness equation which can be implemented to improve the prediction of the arrest toughness of pipelines.
These projects and others within the Energy Pipelines CRC offer tremendous opportunities for the Australian pipeline industry to be ahead of the game in design and construction of transmission pipelines. APIA members are already benefiting from the Energy Pipelines CRC’s work – the more who join, the more benefit to the industry and APIA members.
The Co-operative Research Centre program was introduced by the Hawke Government in the 1990s and has survived changes of government and different economic challenges. It has support from both sides of politics because the various research centres work closely with industry to conduct high-level research and develop practical knowledge that is of great benefit to industry.
The Energy Pipelines CRC was established in 2010 and its projects have provided new knowledge about steel chemistry, cathodic protection, fracture control and safety, which has been adopted by the industry. Members of APIA Research and Standards Committee have access to the details of these developments, which helps to ensure Australia’s industry is providing safe and economic steel transmission pipelines.
