Graduating from Argentina, how did you become involved in research in the Australian pipeline industry?
I am a materials engineer graduate from the Instituto de TecnologÃa Jorge A. Sábato, located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This institution has a particularly strong background in corrosion science, and that is why I decided to perform my undergraduate work experience there, under the supervision of Maria Forsyth and Bruce Hinton at Monash University.
When I went back to Argentina after my graduation, I tried to apply my knowledge in the nuclear industry working as a project planner for the CAREM 25 development (a small Argentinean-based prototype nuclear power plant).
I gained a valuable perspective from working in such a thoroughly regulated industry, but after understanding that these projects’ development and execution sometimes exceed an engineer’s professional lifetime, I decided that I should further explore the engineering world before closing myself down to a single project. That is when I contacted Ms Forsyth again and she offered me the opportunity to do a PhD in close relation with the pipeline industry.
What does your PhD focus on and what are the likely recommendations for the Australian pipeline industry?
My PhD project is focused on external pipeline corrosion monitoring. I am particularly focusing on a completely new concept in cathodic protection (CP) compatible sensors.
Instead of the traditional inspection approach, the corrosion monitoring doesn’t aim to locate or evaluate defects
on the pipeline. Its objective is to reproduce the degradation process occurring in a portion of the pipeline over a sensor’s surface and to measure corrosion rates or other electrochemical parameters. These two approaches don’t compete with each other; instead they supply complementary information.
The novel feature of the sensors that I am developing at Deakin University is that they reproduce the full complexity of the
coating defects, using a crevice to simulate the disbonded areas and electrode arrays to perform measurements in the non-homogeneous generated conditions.
There is still a long way to go before we can get a reliable tool from this concept. But, being an instrument specially designed for the pipeline industry, its theoretical capacity to overcome the issues presented by other corrosion probes is very promising.
When will you complete your PhD?
The official deadline for my PhD is March 2015, but it is my personal objective to finish it sooner.
What are your areas of expertise which are being developed from this PhD?
As in any other PhD project, time managing, self-motivation and patience are key ingredients. But from a purely technical point of view, I am learning a great deal on CP, coatings and pipeline inspection techniques.
Why is this sort of expertise necessary in the Australian pipeline industry?
This project aims to develop a new technology capable of providing low-cost and online information currently not available by any other technique. The new information suite includes CP profiles under typical coating defects, corrosion rate profiles at these defects and suitability of the environments developed under disbonded coatings for stress corrosion cracking occurrences.
This additional source of information could help in the rational prioritisation of dig-up areas, increasing safety while reducing operational costs. Other possible usages of this tool are to supply online feedback to the CP rectifiers measuring accurate protection levels without interruption of the CP sources and independently of the soil resistivity.
What research programs are you currently involved with that are applicable to the Australian pipelines industry?
My PhD project is part of the Energy Pipelines Cooperative Research Centre’s (EPCRC’s) Research Program 2, aiming for the extension of safe operating life of energy pipelines. In addition, I execute other smaller industrial research projects commissioned by various members of the pipeline industry.
Have you been involved in any practical applications of your research?
My project is currently in its early stages. We have to consider that the idea behind this new concept was conceived around October 2012 and that a thorough understanding of the sensors nature needs to be achieved to translate the output data into useful information.
However, the encouraging results obtained so far don’t discard the possibility of performing the first field deployment trials later during my PhD.
What will be your plan when you complete your PhD?
Yes. The pipeline industry is very interesting and I would like to be involved with it in the further steps of my professional career. I believe that the understanding gained during this PhD will allow me to participate in the specification, design, implementation, maintenance or further development of coatings and CP systems.
Are you involved in any associations within the Australian or overseas pipeline industry?
As an EPCRC-sponsored student, I am fortunate to work in collaboration with industry advisors, industry members with significant field experience as well as being able to attend conferences that allow me to have a panoramic view of the pipeline business. This is fundamental to face my work from the right perspective and ensure its relevancy.
In addition, I am a member of the Australasian Corrosion Association and the National Association of Corrosion Engineers, where pipeline corrosion issues and CP are constant topics of discussion.
What are your interests outside of research and development in the industry?
Interestingly, I never followed soccer in Argentina, but I find AFL quite entertaining. I also enjoy finding out how things work and repairing them, from cars to electronics.