PRIME Login
Top Links
- Home >
- Recent Results >
- Development of Guidelines…
Recent Results
Development of Guidelines for Identification of SCC Sites and Estimation of Re-inspection Intervals
PRCI has completed a multi-year, comprehensive research project that has established guidelines for identifying locations where external pipeline stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is most likely to exist and for estimating how frequently re-inspections should be performed.
Key Results
The guidelines are mechanistically-based and are designed to complement those developed on the basis of field experience. The major route for implementing these guidelines is through improvement of site selection as part of the SCC Direct Assessment (SCC DA) process. The basis for the guidelines is a critical review of over 200 original R&D papers, articles, and reports available in the public domain. These SCC Guidelines have been validated where possible against field data and observations. The SCC Guidelines have been structured to reflect the various stages of the stress corrosion mechanism. In addition to a set of fundamental principles for each form of cracking, SCC Guidelines have been developed to determine the susceptibility of a pipeline segment to external SCC, to assess the possibility of crack initiation, of early-stage crack growth and dormancy, and of late-stage crack growth.
The research conducted under this project was performed in partnership with the DOT PHMSA, which supported the project with R&D funding and technical support and review. The Final Report is available for members on PRIME.