Reliability analysis of pipelines containing crack and corrosion defects

This paper is concerned with predicting the probability of failure (POF) of pipelines containing cracks and corrosion defects. The current work was conducted within the framework of the European Union NATURALHY project.

The aim of the NATURALHY project is to investigate the possibility of using the existing natural gas transmission pipelines to deliver hydrogen or natural gas/hydrogen mixtures. Hydrogen has been demonstrated to accelerate defect growth which may affect the safety of pipeline and make it more expensive to operate and maintain. Failure of a structural member such as a pipeline may occur when a crack becomes unstable or metal loss corrosion leads to leakage or rupture of the pipeline. Based on fatigue reliability analysis, statistical methods are applied to assess the probability of failure of pipelines containing cracks like defects and corrosion defects.