• PRCI PR-218-064505
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PRCI PR-218-064505

  • Evaluating the Need for Loading Specifications for Highway Transportation of Line Pipe
  • Report / Survey by Pipeline Research Council International, 09/18/2007
  • Publisher: PRCI

$48.00$95.00


L52281e

Kiefner & Associates Inc.

Need: Standards have been in place for many years providing procedures for the proper loading of line pipe for shipment by railroad and by vessel, namely, API Recommended Practice 5L1 and API Recommended Practice 5LW, respectively. These practices were developed in response to a recognized need to avoid excessive stresses in the transported pipe caused by unfavorable positioning of the pipe on cradles or supports combined with inertial loadings on the stacked pipe from railcar or vessel motion. The need became apparent as a result of hydrostatic test failures that occurred in newly constructed pipelines where the failure origins exhibited fatigue even though the pipe had not yet entered service, as well as in-service failures originating at shipping-damage defects that survived the commissioning hydrostatic test but enlarged while the line was in service. The widespread adoption of proper loading practices, when followed, appears to have largely eliminated such incidents in new pipelines. Periodic hydrostatic testing or in-line inspection using crack-detection tools has contributed greatly to a decrease in the occurrence of service failures from shipment-damage defects that enlarged in pipe that was constructed prior to the widespread adoption of sound loading practices. Occasionally, however, existing pipelines constructed at a time that predated widespread observance of the loading standard still experience failures at defects that originated as shipping damage and subsequently enlarged in service.

Result: The scope of this study consisted of three phases. The first phase was to document the industry position with respect to line pipe transport. The second phase was to perform a detailed technical analysis of the susceptibility of line pipe to damage from inertial loadings during highway transportation. The third phase was to develop a prototype standard giving minimum specifications designed to avoid damage.

Benefit: The resulting work product can be used as a starting point by an appropriate standards-writing body for development of a specification in accordance with its standards development process.

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