Large scale experiments to study fires following the rupture of high pressure pipelines conveying natural gas and natural gas/hydrogen mixtures

As part of the EC funded Naturalhy project, two large scale experiments were conducted to study the hazard presented by the rupture of high pressure transmission pipelines conveying natural gas or a natural gas/hydrogen mixture containing approximately 22% hydrogen by volume. The experiments involved complete rupture of a 150 mm diameter pipeline pressurised to nominally 70 bar. The released gas was ignited and formed a fireball which rose upwards and then burned out. It was followed by a jet fire which continued to increase in length, reaching a maximum of about 100 m before steadily declining as the pipeline depressurised. During the experiments, the flame length and the incident radiation field produced around the fire were measured. Measurements of the overpressure due to pipeline rupture and gas ignition were also recorded. The results showed that the addition of the hydrogen to the natural gas made little difference to radiative characteristics of the fires. However, the fraction of heat radiated by these pipeline fires was significantly higher than that observed for above ground high pressure jet fires (also conducted as part of the Naturalhy project) which achieved flame lengths up to 50 m. Due to the lower density, the natural gas/hydrogen mixture depressurised more quickly and also had a slightly reduced power. Hence, the pipeline conveying the natural gas/hydrogen mixture resulted in a slightly lower hazard in terms of thermal dose compared to the natural gas pipeline, when operating at the same pressure.     

水改气海底管道输送高压天然气可行性研究

为了满足油气输送需求,现将一输水管线改输高压天然气,需对该管线改输的可行性进行研究论证,通过ANSYS建模分析得到腐蚀缺陷处在475MPa高压下所受到的最大等效应力小于管道的设计抗力2736MPa,满足安全标准。利用OLGA模拟出管道输送高压天然气时的压力和温度曲线满足实际工况要求,OLGA模拟出的预测腐蚀速率最大处为004mm/y,对管道的剩余寿命影响较小。应用DNV腐蚀因素失效概率模型计算得到该管道的失效概率小于15×10-3,安全等级介于“一般”和“很高”之间。经研究论证得该管道改输高压天然     

重型车辆荷载下埋地天然气管道的安全分析

道路下的埋地天然气管道在重型车辆荷载通过时,管道受力一旦达到破坏强度就可能产生安全事故,造成天然气泄漏而引发燃烧与爆炸的危害,需要进行安全分析来判定重载车辆能否安全的通过道路运输。该文用理论计算和实验检测的方法综合起来分析埋地管道的相关力学参数,然后与管道自身的强度参数进行比较,从而判断埋地管道是否破坏。通过实例验证的方法说明了该方法在类似的项目分析中具有适用性和操作性,并提出了分析方法应用的初始条件。该方法可以作为判断埋地天然气管道在重载车辆作用下的一种安全评价方法,在条件允许的情况下可以利用数值模拟的方法进行比较印证,从而得到更为可靠的判断结论。同时,该方法也为埋地天然气管线在重载作用下的保护提供了基础资料,可以在此指导下更有效的保护天然气管线免受破坏。     

天然气管道完整性管理探析

通过对国内外天然气管道事故的统计和分析,指出了对天然气管道进行完整性管理的重要性;在此基础上,简要介绍了管道完整性管理方法,着重探讨了天然气管道完整性管理的流程和环节,包括管道潜在危害辨识、管道数据信息搜集与分析、管道风险评价、管道完整性评价、完整性评价响应和减缓措施,并进一步说明了天然气管道完整性管理的实施方法;最后,给出了在我国开展天然气管道完整性管理的必要性和建议.     

Impact of flood water on the technical condition of natural gas transmission pipeline valves

Maintaining the reliability of a transmission system's operation is an extremely important issue in the context of ensuring the continuity of gas delivery to customers. Threats to maintaining the reliability of a transmission system's operation may appear at any stage of transmission, and the most common reasons for this are corrosion, material defects or accidental damage. The paper presents the impact of flood water on transmission valves in the context of possible threats to ensuring the technical safety of gas supplies. Hazards are described which relate to the chemical composition of flood water, which may cause corrosion of valve elements and risk of loss of gas pipeline stability caused by flooding. In the context of the design of a natural gas transmission network, the strength aspects and the phenomenon of corrosion are described. The results of tests related to a specific example are presented. The finite element method (FEM) is used to build ball valve models. Two types of valves are modelled for nominal pipeline diameters of 50 mm (DN50) and 200 mm (DN200). The results of the presented analysis show that the leak tightness of the tested valve flange connections was mainly influenced by changes in their operating conditions because the occurring additional forces and moments caused significant changes in the load balance of the flange connections.     

Corrosion failure probability analysis of buried gas pipelines based on subset simulation

Corrosion is the main reason for the failure of buried gas pipelines. For effective corrosion failure probability analysis, the structural reliability theory was adopted in this study to establish two calculation models for pipeline corrosion failure: the pressure failure model and von Mises stress failure model. Then, two calculation models for the corrosion failure probability were established based on a corrosion depth growth model obtained from actual survey data of soil corrosion characteristics. In an example, Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) and subset simulation (SS) were used to analyze the corrosion failure probability of pipelines, and the results were compared. SS can compensate for the shortcomings of MCS as it has higher computational efficiency and accuracy. Therefore, SS was adopted to simulate variations in the corrosion failure probability of buried pipelines with the service time for the two failure probability calculation models, which were applied to a natural gas pipeline located in a chemical industry park in Zhuhai, China. A sensitivity analysis was carried out on the relevant parameters that affect the failure probability. The results showed that multiple loads caused by the covering soil, residual stress, temperature differential, and bending stress have a non-negligible effect on the pipeline reliability. The corrosion coefficients gradually become the most important factors that affect the failure probability with increased service time. The proposed methodology considers the actual operating conditions of pipelines to provide a reliable theoretical basis for integrity management.     

Response of the buried steel pipeline caused by perilous rock impact: Parametric study

One of threatening buried steel pipeline in bad geological regions is collapsed rock. Buckling behavior of a buried pipeline impacted by a perilous rock with spherical shape was investigated by numerical simulation. Effects of pipeline parameters (internal pressure, wall thickness, diameter, buried depth) and perilous rock parameters (impact velocity, radius, eccentric distance) on deformation, stress and strain of the buried pipeline were discussed. Buckling behaviors of the buried pipeline under transverse and longitudinal inclined impacts also were studied. The results show that cross section shape of the buried pipeline becomes to an oval, then to a peach shape, and finally to a crescent shape or gourd shape in the process of rock’s impact. The deformation process of a buried pipeline can be divided into four stages. They are elastic deformation stage, buckling stage, elastic recovery stage and final deformation stage. Buckling mode of no-pressure pipeline is more serious than the pressure pipeline. The impact dent’s length and depth increase with the decreasing of buried depth, wall thickness and internal pressure. But they increase with the increasing of impact velocity, perilous rock’s radius and pipeline’s diameter. The maximum stress and plastic strain decrease with the increasing of buried depth and wall thickness. Under rock’s eccentric impact, impact dent trends to one side. Stress and plastic deformation decrease with the eccentric distance increases. Under rock’s transverse and longitudinal inclined impacts, cross section shape of the buried pipeline is an oval shape when the incidence angle α ≤ 45°, and there is no plastic deformation. When α > 45°, impact dent appears. Buckling is more serious with the incidence angle increases. Destructive powers of transverse and longitudinal inclined impacts are smaller than the vertical impact.     

基于SPH-FEM耦合法的含缺陷输气管道爆炸冲击响应研究

针对大口径埋地输气管道发生物理爆炸对并行含体积缺陷邻管的冲击行为,利用LS-DYNA和LS-PREPOST有限元软件建立基于光滑粒子流体动力学-有限单元法的管-土-炸药耦合模型,分析不同缺陷深度、不同缺陷表面积、不同缺陷位置和不同爆心距下邻管的动力响应;基于爆腔预估公式和峰值振速经验公式,验证了所建耦合模型的可靠性,并通过设计算例开展多工况分析。研究结果表明:迎爆面上的缺陷处为动力响应的热点区域,最大响应特征值（应力、位移与振速）位于缺陷中心处,随缺陷深度的增加或管间距的减小特征值增速由平缓到急剧;相比缺陷位置和表面尺寸对管道的扰动程度,缺陷深度和爆心距对管道的动力响应影响较大;在本研究的条件下,建议埋地并行输气管道的安全间距不应小于5.16 m,且腐蚀深度不大于管道壁厚的0.633 6倍。研究结果可为埋地输气管道极端灾害下的风险评估提供技术支撑,为并行管道可能的抗爆隔爆设计提供模拟数据支持。     

基于ABAQUS的穿越公路输气管道力学性状分析

为研究穿越公路埋地天然气管道在车辆载荷下的力学性状,运用ABAQUS有限元软件建立了输气管道-覆盖土壤的三维接触模型,模拟了不同管径、管道壁厚、管道内压、管道埋深以及交通载荷工况下,管道的应力应变情况,得到了不同变量条件下埋地天然气管道的应力应变规律。研究结果表明:交通载荷下输气管道穿越公路时,从经济性考虑,其埋深应控制在2m范围内;结合管道内压,对不同超载程度下重载车辆对埋地管道的力学性能影响进行分析,从安全性考虑,管道宜采用套管敷设穿越形式。所得结论可为输气管道穿越公路段的设计提供参考。     

Severity of emergency natural gas distribution pipeline incidents: Application of an integrated spatio-temporal approach fused with text mining

The transportation of natural gas often relies on pipelines which require constant monitoring and regular maintenance to prevent spills or leaks. Pipeline incidents could pose a huge adverse impact on people, the environment, and society. Numerous efforts have been invested to identify contributing factors to pipeline incidents so that countermeasures could be developed to proactively prevent some incidents and reduce incident severities or impacts. However, the countermeasures may need to vary for different incidents due to the potential heterogeneity between incidents, and such heterogeneity is likely related to the geology, weather, and built environment which vary across space and time domain. The objective of this study is to revisit the correlates of pipeline incidents, focusing on the spatial and temporal patterns of the correlations between natural gas pipeline incident severity and contributing factors. This study leveraged an integrated spatio-temporal modeling approach, namely the Geographically and Temporally Weighted Ordered Logistic Regression (GTWOLR) to model the natural gas pipeline incident report data (2010–2019) from the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration. Text mining was performed to extract additional information from the narratives in reports. Results show several factors have significant spatiotemporally varying correlations with the pipeline incident severity, and these factors include excavation damage, gas explosion, iron pipes, longer incident response time, and longer pipe lifetime. Findings from this study are valuable for pipeline operators, end-users, responders to jointly develop localized strategies to maintain the natural gas distribution system. More implications are discussed in the paper.     

滚石冲击作用下埋地高压输气管道的可靠性分析

地质灾害往往会对高压输气管线造成安全隐患,岩体崩塌引起的滚石冲击是导致埋地输气管道第三方破坏的主要破坏形式之一。通过概率分布求出滚石产生的偶然性载荷对管道的冲击频率,根据可靠性理论,用管线钢自身的强度和撞击产生的工作应力,建立强度应力的安全裕度方程。然后利用LS-DYNA有限元软件,建立滚石冲击管道模型,计算不同条件下埋地输气管道的最大应力Sm,确定Sm的分布规律。最后,根据应力和强度的分布求得管道可靠度指标和失效概率。本研究提供的方法和结论对埋地输气管道的风险评估、管道的设计及施工具有重要的参考价值。     

Numerical investigation of surface conduit parallel gas pipeline explosive based on the TNT equivalent weight method

With the rapid development of petroleum industry, the transport pipelines of oil and gas are increasingly constructed to minimize land use conflicts. Therefore, the parallel pipelines are unavoidable in order to save land resource, reduce the pipeline construction and maintenance costs. The economy and security of pipeline laying and running is the primary problem considered in pipeline construction, which the parallel spacing plays a decisive role to. The leakage of natural gas is very serious and dangerous due to its flammable and combustible. The explosive of leak gas causes impact failure to parallel pipeline. Specific to the surface conduit parallel gas pipeline, numerical simulation of leak natural gas explosive was carried out based on TNT equivalent weight method. Explosive damage degree of pipeline decreased with the pipeline distance increasing. Consulting with the pipeline ovalization strain design criteria and the combustion effect, the safety parallel natural gas pipeline space maybe at least 4 m to ensure the surface conduit parallel pipeline safely and steadily operation.     

Internal corrosion hazard assessment of oil & gas pipelines using Bayesian belief network model

A substantial amount of oil & gas products are transported and distributed via pipelines, which can stretch for thousands of kilometers. In British Columbia (BC), Canada, alone there are over 40,000 km of pipelines currently being operated. Because of the adverse environmental impact, public outrage and significant financial losses, the integrity of the pipelines is essential. More than 37 pipe failures per year occur in BC causing liquid spills and gas releases, damaging both property and environment. BC oil & gas commission (BCOGS) has indicated metal loss due to internal corrosion as one of the primary causes of these failures. Therefore, it is of a paramount importance to timely identify pipelines subjected to severe internal corrosion in order to improve corrosion mitigation and pipeline maintenance strategies, thus minimizing the likelihood of failure. To accomplish this task, this paper presents a Bayesian belief network (BBN)-based probabilistic internal corrosion hazard assessment approach for oil & gas pipelines. A cause-effect BBN model has been developed by considering various information, such as analytical corrosion models, expert knowledge and published literature. Multiple corrosion models and failure pressure models have been incorporated into a single flexible network to estimate corrosion defects and associated probability of failure (PoF). This paper also explores the influence of fluid composition and operating conditions on the corrosion rate and PoF. To demonstrate the application of the BBN model, a case study of the Northeastern BC oil & gas pipeline infrastructure is presented. Based on the pipeline's mechanical characteristics and operating conditions, spatial and probabilistic distributions of corrosion defect and PoF have been obtained and visualized with the aid of the Geographic Information System (GIS). The developed BBN model can identify vulnerable pipeline sections and rank them accordingly to enhance the informed decision-making process.     

水毁灾害中埋地管道稳定性研究

水毁灾害是长输油气埋地管道灾害中造成经济损失最严重、对环境危害最深远的自然灾害之一。为了分析埋地管道在水毁灾害中的稳定性,探讨了埋地管道在水毁灾害中的载荷分布情况;采用特征值屈曲理论,分析了埋地管道在水毁灾害中悬跨和漂浮2种主要形式下,不同管道外径和管道壁厚对埋地管道在水毁灾害中稳定性的影响,计算得到特定条件下埋地管道水毁的极限长度;建立了埋地管道在水毁灾害中的有限元模型。结果表明:管道在水毁灾害悬跨和漂浮情况下极限长度和屈曲位置不同,随着管道壁厚的增加,埋地管道在水毁灾害中的稳定性近似呈缓慢的线性增长;增大管道外径能够有效降低埋地管道在水毁灾害中的位移,并显著提高管道在水毁灾害中的抗屈曲能力。     

基于突变理论的采空塌陷区输气管道危险性评价研究

为了减少采空塌陷区输气管道危险性评价中对主观判断的依赖,提出以突变理论为基础的危险性评价模型。首先,从采矿因素、岩体物理力学参数、环境与地质因素和埋地管道因素等4个方面分析采空塌陷区输气管道危险性影响因素;其次,建立采空塌陷区输气管道危险性指标体系;然后,对指标体系中的底层指标进行无量纲化和归一化处理;最后,计算得到输气管道危险性突变数值,进而实现对采空塌陷区输气管道危险性等级的综合评判。将以上评价模型进行实例应用,应用结果表明,基于突变理论的采空塌陷区输气管道综合评价模型可以用于采空塌陷区输气管道的危险性评价。     

埋地管道泄漏天然气在分层填筑土壤扩散数值模拟研究

城市埋地天然气管道发生泄漏不易被发现,并易产生爆炸、火灾、中毒等次生事故,针对低压埋地天然气管道施工分层填筑与不分层填筑的两种情况建立模型,依据多孔介质模型修正后的基本控制方程,采用FLUENT组分运输模型、RNG k-ε湍流模型,对管道沟渠分层填筑与不分层填筑气体泄漏扩散情况进行数值模拟。根据仿真土壤含气摩尔量划分三个浓度区域进行分析,分层填筑土壤分界处砂土含气量达到低浓度的时间较快约为60 s,12 min可以达到高浓度区域。两种材质交界面处,高浓度气体扩散存在延迟,中浓度和低浓度气体扩散在交界面处扩散曲线有明显拐点,进入到上层土壤材料后扩散速率加快,不分层填筑模型扩散速率没有明显改变。     

隧道掘进爆破载荷作用下埋地管道的振动峰值速度预测研究*

为研究隧道掘进爆破过程中地震效应对邻近埋地管道安全性的影响,建立平行于隧道的埋地管道数值模型,将管道视为薄壳圆柱体,定义管道在动载荷作用下的塑性破坏准则,并利用无量纲分析法构建管道表面质点的振动速度关于振动频率与爆破持续时间的数学模型,从而研究埋地管道受震特性。结果表明:隧道掘进爆破作业下成洞侧的管道应力峰值低于非成洞侧的管道应力峰值,爆炸载荷下邻近埋地管道表面最大振动速度位于爆源与管道表面最近点处,在该点两侧45度范围内为管道易受损位置。将预测公式计算所得振速峰值与数值模型提取的振速峰值进行比较,得出二者的平均误差约为17.7 %。     

Integrated dynamic risk assessment of buried gas pipeline leakages in urban areas

In urban areas, buried gas pipeline leakages could potentially cause numerous casualties and massive damage. Traditional static analysis and dynamic probability-based quantitative risk assessment (QRA) methods have been widely used in various industries. However, dynamic QRA methods combined with probability and consequence are rarely used to evaluate gas pipelines buried in urban areas. Therefore, an integrated dynamic risk assessment approach was proposed. First, a failure rate calculation of buried gas pipelines was performed, where the corrosion failure rate dependent on time was calculated by integrating the subset simulation method. The relationship between failure probability and failure rate was considered, and a mechanical analysis model considering the corrosion growth model and multiple loads was used. The time-independent failure rates were calculated by the modification factor methods. Next, the overall evolution process from pipeline failures to accidents was proposed, with the accident rates subsequently updated. Then, the consequences of buried gas pipeline accidents corresponding to the accident types in the evolution process were modeled and analyzed. Finally, based on the above research, dynamic calculation and assessment methods for evaluating individual and social risks were established, and an overall application example was provided to demonstrate the capacity of the proposed approach. A reliable and practical theoretical basis and supporting information are provided for the integrity and emergency management of buried gas pipelines in urban areas, considering actual operational conditions.     

Individual risk analysis of high-pressure natural gas pipelines

Transmission pipelines carrying natural gas are not typically within secure industrial sites, but are routed across land out of the ownership of the pipeline company. If the natural gas is accidentally released and ignited, the hazard distance associated with these pipelines to people and property is known to range from under 20 m for a smaller pipeline at lower pressure to up to over 300 m for a larger pipeline at higher pressure. Therefore, pipeline operators and regulators must address the associated public safety issues.This paper focuses on a method to explicitly calculate the individual risk of a transmission pipeline carrying natural gas. The method is based on reasonable accident scenarios for route planning related to the pipeline's proximity to the surrounding buildings. The minimum proximity distances between the pipeline and buildings are based on the rupture of the pipeline, with the distances chosen to correspond to a radiation level of approximately 32 kW/m². In the design criteria for steel pipelines for high-pressure gas transmission (IGE/TD/1), the minimum building proximity distances for rural areas are located between individual risk values of 10⁻⁵ and 10⁻⁶. Therefore, the risk from a natural gas transmission pipeline is low compared with risk at the building separated minimum distance from chemical industries.     

基于风险的城市埋地燃气管道安全评价模型及应用

城市埋地燃气管道一旦失效会产生泄漏,甚至引发火灾爆炸等事故,造成人员伤亡和财产损失等严重后果,影响社会稳定,因此其安全运行十分重要。由于城市地下环境的复杂性,使得埋地燃气管道失效的因素多种多样,且具有模糊性;由于城市地面状况各异,所以构成失效后果的因素也具有不确定性。文章以某市在役燃气管道为例,使用模糊数学语言表达了埋地燃气管道的失效可能性和失效后果,采用模糊综合评价模型对燃气管道的失效可能性和失效后果进行了评价,并以美国石油协会(API)风险矩阵表征了埋地燃气管道的风险等级,得到不同管道单元的风险级别和管道单元数,根据不同的风险等级采取不同的策略或措施,完善管道的完整性管理,降低管道的使用风险,确保城市燃气管网的正常安全运行。