A Methodology to Determine the Grade for a Vintage Gas Transmission Pipe
(Room 309)
07 May 19
2:30 PM
-
3:00 PM
The Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) has undertaken a multi-year effort to develop a non-destructive methodology to establish or confirm the grade of pipe in their natural gas transmission assets. This aligns with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA) proposed requirements to verify material properties for pipe without records. PG&E established programs for laboratory testing and non-destructive examination technologies to estimate strength and quantify vintage pipe chemical composition. PG&E’s goal is to utilize non-destructive methods to determine a pipe grade using machine learning algorithms, probabilistic analysis and extensive reference data sets. This paper discusses the details of the program.