Pipeline life expectancy
Whereas with the Fitness-For-Service approach the estimated calculation is based upon (material) standards, the pipeline life expectancy approach is broader in practice.
It is on purpose that the approach is called pipeline life expectancy as it is not possible to exactly predict how long something will fulfil its purpose in the future.
Why to choose HDM Pipelines?
Through the above proactive approach it was possible to identify the weaknesses within the pipeline and propose mitigation measures, without deploying the pipeline operations. Herewith costly actions for the entire pipeline were spared.
HDM Pipelines can offer you many years of practical experience, which is required to identify locations of verification during the process of estimating the pipeline remaining life expectancy.
In practice
In our opinion, the pipeline life expectancy approach should, alongside a theoretical component, always contain one of more practical inspections. This was done for a pipeline owned by Water Board NZV. The fact that a roundabout would partly be build on top of the pipeline, was a motivation for the organisation to research the remaining life time.
On the basis of available theoretical information it was only possible to identify an average remaining life time. By carrying out a number of small specific non-destructive measurements (without deploying the pipeline operations) it seemed that on several locations the expected life has already been reached. The results were used to support asset management decisions and made it possible to identify and implement specific mitigation measures.
