Virtual Pipeline Integrity Modeling for Faster Failure Prediction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems face challenges in efficiently monitoring and predicting the integrity of pipelines over time, which is crucial for ensuring safety and operational efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A cloud-based computing system generates a virtual model of pipelines using data from inline inspection tools and sensors, enabling predictive integrity analysis through correlation, assessment, and future state prediction using finite element analysis and structural design methods.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual handling and analysis of pipeline integrity data is used, then detailed assessment can be performed, but the process is time-consuming and complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual model that replicates the physical pipeline's structural and operational characteristics. This virtual copy enables automated analysis of integrity data without manual intervention, maintaining assessment accuracy while dramatically reducing the time required for evaluation and prediction of pipeline conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical analysis processes with automated computational methods. By using software-based virtual modeling and automated data processing, the system eliminates time-consuming manual handling while preserving the thoroughness and precision of integrity assessments.
2Reliability
If comprehensive pipeline monitoring is implemented, then safety and operational efficiency improve, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual model serves multiple functions simultaneously: it stores pipeline geometry and material properties, processes integrity data from various sensors, performs structural analysis, and predicts future conditions. This multi-functionality consolidates what would otherwise require multiple separate systems into a single integrated platform, improving safety without proportionally increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual model acts as an intermediary between physical pipeline sensors and analysis tools. It receives data from multiple sensor sources, processes this information through standardized computational methods, and outputs results for various applications. This intermediary layer simplifies the overall system architecture by providing a unified interface between data collection and analysis functions.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system includes one or more tools, sensors, or both configured to obtain data related to the one or more pipelines, wherein the data is ultrasonic data, electromagnetic data, or both, and a cloud-based computing system including at least one processor that receives the data from the one or more tools, sensors, or both, performs analysis to generate a virtual structural model of the one or more pipelines based on the data, determines one or more states of the one or more pipelines using the virtual structural model and determines whether to take one or more actions when the one or more states indicate that the one or more pipelines violate a threshold operation boundary.