Establishment of a Database and a Classification of the Defects in the Metal of Pipes According to their Severity

Given the distances between areas of production and consumption of hydrocarbons, transport by pipeline is the most competitive means. These pipelines made of metal pipes can contain several types of defects of different origins. These defects can lead to pipeline failures that may have serious consequences resulting in ecological or financial disasters. The causes of these failures can be of various kinds. To assess the integrity and study the ageing of hydrocarbons transport pipelines is a current problem in the world which must be solved. The degraded state of thousands of kilometers of pipeline in the world requires the elaboration of rehabilitation by repair or replacement programs of sections in poor condition. If on one hand rehabilitation operations do improve the safety of hydrocarbons transport pipelines and prolong their remaining life, they are very expensive on the other. Therefore they must be carried out according to a previously well established plan, which determines the priority given. This priority must be defined by a multi-criteria evaluation, which also includes the criterion of severity of the defects located in the pipes metal according to the result of previous inspections of the pipelines towards the importance and the integrity of each section of the pipe.In this context the elaboration of a database and a classification of the defects in the metal of the hydrocarbons transportation pipes according to their severity are essential in this study.