Probability Applications in
Pipeline Risk Assessment
Dynamic Risk…
•Founded in 1996
•Privately-held employee-owned
corp.
•~ 40 Staff
•Functional Workgroups:
Engineering
Software
Data Integration, GIS, mapping
•Head Office: Calgary
•Regional Offices: SSM, Houston
•>35 Operators
•>300,000 km of pipeline
Agenda
•What is Risk?
Some every-day examples
•Risk in Pipelines
Objective of risk assessment
•How we use math tools in risk analysis
Probability of Pipeline Failure
Common applications of these math tools
Predicting consequences of failure
•What happens when a pipeline breaks
•Video demonstration of fracture
propagation and arrest
What is Risk?
Risk = Probability x Consequences
Common Mortality Risks
Cause Risk
Per Year Per Lifetime
Auto Accident 1 : 6,500 1 : 83
Murder / Falling 1 : 16,500 1 : 210
Crossing Street 1 : 48,500 1 : 625
Drowning / Fire 1 : 88,000 1 : 1,100
Airplane Crash 1 : 400,000 1 : 5,000
Lightning 1 : 6,200,000 1: 80,000
Terrorist Attack 1: 7,000,000 1: 90,000
Asteroid Strike 1: 15,600,000 1: 200,000
Risk Assessment in Pipelines
Risk = Probability of Failure x Consequences
Probability of Failure:
/[Link]
Consequences:
Safety (fatalities)
Environment ($ clean-up)
Damages ($)
Units:
Fatalities/[Link]
$/[Link]
Risk Assessment - Why Bother?
Target Spending
Risk profile identifies areas most in need of maintenance
Enables limited $ to be spent where it will do the most good
“Biggest bang for your buck”
Identifies what is driving risk
Helps focus activities
Enables the correct fix to be applied
Probability of Failure - Threats
External Corrosion
Internal Corrosion
Heavy Equipment
SCC
Earthquakes
Floods
Operator Error
Material Defects
Estimation of Failure Probability
e.g. Corrosion
A
C
ILI B
Math Tools for Probability
•Deterministic Approach •Reliability Approach
•Discrete Inputs → •Probability of
Discrete Outputs outcome a function of
input distributions
B31G Limit State
Equation (Corrosion)
d
1 0,85
f t
Vs
d
1 0.85 M 1
t
Other Math Tools – “OR-Gate”
•Pfailure of each individual defect is “OR-
Gated” to determine Pfailure of entire
pipeline
PTot 1 1 Pf ,i 1 Pf ,i 1 1 Pf ,i 2 ... 1 Pf ,n
Where:
Pf,I = Probability of failure of defect i,
Pf,i+1 = Probability of failure of defect i+1,
Pf,i+2 = Probability of failure of defect i+2,
Etc. ,
Common OR-Gate Problem
“Given two dice, what is probability of
rolling at least one 3?”
Other Math Tools – “Event Trees”
Common Applications - Event Trees
•Event Trees are another way of answering
the question:
“Given two dice, what is probability of rolling
at least one 3?”
Other Examples
“Given two dice, what is probability of rolling
a 3 two times in a row?”
OR / AND Rules
A Couple Last Examples…
1. “If you were given two dice, and two chances
of rolling those two dice, what is the probability
of rolling at least one 3 on both rolls?”
2. “If you were going to have two children,
what is the probability of having one boy and
one girl?”
Consequences of Pipeline Failure
Olympic Pipeline Failure,
Bellingham WA, June, 1999
Biggest Safety Threat – Thermal Radiation
Second-Order Effects:
Projectiles
Blast Over-Pressure
Modelling Hazard Radii
R a d ia l
d is ta n c e
fro m
Function of ru p tu re
pipeline
diameter,
pressure,
valve spacing,
etc
R u p tu r e P o in t
P ip e lin e
Overlay areas
of population
Transportation 9 9 % L e t h a lity
corridors
5 0 % L e th a lity
1 % L e th a lity
Challenges in Modelling
Weather
Wind speed
Atmospheric Stability
Atmospheric Temperature
Surface Roughness
Surface Temperature
Solar Radiation Flux
Some Examples
TCPL Natural Gas Line 100-3, Cabri, SK, December, 1997
Gasprom Natural Gas Pipeline, Kiev, May, 2007
Gasprom Natural Gas Pipeline, Kiev, May, 2007
EPNG Natural Gas Pipeline, Carlsbad, NM, Aug, 2000
Acheson Well Blow-out, Edmonton, December, 2004
Acheson Well Blow-out, Edmonton, December, 2004
Fracture Propagation and Arrest Video
“…and then it blowed up real good”