Industry Material Property Databases and Their Use in Integrity Programs

Abstract Integrity programs can be data hungry based on the desire to fill information gaps and increase the accuracy and refine fitness-for-service assessments. The application of risk-based programs further expands the hunger for data based on their need for significant volumes of material property data to properly capture variations unique to the materials. Databases are an attractive method to store and manipulate material data however obtaining a statistically significant volume of data for older line pipe materials can be difficult. The data holdings of individual pipeline operators may have gaps and may not have a sufficient volume of data to meet these needs. PRCI, as a pipeline industry association, has created a material property database that contains strength, toughness, and chemical composition data for line pipes ranging from 1930 and newer. The data has been obtained through material testing, either from the mill test report (MTR) or supplemental testing on removed pipe, and stored in a blinded manner (to maintain anonymity) that maintains traceability to the original data record within the database. The goal of the database is to pool PRCI Member company data and others to support industry’s material property data demands for current operating scenarios and future product types (e.g., hydrogen). To-date, this database contains over 20,000 datapoints from over 1,000 unique materials, including popular 1950–70’s line pipe. The recent regulatory requirements of traceable, verifiable, and complete material properties will be discussed within the context of a joint industry database and how pooled databases can be used to provide alternate and substantiated material properties for unique pipe attributes such as pipe mill, manufacturing year, diameter, grade, and thickness. Several case studies and examples of the database are provided in the paper, including statistical relationships used and sample distributions of material properties that could be used to bolster integrity management and risk-based programs.