The pipeline industry has particular difficulties in terms of testing and research due partly to the risks associated with any testing programme and difficulties in simulating the extreme conditions in an operational pipeline. In addition, there are economic and practical disadvantages of stopping and starting an operating pipeline for the purposes of a testing or research programme.
It is also important to consider that the availability of well-trained researchers inside the company, in all areas of expertise can lead to the formation of a research and development structure but at considerable cost. Balanced against this, the growing technological challenges created by the need to exploit new fields often leads companies to undertake research and development activities as a means of remaining competitive and keeping pace with their market’s requirements.
Created with the objective of meeting such needs, and working as a shared research centre available for use by all companies in the sector regardless of their membership status, the Centro de Tecnologia em Dutos (CTDUT) – which translates as the Centre for Technology in Pipelines – offers such services to the pipeline community, seeking to act as an independent institution and discussion forum for the industry.
Created as a non-profit association, the model for CTDUT came from an audacious and original concept that is performing well and producing excellent results. Inaugurated on 10 May 2006 as an initiative of its three founding partners – Petrobras, Transpetro, and Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) – CTDUT now has 45 members, including several prominent institutions in their respective fields of pipeline engineering and operations.
CTDUT’s facilities are dedicated to testing and training, and available for use by the whole pipeline community. The organisation also has specialised and trained operating personnel who are able meet all the demands likely to be required of such a facility. The institution’s management co-ordinates the research and development projects that are undertaken, although CTDUT does not have its own dedicated team of in-house researchers. The work undertaken at CTDUT is often part of wider research projects, which are carried out at the facility due to the organisation’s ability to provide the necessary hardware and expertise.
Working together
The research model on which CTDUT is founded is that of a science and technology institution that does not house its researchers on its staff, but instead relies upon a network of researchers from other institutions, both public and private, which are invited to join a working group whenever a research project requires expertise in their respective areas of specialisation. This model of a Brazilian ‘network of competence in pipelines’ transects the traditional boundaries of research institutions, and encourages and focuses the collective work of teams from different research groups towards a common goal.
The management and those responsible for CTDUT are finding that this model is being increasingly accepted, demonstrating its feasibility as a solution and complementing traditional research models, which may have their centres of excellence inside universities or other specialised institutions. It is not the intention of CTDUT to replace or supersede other already adopted solutions, but to complement what already works well, and act as a catalyst, providing evident advantages for both the ones who have, and the ones who need, specialised knowledge in the oil and gas pipeline industry. In such a model, other laboratories and specialists are not perceived as ‘competitors’, but as important partners in the initiatives with which CTDUT may be involved.
As an example of this network-based approach, which includes the main participants in the Brazilian pipeline sector, CTDUT has participated in drafting the proposed Safety rules for operation of pipelines, being prepared by ANP – the Brazilian National Agency of Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels – a project that brought together a wide range of experts with differing backgrounds and interests.
Facilitating development
Current facilities at CTDUT include a 14 inch diameter test loop, a pipeline pig pull-through and defect-characterisation facility and a laboratory for research into structural integrity, among others. The 14 inch, 100 m test loop is equipped with flanged spools that, among other applications, allow installation of spools with mapped defects so that the performance of intelligent tools can be assessed under controlled circumstances. The test loop also provides the option for training operators in the procedures involved for safely launching and receiving pigs, including the operation of control and lock valves, and opening and closing the pig trap closures. The loop can also be used for training for intervention operations in pipelines, and in maintenance procedures.
The pig pull-through rig is a testing assembly consisting of pipelines with diameters ranging from 6 inches to 16 inches, containing a variety of mapped defects. The rig is equipped with a variable speed winch, and has been designed to be suitable for tests that evaluate the detection efficiency and calibration of instrumented pigs and other equipment used for the detection of defects, such as long-range guided acoustic waves. Pipes of other diameters can also be incorporated, according to the test requirements.
The structural integrity laboratory offers an area for both destructive and non-destructive integrity tests on carbon steel or composite material pipes of any diameter, as well as on ancillary equipment such as valves. The laboratory is equipped with a 10 tonne capacity crane, a hydrostatic pressurising pump of up to 1,000 bar, a safety bunker with high-impact protection, and monitoring cameras. The 4.1 m x 18.1 m underground test area is covered with heavy steels plates for maximum protection.
Among the research activities being currently developed are seven projects with the financial support of two government organisations (CTPETRO and FINEP) as well as Petrobras. The projects are looking into leak detection, transient flow in pipelines, drag reduction, and the development of techniques for internal lining of pipeline. Other partners include various Brazilian universities and research institutions.
Non-associated external organisations can also use the CTDUT facilities. An example includes the pigging training course developed by John Tiratsoo of Pipelines International and Houston-based Clarion in association with UK-based Penspen and pigging companies Rosen of Germany and PipeWay of Brazil. The five-day course is planned to run at half-yearly intervals, running in April and September this year. The syllabus, developed by Penspen, involves demonstrations of actual pigs being safely launched, run in real time, and retrieved, as well as classroom-based lectures and discussions. Pigs have been provided to the course by both Rosen and PipeWay, and include the whole range of tools from foam pigs through to caliper and magnetic flux leakage tools. The course is seen as an increasingly important part of CTDUT’s activities combining, as it does, a number of the institution’s facilities.
A further part of CTDUT’s infrastructure currently under construction is a 12 inch diameter, 2.5 km test pipeline, which can be operated with oil, and a 16 inch diameter, 2.5 km test pipeline in the same right-of-way that can be operated with gas. The oil and gas will come from the nearby Petrobras/Transpetro Duque de Caxias refinery. These new test pipelines will be used to support research and development of new equipment, tools, and systems for inspection and protection of pipelines, as well as flow tests under various actual operating conditions for validation and developed of simulation software. Other planned projects that will be appropriate to these pipelines will be testing and certification of control equipment and systems; protection, monitoring, inspection and maintenance of pipelines beyond the certification of processes and operating procedures; and, the training and qualification of operators and technicians. Both pipelines will eventually be used for the pigging training course as well.
