RSPA, along with GTI, invite the pipeline industry, in-line inspection ("smart pig") vendors, and the general public to a meeting to review the status of a two-year research program to identify and characterize mechanical damage using magnetic flux leakage (MFL) inspection tools. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 18, 2001 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Marriott Rivercenter Hotel, 101 Bowie, San Antonio, TX, and is open to anyone (no registration is required). The meeting will cover a review of the overall project plan, the status of the contract tasks, progress made during the past quarter, and projected activity for the next quarter. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lloyd W. Ulrich, Agreement Officer's Technical Representative, Office of Pipeline Safety, telephone: (202) 366-4556, FAX: (202) 366-4566, e-mail: lloyd.ulrich@rspa.dot.gov. You may also contact Harvey Haines, Principal Investigator, GTI, telephone: (773) 399-8223, FAX: (773) 864-3495, e-mail: harvey.haines@gastechnology.org.

This research continues work that DOT supported at Battelle to improve in-line inspection of mechanical damage and more closely coordinates work that GTI is supporting at Southwest Research Institute to develop critical assessment criteria based on these NDE measurements. This program extends the work conducted under the RSPA-funded contract "Detection of Mechanical Damage in Pipelines" (Contract DTRS-56-96-C-0010)1 by looking at the circumferential magnetic flux leakage field instead of the traditional axial field and extends the critical assessment criteria research to work with full scale samples that are being used for MFL measurements. The goal of the research is to evaluate and develop techniques for assessing pipeline metal loss, mechanical damage, and cracks using circumferential MFL. These techniques are expected to complement the techniques used for axial MFL systems.

The research will extend the failure assessment methodology for mechanically damaged pipes to include the influence of local cold working due to the gouging/denting process on the pipe's remaining life. The program will combine full scale tests and MFL monitoring of pipes, laboratory tests and elastic-plastic finite element analyses to develop a validated methodology for determining the remaining life of a damaged pipe. The proposed SwRI research will complement the work at Battelle in developing criteria for characterizing mechanical damage found through in-line inspection.

On Thursday morning, April 19, 2001, Southwest Research Institute will offer a tour to anyone interested in the facilities used in this research project. Interested parties should contact Al Crouch at SwRI, (210) 522-3157.