The optimal design level for onshore natural gas pipelines was explored through a hypothetical example, whereby the pipe wall thickness was assumed to be the sole design parameter. The probability distributions of the life-cycle costs of various candidate designs for the example pipeline were obtained using Monte-Carlo simulation. The life-cycle cost included the cost of failure due to equipment impact and external corrosion, and the cost of periodic maintenance actions for external corrosion. The cost of failure included both the cost of fatality and injury as well as the cost of property damage and value of lost product. The minimum expected life-cycle cost criterion and stochastic dominance rules were employed to determine the optimal design level. The allowable societal risk level was considered as a constraint in the optimal design selection. It was found that the Canadian Standard Association design leads to the minimum expected life-cycle cost and satisfies the allowable societal risk constraint as well. A set of optimal designs for a risk-averse decision maker was identified using the stochastic dominance rules. Both the ASME and CSA designs belong to the optimal design set and meet the allowable societal risk constraint.
Skip Nav Destination
e-mail: wzhou@eng.uwo.ca
Article navigation
June 2011
Research Papers
Optimal Design of Onshore Natural Gas Pipelines
Wenxing Zhou,
Wenxing Zhou
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
e-mail: wzhou@eng.uwo.ca
University of Western Ontario
, London, ON, N6A 5B9, Canada
Search for other works by this author on:
Maher A. Nessim
Maher A. Nessim
Search for other works by this author on:
Wenxing Zhou
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of Western Ontario
, London, ON, N6A 5B9, Canadae-mail: wzhou@eng.uwo.ca
Maher A. Nessim
J. Pressure Vessel Technol. Jun 2011, 133(3): 031702 (11 pages)
Published Online: April 6, 2011
Article history
Received:
July 23, 2009
Revised:
August 17, 2010
Online:
April 6, 2011
Published:
April 6, 2011
Citation
Zhou, W., and Nessim, M. A. (April 6, 2011). "Optimal Design of Onshore Natural Gas Pipelines." ASME. J. Pressure Vessel Technol. June 2011; 133(3): 031702. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4002496
Download citation file:
Get Email Alerts
The Behavior of Elbow Elements at Pure Bending Applications Compared to Beam and Shell Element Models
J. Pressure Vessel Technol (February 2025)
Related Articles
Failure Pressure in Corroded Pipelines Based on Equivalent Solutions for Undamaged Pipe
J. Pressure Vessel Technol (October,2010)
Identification of the Cause of Variability of Probability of Failure for Burst Models Recommended by Codes/Standards
J. Pressure Vessel Technol (August,2011)
Design for Lifecycle Cost Using Time-Dependent Reliability
J. Mech. Des (September,2010)
A Framework for Risk-Based Integrity Assessment of Unpiggable Pipelines Subject to Internal Corrosion
J. Pressure Vessel Technol (April,2019)
Related Chapters
Probabilistic Approaches for Analysis of Inspection Data of Pipelines
Asset Integrity Management of Critical Infrastructure
Transportation Pipelines, Including ASME B31.4, B31.8, B31.8S, B31G, and B31Q Codes
Online Companion Guide to the ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Codes
Use of PSA in Lisencing of EPR 1600 in Finland (PSAM-0160)
Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Probabilistic Safety Assessment & Management (PSAM)