Inspection requirements for the state of texas

By 522029

Date 04-26-2010 00:19

There is some scary information on that site on more than just Texas!

Griff

By dbigkahunna (****)

Date 04-26-2010 00:31 Edited 04-26-2010 00:33

There is about 25% pure bull$hit in this article. About 30% is some good information and 50% is the website owners own ax grinding.
One thing that caught my eye was the failure on Explorer pipeline at Lake Tawakani north of Dallas. You would think there was welders at fault and the welds were overlooked. Instead, the pipe and welding installed in 1970 was state of the art for its time. What was discovered was the ERW process used in the pipe industry worldwide at the time was using the same process and the failures on pre-70 ERW has driven the pipeline integrity programs that are required by DOT regulated pipelines.
The same for the Alaska pipeline. There were some issues with the original welding which were corrected in the early 1990's. The issue up there now is corrosion and how the corrosion is affecting the pipe and welds.
Again the fertilizer tank failures. This guy that has the site thinks mig can take care of any problem and it is just a matter of the bad ole contractors seeing his way. Well if what he wanted to do in tank erection was better faster and cheaper, it would have been implemented. The fertilizer tank erectors were all doing the same thing the same way they had been for years. What changed? was it the rods or the steel. And you cant weld 3/16 plate with low hydrogen. And hung off the plates with a mig gun, gas hoses and fitting tools?
Give me a break.
Sure Texas may not have adopted the NBS but I can tell you vessels get inspected in Texas! This guy has a lot of experience in the automobile industry and is really light in the unfired pressure vessel, process piping and tank industry. And he listed one pipeline job which was a alloy steam pressure line. I do not see anywhere he has dealt with running 10 miles of 0.188 wt 52 pipe through the sandhills of West Texas.
However I will give him his due, and there are changes that have happened in my career that are encouraging.

By RioCampo (***)

Date 04-26-2010 02:21

I used to Inspect for TXDOT and I can tell you most off that is not correct on the site. If you weld for Txdot or your company does, they have to be tested by TXDOT at one of their facilities. I mean each welder has to be tested.

By Cactusthewelder (*****)

Date 04-26-2010 13:09 Edited 04-26-2010 16:37

My referral from TXDOT. All test were UT Shear Wave

Attachment: TXDOTREC..jpg (0B)

By JTMcC

Date 04-26-2010 02:54

What was discovered was the ERW process used in the pipe industry worldwide at the time was using the same process and the failures on pre-70 ERW has driven the pipeline integrity programs that are required by DOT regulated pipelines.

That's not true.
The mandaded increase in pipeline inspection is driven by politicians. The politicians were driven by the gas line failure that killed several people in the Carlsbad NM area and the gasoline line failure in the pacific NW that killed two kids.
Both of those line failures were due to line pipe corrosion.
Hence the new smart pig regulations/non piggable line inspection requirements plus a bunch of other safety measures.
That was just the PL operators getting lazy and not monitering their line pipe condition. Not any more.
JTMcC

By dbigkahunna (****)

Date 04-26-2010 11:19

The original smart pigs were looking for what the pipeline industry knew the problem was. You can read the NTSB sumary
http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2001/PAB0103.pdf
And note a smart pig was ran in 1997.
As in airplane accidents a lot of information is gained from crashes, since this failure the smart pigs have gotten a lot better capable of gathering more information. The anomalies that were found at this incident are now looked at when the logs are reviewed.
But when you read the thread starting article the issue was this failure was due to a welder issue. And that is simply not correct. This was a manufacturing issue that was discovered over 30 years after manufacturing and installation. And the girth welds which were welded SMAW are still in good condition with no issues.