The Arab International Conference in
Recent Advances in Physics and Materials Science
Alexandria, Egypt, September 18-20, 2005
Innovative SSM Technology Determines Structural Integrity of
Metallic Structures: Example Applications for Pressure Vessels and
Oil and Gas Pipelines
Fahmy M. Haggag
Advanced Technology Corporation, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
ABSTRACT
Structural integrity and operational efficiency of metallic structures such as oil and gas pipelines, pressure
vessels, ship structures, and bridges degrade with aging and service conditions. Continued safe operation
of these structures requires periodic examination of their current physical condition (with respect to the
existence of flaws/cracks) and their actual mechanical properties. Until late 1980s, advances in physics
and materials science focused on non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques to detect and size flaws,
cracks, corrosion pitting, stress corrosion cracking, and reduction in thickness, while there were no NDT
methods or instruments to determine the key mechanical properties (namely, tensile and fracture
toughness) of in-service structures. Old techniques involved the extraction of boat samples or hot-tapping
to machine destructive specimens. These undesirable/unaccepted techniques result in expensive loss of
service and require some repair actions. The new Portable/In-Situ Stress-Strain Microprobe® (SSM)
system was invented in 1989 to fill this gap for numerous industries by providing non-destructive and
in-situ/field capability to measure the required mechanical properties. Applications of the innovative
SSM system, that utilizes nondestructive Automated Ball Indentation (ABI) test techniques to determine
tensile and fracture toughness of in-service steel pipelines, are described in this paper.
1-INTRODUCTION
Advanced Technology Corporation (ATC) developed the scientific concepts of its US Patent into a stateof-the-art SSM systems (bench-top and in-situ/field versions), and commercial equipment existed since
1991. The SSM systems are being used in most of the US national laboratories, defense laboratories,
NASA, pipeline inspection companies, and few international organizations in Europe and Asia. The
author, inventor, and founder of ATC is a graduate of Alexandria University. Hence, in appreciation to
Haggag’s birth country, ATC is now in the process of transferring its innovative SSM technology to the
developing Arab countries, and an SSM system became available in Alexandria, Egypt, in April 2005.
Applications of the SSM system in the nuclear industry included assessment of the integrity of nuclear
pressure vessels, the effects of neutron irradiation on the embrittlement of the base metal and welds, and
the effects of thermal annealing on the recovery of ductility and fracture toughness of the vessel steels.
The SSM system is now being used as enabling technology for material solutions to transport hydrogen in
pipelines and in the use of high strength steels (X80 and higher grades) in the construction of new
pipelines utilizing strain-based design and demanding stringent weld quality control requirements.
The SSM technology received numerous awards, including the “Advanced Technology Award” of the
Inventors Hall of Fame, Inventors Club of America, 1992, and the coveted “R&D 100 award in 1996” as
one of the 100 most technologically significant products of the year. Furthermore, the US Office of
Pipeline Safety and the recommendation letter signed by the US Secretary of Transportation in 1999 also
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The Arab International Conference in
Recent Advances in Physics and Materials Science
Alexandria, Egypt, September 18-20, 2005
evaluated the SSM technology. More than 25 publications describing various SSM applications are
available for downloading from ATC’s website: www.atc-ssm.com.
Applications of the innovative SSM system, that utilizes an in-situ nondestructive Automated Ball
Indentation (ABI) test technique to determine tensile and fracture toughness of in-service steel pipelines,
are described in this paper. The ABI test provides the actual/current values of tensile and fracture
toughness properties for base metal, welds, and heat-affected-zones (HAZs). The ABI-measured key
mechanical properties are used with other nondestructive measurements, such as crack/defect sizes
(determined from in-line smart pigs or from on-line ultrasound instruments), to determine the safe
operating pressure of the pipeline or to necessitate certain rehabilitation actions. The ABI test is based on
progressive indentation with intermediate partial unloadings until the desired/required maximum depth
(maximum strain) is reached, and then the indenter is fully unloaded. The ABI test is fully automated
(using a laptop computer, 16-bit data acquisition system, and a servo motor), and a single test is
completed in less than two minutes. This paper describes two recent field investigations, and a demo
SSM/ABI test on a pipeline section will be performed during the presentation at the conference.
The first investigation assessed a catastrophic failure that occurred in a natural gas plant on a cold winter
night shortly following the leak of liquid natural gas into a natural gas pipeline. The combination of cold
temperature and high strain rate near a crack resulted in the destruction of approximately a 12-meter
section of a 508-mm (20-inch) diameter pipeline into several hundred small pieces. Since the remaining
pieces from the exploded pipeline section were not sufficient to machine destructive tensile and fracture
toughness specimens, the SSM system was used to measure the tensile and fracture toughness properties
from multiple ABI tests on several pipeline pieces. The ABI-measured tensile and fracture toughness
results provided the basis for the fitness-for-service assessment of the remaining pipeline sections of the
natural gas plant.
The second application involved a fire that occurred due to a leak from a 356-mm (14-inch) diameter
Kerosene pipeline. The fire-damaged section of the pipeline was cut out and replaced. As part of the
effort to prevent future accidents, the entire 7-km pipeline needed a structural integrity assessment.
Field/In-Situ ABI tests were conducted to measure the tensile and fracture toughness properties, from
each ABI test at four locations, for the fitness-for-service assessment since the carbon steel pipeline had
undocumented grade.
Thousands of kilometers of oil and gas pipelines are becoming older and new inspection regulations and
practices are now more stringent to insure safe and efficient operation. This situation brings concerns
over pipeline rehabilitation as well as in meeting the current and future energy demands through
increasing the transmission throughput safely. When cracks and other pipeline flaws are produced due to
service conditions (e.g. corrosion, stress-corrosion cracking, and/or mechanical damage), fracture
toughness values, not provided by the steel grade certification, are required for the deterministic integrity
assessment based on a fracture mechanics analysis.
The latest advances include the use of ABI-measured fracture toughness values in the deterministic
structural integrity assessment. The nondestructive ABI test technique is described in detail in many
publications [1-9]. Photographs of the SSM system used in testing oil and gas pipelines are shown in
Fig. (1). Examples of ABI data and test results are shown in Fig. (2).
2- Nomenclature
ABI = Automated Ball Indentation
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The Arab International Conference in
Recent Advances in Physics and Materials Science
Alexandria, Egypt, September 18-20, 2005
CFR = Code of Federal Regulations
SSM = Stress-Strain Microprobe
SMYS = Specified minimum yield strength
T0 = the reference temperature when fracture toughness KJc = 100 MPa√m
Fig. (1) Photographs of the SSM system used in testing 14-inch diameter pipelines: a Kerosene pipeline
in Alexandria, Egypt (Left Photo) and a demo in Tennessee (Right Photo).
Fig. 2(a) Load versus depth data from an
ABI test conducted on X52 pipeline steel
using a 0.76-mm (0.030-in) diameter
tungsten carbide indenter.
Fig. 2(b) Comparison of true-stress versus
true-plastic-strain curves from ABI and
tensile tests of high strength steel. (1 ksi =
6.895 MPa). The inset photo shows a tensile
specimen and 1.57-mm (0.062-in) diameter
tungsten carbide indenter.
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The Arab International Conference in
Recent Advances in Physics and Materials Science
Alexandria, Egypt, September 18-20, 2005
(c)
(d)
Fig. 2(c) Fracture toughness Master Curve obtained from ABI tests on three pedigreed Ferritic steels. A
0.51-mm (0.020-inch) diameter tungsten carbide indenter was used to perform 11 ABI tests on Plate 02
(the specimen on the top left of the figure), and 9 ABI tests each on the 72W and 73W weld samples
(shown on the left and right lower part of the figure, respectively). The ABI-determined reference
temperatures of the three materials were within 5ºC of the values from the pedigreed destructive fracture
toughness tests [Refs. 7, 10]. Fig. 2(d) Comparison between nondestructively ABI-measured (KJc)ABI
values from tests performed at ATC (using a 1.57-mm indenter) and destructive 1T CT fracture toughness
test results of 73W weld of ORNL.
3- FRACTURE TOUGHNESS
The current challenge for numerous industrial applications is to obtain fracture toughness of Ferritic steel
structures without cutting boat samples or hot tapping to machine miniature fracture toughness specimens.
Miniature specimens produce invalid fracture toughness values most of the time because of the violation
of the geometry requirements for plane strain. However, ABI tests will produce valid fracture toughness
values all of the time (because of the ability to select the appropriate indenter diameter for the steel test
material), and the current ASTM destructive fracture toughness test methods may never produce valid test
results. Also, most or all steel pipelines are not manufactured in the large thickness required to obtain
valid fracture toughness test results, and often the owner/operator will not allow hot tapping or cutting of
a pipeline section. Another great advantage of the ABI technique is its applicability to nondestructively
test small welds and heat-affected-zones (HAZs) where the current ASTM destructive test techniques
might not be feasible or are economically prohibitive.
How Can Fracture Toughness of Ferritic Steels Be Determined From the Abi Test?
An ABI test does not produce fracture in a metallic test sample due to the plastic constraint and the
ductility of the test material, and there is no fatigue crack requirement for the ABI test (which makes it
nondestructively/economically desirable). However, the success of this technique to determine fracture
toughness of Ferritic steels in the transition region is based on (1) the attainment of a high degree of
stress-triaxiality (stress concentration similar to that ahead of a crack-tip) because of the plastic constraint
provided by the test material surrounding the spherical indentation, (2) the increase of the value of
maximum stress (110% of the mean pressure in the material beneath the ball indenter) with increasing
indentation depth until reaching or exceeding (at some low test temperatures) the critical fracture stress of
the material, (3) the fracture of Ferritic steels at low temperatures in the transition region is controlled by
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The Arab International Conference in
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Alexandria, Egypt, September 18-20, 2005
the critical fracture stress of the material, and (4) the ductile fracture of Ferritic steels at high temperatures
is controlled by the critical fracture strain of the test material.
Indentation with a small ball indenter generates concentrated stress (and strain) fields near and ahead of
the contact of the indenter and the test surface, similar to concentrated stress fields ahead of a crack, albeit
the indentation stress fields are mostly compressive. The high value of the stress under the ball indenter
is an example of plastic constraint where the rigid material surrounding the indentation volume does the
constraining. Hence, at a certain critical ball indentation depth, there is a high state of transverse and
lateral stresses similar to those in front of a sharp crack/notch in an elastic material. Although the
conditions for crack initiation might be attained, the high degree of plastic constraint is the reason that
cracks do not develop during ball indentation of ductile metallic materials. The initiation fracture
toughness is calculated from the integration of indentation deformation energy up to the critical depth
(when the maximum pressure underneath the ball indenter equals the critical fracture stress of the steel
material at the test temperature or reaches a critical strain value of 0.12, whichever occurs first).
Although ball indentation does not produce cracks in ductile metals, researchers at Advanced Technology
Corporation (ATC) have produced cracks in two perpendicular directions in a single sodium chloride
crystal using a 1.57-mm diameter ball indenter (work performed by ATC for the US Navy, see Fig. 3)
which proved that the maximum stress underneath the ball indenter reached the fracture stress of the
single crystal. Moreover, in the non-standardized bulge test (sometimes called small punch test), a very
thin sheet of metal is clamped in a die and a punch with a large spherical end is pushed against one
surface of the thin sheet until the sheet is fractured on the opposite/tensile side. In the bulge test, fracture
occurs even though the specimen does not contain any fatigue crack prior to the test. However, fracture
toughness cannot be calculated from the plane stress sample of the bulge test.
Fig. (3) Cracks produced with a 1.57-mm diameter ball indenter in a sodium chloride single crystal.
In an ABI test, the maximum stress underneath the indenter increases with depth, but fracture does not
occur because of the plastic constraint of the material surrounding indentation (the specimen or the
structure thickness must be ten times the maximum indentation depth to avoid back surface dimpling
effects and to obtain valid ABI test results). Furthermore, in a destructive JIc fracture toughness test,
although we propagate/extend the fatigue crack, we extrapolate the power-law-fit of the J-integral versus
crack extension curve to intersect a line parallel to the blunting line (0.2 mm offset line) where the
intersection point determines the JIc initiation fracture toughness. This empirical procedure is required
since it is very difficult to stop loading the sample at the deformation energy level associated with the
onset of crack extension from the pre-existing fatigue crack of the destructive fracture toughness
specimen. The true initiation fracture toughness value from the destructive test is actually the
deformation energy up to the point of initial crack extension. Hence, the capability to determine
fracture toughness from the ABI test without having to machine and fatigue crack a specimen is a truly
innovative method, and it is the only method for in-situ/field nondestructive direct measurement.
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The Arab International Conference in
Recent Advances in Physics and Materials Science
Alexandria, Egypt, September 18-20, 2005
Recent developments allow ABI testing at ambient temperature and determining the fracture toughness at
other temperatures using the fracture toughness master curve concept and the appropriate critical fracture
stress or strain model depending on the actual test temperature. Furthermore, dynamic fracture toughness
values can be estimated from the measured static fracture toughness and yield strength test results [9].
This new ABI-measured fracture toughness capability is, in practical terms, material thickness
independent since indenters with different diameters can be used for all pipelines with thin or thick wall.
Furthermore, its localized nature allows testing welds and heat-affected-zones (HAZs) that cannot be
tested destructively because of their irregular shape and small volumes.
The SSM System and Its Nondestructive ABI Technique
The laboratory version of the patented [1] Stress-Strain Microprobe (SSM) system has been in
commercial use since 1991, and the portable SSM version received a 1996 R&D 100 Award. In 1999, the
miniature SSM system was introduced to provide even greater portability and easier field applicability.
Equipped with a small, portable battery pack and magnetic mounts, this system has proven to be a
valuable test instrument for the pipeline industry. The accuracy, reliability, and easy field applicability of
the SSM system to test pipeline materials with unknown properties have been demonstrated on pipeline
sections and on samples from several major natural gas pipeline operators [6]. A $600k research grant
from the US DOE enabled a comparison of the results of numerous ABI-measured fracture toughness
tests on several pedigreed pressure vessel steel materials and welds with the results from destructive tests.
The ATC’s DOE final report [7] is available for downloading from the website: www.atc-ssm.com. At
the request of numerous industry and government users, a draft ASTM Standard for the “ABI Test
Methods” is currently in the balloting process.
The ABI test is based on progressive indentation with intermediate partial unloadings until the desired
maximum depth (maximum strain) is reached, and then the indenter is fully unloaded. The indentation
load-depth data are collected continuously during the test using a 16-bit data acquisition system. The
nonlinear, spherical geometry of the tungsten carbide indenter allows increasing strain as the indentation
penetration depth is increased. Hence, the incremental values of load and plastic depth (associated with
each partial unloading cycle) are converted to incremental values of true-stress and true-plastic-strain
according to elasticity and plasticity theories [2,3]. The ABI test is fully automated (using a laptop
computer, a data acquisition system, and a servo motor), and a single test is completed in less than two
minutes. Furthermore, in addition to the ABI stress-strain curve measurements, the nondestructive and
localized ABI technique of the SSM system provides fracture toughness properties that cannot be
obtained from the destructive (and costly for operating pipelines) tensile test. The determination of
fracture properties from ABI tests is described in detail elsewhere [7-9]. The initiation fracture toughness
is calculated from the integration of the tri-axial indentation deformation energy up to a critical
indentation depth (e.g., when the maximum pressure underneath the ball indenter equals the critical
fracture stress of the steel material or at the critical fracture strain value depending on the flow properties
of the steel at the ABI test temperature).
4- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Case 1: A catastrophic failure occurred in a natural gas plant on a cold winter night shortly following the
leak of liquid natural gas into a natural gas pipeline. The combination of cold temperature and high strain
rate near an existing, but previously undetected crack resulted in the destruction of approximately 12meter section of a 508-mm (20-inch) diameter pipeline into several hundred small pieces. The plant
operator was concerned that the pipeline steel might not have the appropriate flow and fracture toughness
properties since the fracture surfaces of many small pieces indicated brittle fracture. Although the
pipeline piece containing the crack was not found at the time of the report, the ABI tests on several small
pieces confirmed that the pipeline steel material met the mechanical properties specified for the seamless,
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The Arab International Conference in
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Alexandria, Egypt, September 18-20, 2005
carbon steel pipe at the time of construction. Multiple ABI tests were conducted on a block machined
from a small steel piece at several low temperatures. All ABI tests were conducted using a 0.51-mm
(0.020-inch) diameter tungsten carbide indenter at a speed of 0.01-mm/s (0.0004 in/s), or a strain rate of
0.014/s, to a maximum indentation depth of 0.076-mm (0.003-inch). Stress-strain curves and fracture
toughness values were measured from each individual ABI test. In addition, the fracture toughness
median curve as well as its 95% and 5% confidence limit curves were determined from the ABI tests.
The reference temperature, To, defined in the ASTM Standard E1921-97 [Ref. 10], as the test temperature
corresponding to a median fracture toughness level of 100 MPa√m (90.9 ksi√in), was determined from
the 17 ABI tests conducted at several low test temperatures. The ABI tests determined a To value of
-24ºC for the base metal of the pipe (Fig. 4).
Fig. 4 Static fracture toughness
(KJc) values determined from 17
ABI tests conducted on a pipeline
steel
sample
at
four
test
temperatures. The median fracture
toughness curve and the 95% and
5% confidence limit curves are
shown in the figure.
The ABI-determined To value demonstrates that the pipeline material has good static fracture toughness
of 100 MPa√m at a low temperature of -24ºC that is lower than the normal pipeline operating temperature
in winter of the gas plant. However, these ABI-measured static fracture toughness values do not prevent
brittle failure that might result from the existence of a small crack (developed during pipeline service) and
due to the combination of very low temperature and a dynamic loading at a high strain rate (it should be
noted that all carbon steels have a lower/brittle fracture toughness shelf with a median value of 30
MPa√m regardless of their various values of much higher fracture toughness at higher operating
temperatures). The ABI-measured tensile and fracture toughness values assured the officials in the gas
plant that the remaining pipeline sections, procured earlier with the same grade and heat, were fit for
continued service.
Case 2: In June 2003, a fire occurred due to a leak from a 356-mm (14-inch) diameter Kerosene pipeline
(approximately 7 km long). A part of the pipeline that was damaged by the fire was cut and replaced.
Following the repair, a hydrostatic test was conducted, and the resulting few leaks were repaired. A
second hydrostatic test was conducted at 13 kg/cm2 (185 psi) for one hour and no leaks occurred.
Currently, the maximum operating pressure is 7 kg/cm2 (100 psi). The fire-damaged section of the
pipeline was cut out and replaced. To avoid future accidents, the entire 7-km pipeline needed a structural
integrity assessment. The carbon steel pipeline is more than 20-years old with undocumented grade. For
undocumented pipelines, Section 49 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 192.107 (b) (2)
stipulates yield strength of 165 MPa (24,000 psi) must be used in the equation that determines the design
pressure of the pipe section. To overcome this limitation, a pipeline operator must determine the actual
yield strength. Since the carbon steel pipeline had undocumented grade, 15 ABI tests were conducted at
four pipeline locations in order to measure the tensile and fracture toughness properties for the fitness-for7
The Arab International Conference in
Recent Advances in Physics and Materials Science
Alexandria, Egypt, September 18-20, 2005
service assessment. The ABI-determined tensile and fracture toughness values are shown in Table 1 and
Fig. (5). Three ABI tests were conducted at locations 1 and 2 while five and four ABI tests were
performed at locations 3 and 4, respectively. A minimum of three ABI tests is recommended for each
location in order to have a reasonable statistical sampling of the key mechanical properties. The additional
tests at locations 3 and 4 proved that the steel material of the 0.2 km section is reasonably homogenous as
shown by the overlay of the load versus depth data and the true-stress/true-plastic-strain curves (see
example in Fig. (6). Results of the ABI tests indicate the pipeline steel is within specifications.Further
investigation indicates coating failure as the source of corrosion and subsequent failure.
Fig. (5) The ABI-determined fracture toughness values, median curve, and the 95% and 5% confidence
limit curves obtained from 15 ABI tests at ambient temperature at 4 pipeline locations. The ABIdetermined To value for the Kerosene pipeline is -16ºC.
Table 1 Summary of ABI-determined tensile and fracture toughness values (the latter is calculated from
the indentation deformation energy up to a critical strain value of 12%). The15 in-situ/field ABI tests
were conducted on the in-service 14-inch diameter kerosene pipeline at four locations.
Test
Number
Yield
Strength
(MPa)
14-1-1
14-1-2
14-1-3
14-2-1
14-2-2
14-2-3
14-3-1
14-3-2
14-3-3
14-3-4
14-3-5
287
289
280
299
289
291
303
300
301
297
295
Estimated
Engineering
UTS (MPa)
Strength
Coefficient
(K) (MPa)
401
401
394
407
410
403
412
409
409
408
399
570
570
563
572
587
571
579
574
575
576
559
8
StrainHardeningExponent
(n)
0.109
0.109
0.111
0.105
0.113
0.108
0.105
0.105
0.105
0.106
0.103
Uniform
Ductility
(%)
11.7
11.7
11.8
11.5
11.9
11.7
11.5
11.5
11.5
11.6
11.4
Fracture
Toughness
(MPa√m)
190
189
187
191
191
189
191
191
190
190
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The Arab International Conference in
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Alexandria, Egypt, September 18-20, 2005
Test
Number
Yield
Strength
(MPa)
14-3D-1
14-3D-2
14-3D-2
14-3D-4
Uniform
Ductility
(%)
563
StrainHardeningExponent
(n)
0.114
11.8
180
532
589
572
0.105
0.115
0.113
11.4
11.8
11.8
178
190
187
Estimated
Engineering
UTS (MPa)
Strength
Coefficient
(K) (MPa)
277
392
280
288
283
378
410
399
(a)
Fracture
Toughness
(MPa√m)
(b)
Fig. 6 (a) Overlay of the ABI load versus depth data
from three ABI tests conducted on the 14-inch
Kerosene pipeline at location Number 1 (near Tie No.
2),
Fig. 6 (b) Overlay of the ABI-measured truestress/true-plastic-strain curves from three ABI tests
conducted on the 14-inch Kerosene pipeline at
location Number 1 (near Tie No. 2). (1 lb = 0.454 kg,
1 ksi = 6.895 MPa)
6- CALCULATION OF MAXIMUM OPERATING PRESSURE
The Rstreng software [11] and the ASME B31G Code results of the pipeline short section, without
corrosion using the ABI-measured minimum yield strength of 40, 200 psi, indicate that the maximum safe
pressure is 1030 psi. However, the existence of a few corrosion pits over a 483-mm (19 inch) axial
pipeline length reduces the maximum safe pressure to 143 psi as shown in Figure 7. If the minimum
yield strength were not determined from destructive tension tests or from the nondestructive ABI tests;
the maximum safe pressure would only be 86 psi (Fig. 8a) because of the CFR mandatory use of the
24,000-psi value of the yield strength for undocumented steel pipelines. The minimum ABI-determined
ultimate strength of 54,800 psi meets Grade “A”. Hence, the use of the SMYS value of 30,000 psi for
Grade “A” resulted in maximum safe operating pressure of 107 psi according to ASME B31G as shown
in Figure 8b. This pressure is slightly higher than the current operating pressure of 100 psi, indicating
that the corroded section must be repaired for safe operation.
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The Arab International Conference in
Recent Advances in Physics and Materials Science
Alexandria, Egypt, September 18-20, 2005
Fig. (7) A few corrosion pits over a 19-inch long section reduced the maximum safe operating pressure
from 618 psi (when no corrosion pitting exists) to 143 psi according to the ASME B31G Code.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 8(a) If the minimum yield strength was not
determined from the destructive tension tests or
from the nondestructive ABI tests; the maximum
safe pressure would only be 86 psi (because of
the CFR conservative value of 24,000 psi for the
yield strength for undocumented pipeline instead
of the minimum ABI-measured value of 40,200
psi) which is below the current operating
pressure of 100 psi (7 kg/mm2) instead of the 143
psi of Fig. 7
Fig. 8(b) The ABI-determined minimum ultimate
strength was 54,800 psi, which meets Grade “A”.
Hence, the SMYS value of 30,000 psi for Grade
“A” was used here to calculate a maximum safe
operating pressure of 107 psi. Again, this is very
close to the current operating pipeline pressure of
100 psi.
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Alexandria, Egypt, September 18-20, 2005
7- CONCLUSIONS
The SSM System provides the key mechanical properties (tensile and fracture toughness), from each
single ABI test, in a nondestructive and localized fashion without any interruption to the pipeline
transmission service.
The results presented in this paper demonstrate the capabilities of the patented Stress-Strain Microprobe®
(SSM) system and its Automated Ball Indentation (ABI) test technique to nondestructively measure the
tensile and fracture toughness properties of carbon steel pipeline materials in a reliable and accurate
manner on samples and components. The use of the SSM system to test aged and new construction
pipelines and their welds in the field will improve their structural integrity evaluation as well as their
operational efficiency. For an accurate and complete fitness-for-service assessment, the following should
be noted: (1) the use of the SMYS or the minimum ABI-measured yield strength to calculate the
maximum safe pipeline operating pressure is appropriate only when there are no cracks, and (2) when
cracks exist (due to severe corrosion and/or mechanical damage), the ABI-measured fracture toughness
values of the base metal and welds should be used to calculate the critical crack size. Calculating the
critical crack size for a given pipeline geometry and pressure, based on deterministic fracture mechanics
analysis, allows accurate decisions to be made regarding the repair or replacement and the frequency of
crack/flaw inspections. The two applications of the SSM system presented here provided the pipeline
operators with accurate, nondestructive, ABI-measured fracture toughness and tensile values for
deterministic pipeline integrity assessments.
The integration of the SSM measurements with the conventional, non-destructive inspection results
(crack/flaw size and/or corrosion pitting profile measurements using appropriate ultrasound equipment or
others) will allow making the appropriate decision of calculating the maximum safe operating pressure
and the determination of replacement or repair of older pipelines. In addition, the quality of seam welds
and girth welds in repair jobs or in new pipeline construction (particularly for high strength grades such as
X80 through X120) can be quantified thoroughly from their ABI-measured fracture toughness values as
well as from actual ABI-measured tensile properties (required for a true verification of weld over-match
design requirements or strain-based design requirements of arctic or earthquake-prone applications).
The SSM measurements should be performed on at least 10% of the total pipeline sections (without
documentation) and on all steel patches and weld repairs in order to provide the minimum yield strength
values required for determining the remaining strength of corroded pipelines according to the ASME
B31G Code.
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REFERENCES
[1] Haggag, F. M., 1989, "Field Indentation Microprobe for Structural Integrity Evaluation," U.S.
Patent No. 4,852,397.
[2] Haggag, F. M., 1993, "In-Situ Measurements of Mechanical Properties Using Novel Automated
Ball Indentation System," ASTM STP 1204, pp. 27-44.
[3] Haggag, F. M., et al., 1997, "Use of Portable/In Situ Stress-Strain Microprobe System to Measure
Stress-Strain Behavior and Damage in Metallic Materials and Structures," ASTM STP 1318, pp. 85-98.
[4] Druce, S. G., et al., 1993, "The Use of Miniature Specimen Techniques for the Assessment of
Material Condition," ASME PVP-Vol. 252, pp. 58-59.
[5] Byun, T. S., et al., 1997, "Measurement of Through-the-Thickness Variations of Mechanical
Properties in SA508 Gr.3 Pressure Vessel Steels Using Ball Indentation Test Technique," International
Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, 74, pp. 231-238.
[6] Haggag, F. M., 1999, “Nondestructive Determination of Yield Strength and Stress-Strain Curves of
In-Service Transmission Pipelines Using Innovative Stress-Strain MicroprobeTM Technology,”
ATC/DOT/990901, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Washington, DC.
[7] Haggag, F. M., 1999, “Nondestructive and Localized Measurements of Stress-Strain Curves and
Fracture Toughness of Ferritic Steels at Various Temperatures Using Innovative Stress-Strain
MicroprobeTM Technology,” DOE/ER/82115-2, US Dept. of Energy, Maryland.
[8] Haggag, Fahmy M., 2001, “In-Situ Nondestructive Measurements of Key Mechanical Properties of
Oil and Gas Pipelines,” ASME PVP-Vol. 429, pp. 99-104.
[9] Haggag, Fahmy M., 2002, “In-Service Nondestructive Measurements of Stress-Strain Curves and
Fracture Toughness of Oil and Gas Pipelines: Examples of Fitness-for-Purpose Applications,”
Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Pipeline Rehabilitation & Maintenance, Det Norske
Veritas, Bahrain, Paper 7.
[10] ASTM Standard E1921-97, “Standard Test Method for Determination of Reference Temperature,
To, for Ferritic Steels in the Transition Range,” Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 03.01.
[11] Pipeline Research Council International, 2003, RSTRENG for Windows 3.0, Software, Arlington.
[12] Haggag, Fahmy M., and Phillips, Larry, “Innovative Nondestructive Method Determines Fracture
Toughness of In-Service Pipelines,” ASME Proceedings of IPC 2004 International Pipeline
Conference, October 4 - 8, 2004, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Paper Number IPC04-0345.
[13] Haggag, Fahmy M., and Phillips, Larry, “Integrating Automated Ball Indentation with ASME
B31G Code to Assess Integrity of Corroded Pipelines,” ASME Proceedings of IPC 2004 International
Pipeline Conference, October 4 - 8, 2004, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Paper Number IPC04-0357.
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