Pipeline Safety: Inspection, Mapping & Visualization Methods
Todd R. Porter
GeoSynergy Inc.
16225 Park Ten Place, Suite 805
Houston, TX 77084
Web: www.geosynergy.com
John Parsons
Tuboscope VETCO Pipeline Services
2835 Holmes Road
Houston, TX 77051
Web: www.tuboscope.com
Abstract
The pipeline industry has responded to the growing concern for public safety by developing a new family
of in-pipe inspection tools called "PIGS" to measure and map geometric and material anomalies. From this
data, numerous GIS map, profile, and pipe visualization views are constructed in a synchronized
application framework. This approach provides a highly visual, multi-perspective presentation to assist in
identification, location, and prioritization of potential pipeline anomalies. With the integration of spatial
and attribute information via a GIS framework, a more comprehensive interface to risk assessment systems
can be provided. This facilitates the most efficient and effective means to address pipeline operational
safety. Examples will be presented showing the benefits of an integrated approach.
Introduction
Pipeline inspection involves the collection, processing, and analysis of gigabytes of data. These data
volumes consist of measurements from many sensor types on the tool, with multiple channels, and at close
spatial interval and high frequency. Typical measurement resolution is at 1/10" (2.5mm) longitudinal and
0.3" (8mm) circumferential for corrosion and internal deformation sensors, with channel counts reaching
into the thousands for large diameter lines. This data along with inertial, velocity, and other internal
detection sensors produces data sets approaching 100GB+ sizes, an enormous task to process, analyze, and
prioritize without a streamlined and integrated system. Tuboscope has just released a product line
component called TruPath, built by GeoSynergy to provide GIS synchronized connectivity to corrosion
and mechanical damage analysis systems thus adding the geo-spatial element to the solution.
Figure 1a. Corrosion Inspection Tool
Figure 1b. Inertial Geometry Tool
