Due to steadily aging pipeline grids, it is necessary that rehabilitation measures are identified for aging pipelines in order for the operational safety and integrity to be given at any time. The safety and quality of a pipeline decreases over time and approaches a certain minimum standard. By applying an appropriate proof of integrity it can be determined whether the actual safety and quality of the pipeline still meets a required minimum standard. If this is not the case, appropriate rehabilitation measures have to be identified and applied.

When applying a Pipeline Integrity Management System (PIMS) for the above mentioned proof of integrity, not only the technical integrity but also the process integrity is considered. To prove the technical integrity within a PIMS, the probabilistic approach is applied to assess all significant features influencing the condition of the pipeline. Thus, those pipelines or pipeline sections are identified in which the integrity is no longer given. A rehabilitation program is drawn up only for those pipeline sections. The rehabilitation measures to be implemented will depend on the causes upon which the pipeline section’s integrity cannot be assured. Consequently, the total length of pipeline sections to be rehabilitated is limited to a minimum.

The paper and presentation will briefly introduce trascue.PIMS, a pipeline integrity management system jointly developed by Dr.-Ing. Veenker Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH (VEENKER) and Geomagic GmbH for Verbundnetz Gas AG. Following over 25 years of experience in the field of pipeline integrity VEENKER’s contribution towards the development of trascue.PIMS is the adaption and integration of VEENKER’s long standing and proven methodologies for pipeline integrity assessment as well as corrosion assessment and forecast.

For a specific pipeline section, the rehabilitation need is shown based on results of trascue.PIMS. Savings are determined by comparison with a conventional rehabilitation plan not based on PIMS results. Project experience from numerous projects shows that operators can achieve savings in an order of magnitude of 30 % when rehabilitation is managed with trascue.PIMS.