Field Inspection Module for Hydrotechnical Hazards

Author(s):  
Mark Leir ◽  
Michael Reed ◽  
Eugene Yaremko

Terasen Pipelines (Terasen) owns and operates an 1146 km low vapour pressure petroleum products pipeline between Edmonton, Alberta and Burnaby, British Columbia. Its right-of-way passes through some of the most geotechnically, hydrotechnically, and environmentally challenging terrain in Western Canada. This paper describes the latest advancement of a natural hazards and risk management database application that has supported a 6-year hazard management program to quantitatively assess and prioritize the geotechnical and hydrotechnical risk along the pipeline. This database was first reported at IPC 2002 in a paper entitled “Natural hazard database application — A tool for pipeline decision makers” [1]. This second paper describes the advancements since then, including the addition of the Hydrotechnical Field Inspection Module (FIM), an add-on tool that allows field inspection observations to adjust hazard and vulnerability. This paper discusses the challenges in building a methodology that is practical enough for field maintenance personnel to use yet sufficiently comprehensive to accurately describe improving or worsening hydrotechnical hazard conditions. Functionality to enter hazard inspection data, review inspection results in the office, and authorize changes to the hydrotechnical hazard probabilities are described in the paper and demonstrated in the conference presentation. The relationship between revised hazard, vulnerability, risk, and response thresholds (such as inspection frequency, monitoring, site surveys, or mitigation) are demonstrated using a river crossing with a dynamic hazard history. As in previous years, this paper is targeted to pipeline managers who are seeking a systematic hazard and risk management approach for their natural hazards.

Author(s):  
Mark Leir ◽  
Michael Reed

Trans Mountain Pipe Line Company Ltd. (TMPL) owns and operates an 1146 km NPS 24 low vapor pressure petroleum products pipeline between Edmonton, Alberta and Burnaby, British Columbia. In 1998 TMPL retained BGC Engineering Inc. (BGC) to start a three-phase geotechnical and hydrotechnical hazard assessment of the right of way (ROW) from Hinton, Alberta to Kamloops, British Columbia. As part of this work GroundControl was asked to develop an electronic database with which to capture the information generated by BGC during the hazard assessment work. This paper describes the development and evolution of the database application that accompanied the study to quantitatively assess and prioritize the geotechnical and hydrotechnical hazard potential along the pipeline. This paper describes how the database provides TMPL employees across British Columbia and Alberta access to the current results of the hazard assessment plus supporting information such as multi-temporal images and internal and 3rd party reports about the pipeline. The purpose of the database and the unique architecture and functionality that accommodates ongoing monitoring and inspections of slopes and stream crossings is provided. Database security, access, and information sharing unique to TMPL are also described. Benefits and costs of the application plus technical and business challenges overcome by TMPL, BGC, and GroundControl are discussed. Recommendations from TMPL and GroundControl for similar information management initiatives are provided and future work is described. This paper is targeted to pipeline managers who are looking for economical, practical, and innovative information management solutions for managing their natural hazards.


Author(s):  
Robert V. Hadden ◽  
Kevin J. De Leenheer

As part of its Integrity Management Program, Trans Mountain Pipe Line hydrostatically tests sections of its pipeline system with water transported to test sites through the pipeline. After completion of the testing, the water continues through the pipeline to a water treatment facility where it is treated and discharged to the municipal sewer system. Hydrostatic testing of an operating pipeline, although simple in concept, is a major undertaking. This paper will outline the technical aspects of Trans Mountain’s hydrostatic testing program including: test water transportation, environmental constraints, coordination of test activities and water treatment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 314
Author(s):  
Trevor Howard ◽  
Neil Burrows ◽  
Tony Smith ◽  
Glen Daniel ◽  
Lachlan McCaw

A risk-based framework for targeting investment in prescribed burning in Western Australia is presented. Bushfire risk is determined through a risk assessment and prioritisation process. The framework provides principles and a rationale for programming fuel management with indicators to demonstrate that bushfire risk has been reduced to an acceptable level. Indicators provide targets for fuel management that are applicable throughout the state and can be customised to meet local circumstances. The framework identifies eight bushfire risk management zones having broad consistency of land use, fire environment and management approach, which combine to create a characteristic risk profile. Thirteen fuel types based primarily on structural attributes of the vegetation that influence fire behaviour are recognised and used to assign models for fuel accumulation and fire behaviour prediction. Each bushfire risk management zone is divided into fire management areas, based on the management intent. These are areas where fuels will be managed primarily to minimise the likelihood of fire causing adverse impacts on human settlements or critical infrastructure, to reduce the risk of bushfire at the landscape scale or to achieve other land management outcomes. Indicators of acceptable bushfire risk are defined for each fire management area and are modified according to the distribution of assets and potential fire behaviour in the landscape. Risk criteria established in the framework can be converted to spatially represented targets for fuel management in each zone and can be reported against to measure the effectiveness of the fuel management program. In areas where the primary intent is to reduce the risk of bushfire at the landscape scale, managers have flexibility to apply prescribed fire in ways that maintain and enhance ecosystem services, nature conservation and landscape values through variation in the seasonality, intensity and scale of planned burning.


2020 ◽  
pp. 111-136
Author(s):  
Manuela Lucchese ◽  
Giuseppe Sannino ◽  
Paolo Tartaglia Polcini

Author(s):  
Michael Porter ◽  
Alex Baumgard ◽  
K. Wayne Savigny

Pipelines and other linear facilities that traverse mountainous terrain may be subject to rock fall and rock slide hazards. A system is required to determine which sites pose the greatest hazard to the facility. Once sites are ranked according to hazard exposure, a risk management program involving inspection, monitoring, contingency planning and/or mitigation can be implemented in a systematic and defensible manner. A hazard rating methodology was developed to identify and characterize rock slope hazards above a South American Concentrate Pipeline, and to provide a relative ranking of hazard exposure for the pipeline, an access road and operational personnel. The rating methodology incorporates the geometry of the right-of-way, estimated pipe depth, staff and vehicle occupancy time, failure mechanism and magnitude, and the annual probability of hazard occurrence. This information is used in a risk-based framework to assign relative hazard ratings within rock slope sections of relatively uniform hazard exposure. This paper outlines a general framework for natural hazard and risk management along linear facilities, describes the rock slope hazard rating methodology, and illustrates how the system was applied along a South American Concentrate Pipeline.


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