Incorporating Risk Assessment into Improved Pipeline Designs

Formal risk assessment is gaining wider acceptance and being used more throughout the pipeline industry. Maintenance and operation budgets are being driven by the need to effectively select and implement projects that reduce system risk, while still meeting company cost:benefit economic models. This refocused engineering assessment approach has driven pipeline operators to use integrated quantitative analyses in their previously empirically driven safety and design programs. The experience gained from this mixed approach can give pipeline design engineers new insight into improved pipeline design techniques that will yield longer-term risk reduction performance. Designs that incorporate risk reduction philosophies will provide a greater level of safety to the public and environment, while enhancing the overall reliability of the pipeline system. If done properly, the incremental cost associated with enhanced pipeline designs that take into consideration risk concerns can be minimal. This paper will present an introduction to a risk assessment modeling technique that has been used in the pipeline industry since 1994 and review design variables that contribute to risk, with specific emphasis on the discussion of new strategies that lead to longer term, lower risk pipeline systems.