Assessing the Impact of Lamination-Like Flaws on the Operating Safety of Natural Gas Transmission Pipelines.

This work highlights, by analyzing the causes of some technical accidents, the danger represented by the presence of lamination-like flaws in the steel pipes natural gas transmission pipelines are made of and presents a method of numerical simulation of the process that causes the extension of these flaws and that can lead to the explosive failure of these pipelines, many times accompanied by burning. The work also accentuates the fact that the severity of lamination -- like flaws of the pipes the natural gas transmission pipelines are made of is directly correlated to the mechanical strength and toughness properties of the steel the pipes are made of and to the particularities of the operating conditions of pipelines, mainly to the frequency and the amplitude of the pressure variations of the conveyed gas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]