Patent ID: 8612164
Filing Date: 2013-12-17
Classification: F16L

Abstract:
1. A method of maintaining a pipeline, the method comprising the acts of: estimating a corrosion rate of a segment of the pipeline based on a first data set obtained by inspecting the pipeline segment at a first time and a second data set obtained by inspecting the pipeline segment at a second time subsequent to the first time, wherein the first data set includes a plurality of first features within the pipeline segment at the first time and the second data set includes a plurality of second features within the pipeline segment at the second time, wherein the estimating of the corrosion rate of the pipeline segment comprises executing computer-readable instructions on a computing system which, when executed, cause the computing system to perform the acts of: identifying a plurality of matched features within the pipeline segment, wherein each of the matched features includes one of the first features and one of the second features that correlate with each other, wherein identifying each of the matched features includes: calculating a confidence metric for each of the matched features, the confidence metric based at least in part on a density of features in an area surrounding each of the matched features and relative sizes of the matched features and features in the area surrounding each of the matched features, the confidence metric comprising goodness-of-fit metrics; selecting a subset of the matched features based on at least one of the confidence metric of each of the matched features, a size of each of the matched features, and a desired size of the subset of the matched features; and calculating the corrosion rate of the pipeline segment based on a probability density of changes in a geometric characteristic of features within the subset of the matched features between the first time and the second time; and performing maintenance on the pipeline based on the estimated corrosion rate of the pipeline segment.