Patent ID: 7013249

Claim:
A method of determining crack locations on a tubular member, the method comprising: evaluating the tubular member to gather data relating to the tubular member; locating a set of stress corrosion cracking indicators on the tubular member responsive to the evaluating; locating a set of low-level corrosion indicators on the tubular member responsive to the evaluating; comparing locations of the set of stress corrosion cracking indicators with locations of the set of low-level corrosion indicators; establishing a subset of stress corrosion cracking indicators and a subset of low-level corrosion indicators, responsive to comparing the sets of indicators, when the location of any of the set of stress corrosion cracking indicators is located within a first preselected distance from any of the set of low-level corrosion indicators; locating a set of soil characterization indicators on the tubular member responsive to the evaluating; comparing locations of the set of soil characterization indicators with locations of the subset of stress corrosion cracking indicators and locations of the subset of low-level corrosion indicators; establishing a plurality of predictor stress corrosion cracking indicators, a plurality of predictor low-level corrosion indicators, and a plurality of predictor soil characterization indicators, responsive to comparing the set of soil characterization indicators with the subsets of indicators, when the location of any of the set of soil characterization indicators is located both within a second preselected distance from any of the subset of stress corrosion cracking indicators and within a third preselected distance from any of the subset of low-level corrosion indicators; and predicting at least one of a plurality of locations on the tubular member susceptible to stress corrosion cracking responsive to the plurality of predictor indicators.