Patent ID: 7698076

Claim:
A system to manage and analyze conditions of pipeline structures, the system comprising: a pipeline structure each having a plurality of pipeline segments to define a pipeline project; a computer accessible to a communication network configured as a pipeline management computer having a processor and memory coupled to the processor to store operating instructions therein; a pipeline management database accessible to the processor of the pipeline management computer and having database records associated with a pipeline management client entity and database records associated with at least one pipeline project related to the database records associated with a pipeline management client entity; pipeline management program product stored in the memory of the pipeline management computer to manage and analyze pipeline projects, the pipeline management program product including: a pipeline segment storer responsive to user input commands to store pipeline general attributes data related to a pipeline segment associated with a pipeline project, a pipeline defect severity score determiner responsive to pipeline defect data related to the pipeline segment including determined structural defects in the pipeline segment to determine a plurality of defect severity ranking scores for the pipeline segment, a pipeline failure probability determiner responsive to pipeline specific attribute data related to the pipeline segment, probability of pipeline failure test data, and user input commands, to determine a probability of failure score for the pipeline segment, a pipeline failure impact determiner responsive to selected failure impact data related to the pipeline segment, pipeline failure impact test data, and user input commands, to determine an impact of failure score for the pipeline segment, the impact of failure score being defined as quantification of expected impact of failure based on a plurality of score values each being based on at least one of a plurality of expected impact results, each of the plurality of expected impact results having a corresponding impact point number value, the expected impact of failure being at least two of on-site impact, off site impact, and pipeline project operation impact, a repair cost determiner, responsive to pipeline repair section data related to a determined sectional defect in the pipeline segments, defect repair method, repair cost data, and user input commands, to determine an estimated repair cost of the pipeline segment, and a risk determiner responsive to a selected one of the plurality of determined defect severity scores, the determined probability of failure score, and the determined impact of failure score for the pipeline segment, and responsive to a user provided defect severity weight, probability of failure weight, and impact of failure weight, to determine a comparative segment risk related to the pipeline segment, to thereby enhance pipeline risk management.