Stress Engineering: You Have Dents in your Pipeline--Now What?

Dent Assessments per API 1183 and API 579 -1/ASME FFS-1
By Kenny Farrow, PhD, PE, PEng

It is not uncommon for in-line inspection (ILI) to reveal numerous dents within a relatively short section of an
examined pipeline. Fatigue is the most common failure mechanism of dented pipelines and API RP-1183, Assessment
and Management of Dents, was published in November 2020 to provide guidance for the fatigue assessment of
pipeline dents. This recommended practice broadly provides three levels of fatigue assessment with varying levels
of complexity and conservatism.

SESC has developed an automated, finite element based, Level 1 fatigue screening tool. The tool reads measured ILI
caliper data, builds finite element models based on this data, and estimates the stress concentration factor of the
dent. This fully automated procedure enables processing dozens of dents in the matter of minutes with a high level
of accuracy. As an example, the radial coordinates and principal stress obtained from the Level 1 fatigue screening
tool is shown below. This screening tool can assist in quickly reducing the number of identified dents that need
further detailed assessment.

(in) (psi)

API RP-1183 provides Level 2 fatigue life assessment methodology that is much more detailed. This methodology
takes into consideration dent restraint condition and shape to calculate fatigue life. SESC has developed an
automated tool that uses ILI measurement and calculates fatigue life using the tables provided in API RP-1183.

Level 3 assessment of dents, per API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 as recommended by API RP-1183, is finite element based
and includes the dent formation process. Typically, this is an iterative process where the indenter shape is modified
until the desired dent shape is obtained. SESC has significant experience in this type of assessment and has
developed a proprietary method that efficiently determines the proper indenter shape. An example of a dent radius
comparison between the finite element model and ILI measurements is shown below.

Stress Engineering Services Canada knows pipelines, and we know that you need accurate, effective, and efficient
dent fatigue assessments to quickly inform your run (as-is), repair, rerate, or replace decisions. Through optimization
of the fatigue assessment procedures recommended within API 1183 and API 579-1/ASME FFS-1, SESC is saving time
and money for our clients by providing results in an expedient and cost-effective manner.