Reducing Pipeline Corrosion in Oil and Gas Industries Using Ant Colony Optimization Techniques Agents

Abstract

This paper aims at developing a model for the reduction in oil pipeline corrosion in oil and gas industries using ant colony optimization techniques. The main objective of the study is to examine the reduction of pipeline corrosion in oil and gas industries using ant colony optimization techniques. The specific objectives are; to develop mathematical model to reduce the oil pipeline rupture risks and oil spill probability; to design a MATLAB Simulink model for reducing oil and gas pipeline corrosion using ant colony optimization. In this paper ant-colony based models were developed to assess API X46, X60 and X80 oil pipelines containing multiple corrosion defects, which were longitudinally aligned, circumferentially aligned or overcome with each other. The defect size and the grade of oil pipeline were considered to evaluate the interaction between adjacent defects. Ant-colony models enabling predictions of the failure pressure of pipelines containing a dent associated with a corrosion defect were also developed. In addition, a failure pressure-based criterion to properly assess the interaction of the dent and its adjacent corrosion feature was established. The mutual interaction between the adjacent corrosion defects affects not only the local stress and distribution, but also the electrochemical corrosion rate, due to the so-called Mechano-Electrochemical (M-E) effect. Due to the existence of the M-E effect, a new criterion is proposed to determine whether the mutual interaction exists between the adjacent corrosion defects, i.e., on the ratio of the anodic current density at the defect adjacency to that of the non-corrosion region on the oil pipeline body.

Keywords — Corrosion, Ant-Colony Optimization, Pipeline, Matlab/Simulink, Defects