Application of Markov chain in prediction of corrosion conditions for buried gas steel pipeline

Abstract:

A prediction model of corrosion conditions is developed for buried gas steel pipelines in order to evaluate opportunely the existing states of their corrosion and prevention.A method of predicting corrosion states for the wall of buried gas pipelines by transition probability matrices is described by applying the evaluation method of corrosion damage of steel pipelines and the theory of Markov chain.Taking a buried gas pipeline for example,the corrosion states for the wall of the pipeline are predicted.It is shown that the calculated state for the latest detection of this pipe wall corrosion has a good agreement with corresponding state for its detected value and all predicted results also have an agreement with the corrosion depth calculated by the exponential function that commonly fits the max corrosion depth,which demonstrates that application of Markov chain in the prediction of corrosion is effective for buried pipelines.Thus it provides a theoretical basis for reasonable detection and maintenance period of buried gas pipelines.