Prioritization of Reputation Loss Factors Imposed By Pipeline Failure Subject to Corrosion

Reputation loss of a pipeline failure subject to corrosion is commonly neglected due to its qualitative nature. However, case studies found that perceptions of the stakeholders are prone to affect pipeline owner’s long-term reputation. Identifying the influence factors is insufficient to assist the owner to respond if pipeline failure occurs. Thus, this article endeavors to prioritize the influential reputation loss factors by interviewing six experts of pipeline integrity management personnel. The analytic hierarchy process multi-criteria decision making method was selected to help the prioritization process. Result shows that the most influenced factor is the loss of customer confidence (B1) and employee(s) caused accident (C9) ranked the least. The effort to quantify reputation loss can be substituted by prioritizing them according to stakeholders’ preferences as an initial step to monetarily quantify these factors in future. Thus, a comprehensive pipeline risk assessment and the pipeline integrity management can be achieved and simultaneously improve the company’s annual profit margin

Effect of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes on Infill Material for Pipeline Composite Repair

The properties of the infill material are an important parameter in predicting the performance and behaviour of Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composite for effective design. This paper identifies the potential of Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) as nanofiller in enhancing the performance of infill material. Two compositions of MWNTs at 0.1% and 0.5% of weight fractional were evaluated toward neat epoxy on tensile and lap shear test. By comparing MWCNTs-based modified epoxy grouts and neat epoxy grout, a significant increase in tensile strength was observed, especially with 0.5% of MWCNTs by almost 53.3%. While the inclusion of MWCNTs showed a comparable increment in shear strength in both 0.1% and 0.5% weight fractional by 13%. The image of morphologies showed that MWCNTs were well incorporated into the matrix, making the cross-section of the fracture rougher by sharing stress. This shows the potential of the MWCNTs in changing the properties of the modified epoxy grout, provided that the MWCNTs are appropriately dispersed throughout the resin matrix

A SWARA-COPRAS approach to the allocation of risk in water and sewerage public–private partnership projects in Malaysia

In a situation of growing water demand, inadequate public funding, poor asset condition and lack of maintenance in developing countries, public-private partnerships (PPPs) play an important role in the development of infrastructure, such as water supply and sewerage services. The purpose of this study is to develop a quantitative approach to appropriate risk allocation, with attention directed to the impact of positive and negative factors in water and sewerage projects. The paper presents a hybrid SWARA-COPRAS approach to examine risk allocation, particularly for PPP water supply and sewerage projects in the context of Malaysia. In addition to PPP infrastructure projects, the approach has the potential to be adapted to other applications. The proposed method enables decision makers to utilise qualitative linguistic terms in the allocation of risk between the public and private sector, and to select the best strategy for risk allocation in a contract. Finally, 24 significant risks were identified: six risks would preferably be allocated to the public sector, while seven risks would be assigned to the private sector, and eleven risks would preferably be shared by both parties. The finding from this study can help the government of Malaysia to determine an attractive political strategy for private investors to support a PPP water and sewerage infrastructure project

Correlation between Liquidity Index (LI) & unconfined compressive strength of stabilized silty clay

This paper presents the correlation between Liquidity Index (LI) and Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) of stabilized silty clay of Permas Jaya Distric, Johor State of Malaysia. In this study, a number of 9 samples of soil cement were prepared under various cement and moisture contents and cured for 7-days. Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) of 7% and 13% of soil weight is added to the soil with different level of moisture content based on the Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) value from the compaction test (0.9, 1.0 and 1.1 from OMC) in order to study the effect of moisture content on the compaction characteristic and compressive strength. The result from the compaction test found that the highest and optimum maximum dry density (MDD) was obtained from 7% of cement content. The UCS increases as the cement content increases. Based on the LI and UCS relationship, the strength reached a minimum value of subgrade design strength for low volume road (0.8MPa) when the range of the LI is -0.27 and -0.15 at 7% of cement content

Ultraviolet treatment: a new potential technology to mitigate microbiologically influenced corrosion

Corrosion is a natural deterioration phenomenon caused by reactions of metals with their environment. It is also a natural spontaneous process with devastating impact towards the infrastructure (Norhazilan et al., 2011; Yahaya, 2011). There is huge challenge to mitigate this delicate phenomenon albeit the fact that it cannot be simply eliminated altogether from the deteriorating infrastructure, although with careful steps, it can be well controlled. This process has enormous financial and safety implications for many industries, including the energy industry. According to NACE International, corrosion is the deterioration of a substance or its properties as a result of an undesirable reaction with the environment (NACE, 2000). It occurs immediately when pure metals or their alloys are exposed to water

PRIORITIZATION OF THREAT FACTORS FOR PIPELINE OPERATOR’S REPUTATION SUSTAINABILITY FROM CUSTOMER’S PERSPECTIVES

A company reputation solely depends on how their stakeholders perceive them and their attributes, e.g., onshore oil and gas pipeline damage; sustaining the company reputation level amidst this deadly event is a great challenge to the owner. This article aimed to prioritise the contributing indicators of reputation loss as influenced by the customer perspective. These indicators were identified according to the 10 major onshore oil and gas pipeline explosion case studies; about 72 respondents had participated in the survey for data collection. Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) method was used to prioritise the factors and produced results as follows: factor A3 “Downgraded owner’s ranking by ranking agencies”, factor B2 “Bad word-of-mouth among customer”, factor C3 “Accident facts hidden for personal interest” and factor D3 “Accident severity” were chosen to be the highest priority based on the customers’ perception. This factor rioritisation process assists the owner to attend to these matter so that the impact of reputation loss, which influenced by the customer, may be avoided. Eventually the consequence assessment for pipeline damage can be successfully applied to evaluate the level of loss to be borne by the asset owner and eventually sustain the reputation of the company

Cultivation of sulphate reducing bacteria in different media

Sulphate - reducing bacteria (SRB) represent themselves as a class of anaerobic bacteria that can reduce sulphate to sulphide for obtaining energy. This paper is aimed to detect sulphate - reducing bacteria activities using rapid detectable culture media. Two different strains of sulphate - reducing bacteria were used in this study, namely ATCC 7757 and local bacterial strain of SRB isolated from underground sample . Both strains were tested on three recommended culture media of modified Baar‟s, Postgate B and Postgate C. All three medium contained lactic acid which served to be as carbon source. The results showed that modified Baar‟s medium is the best medium for the growth of ATCC 7757 while Postgate C medium is recommended for the local SRB bacterial strain

Mechanical Properties of Graphene-Modified Epoxy Grout for Pipeline Composite Repair

In general, when the pipeline experiences metal loss on the external surface, epoxy grout has always be used to fill the gap before fibre reinforced composite can be applied to recover the pipeline strength. In this research, the existing commercially available epoxy grout has been strengthened using graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) at the amount of 0.1wt% to enhance its mechanical properties. Various mechanical tests were conducted on this modified epoxy grout to identify the compression, tensile, flexural and shear properties and were compared to the neat epoxy grout to observe its potential improvement. GNPs were dispersed using a sonication process followed by three-roll milling technique to ensure a uniform and homogeneous dispersion within the epoxy matrix can be well achieved. The experimental results clearly show an improvement in the strength and Young’s modulus especially for tensile, flexural and lap shear test by incorporating GNPs as additives. The presence of GNPs has a significant reinforcement effect and has succeeded in increasing the ductility of the grout, thus reducing its brittle behaviour. This gives an indication that the performance of modified epoxy grout is expected to be reliable and capable to minimize sudden rupture of the pipeline due to bursting

Mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes-modified epoxy grout for pipeline repair system

Epoxy grout properties are theoretically important in predicting the behaviour of the composite pipeline repair system. Usually, it is used as an infill material to fill the gap or irregularity on the surface caused by pipe corrosion and ensures a smooth bed before fibre wrapper can be applied to recover the pipeline strength. In this research, the existing commercially available epoxy resin grout has been strengthened by using Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) at the amount 0.1% of weight fractional to evaluate their apropos behaviour to the neat epoxy grout. The various mechanical tests were performed on this modified grout to identify its compression, tensile, flexural and lap shear strength. In addition, the dispersion process of CNTs was carried out by using ultrasonication and three-roll mill technique to ensure an optimum enhancement in the properties of the polymer matrix. By comparing the strength, 0.1% of CNTs filler has significantly improved the strength of grout in flexural, tensile and shear bonding but not in compression. In addition, the results also indicate that CNTs filler has increased the modulus of elasticity of the infill material. Therefore, it demonstrates the intrinsic potential of the CNTs in modifying the properties of the epoxy grout

Hybrid SWARA-COPRAS method for risk assessment in deep foundation excavation project: an iranian case study

Existing risks in deep foundation excavation projects is a major issue in developing cities. With the rapid in-crease in the number of various deep foundation and excavation projects in big cities of Iran, many accidents related to deep excavation have been reported every year. These accidents affected delay and increased cost of project implemen-tation. Therefore identification and assessment of risks of these accidents is essential. The aim of the research was to develop a framework to overcome limitations of previous approaches to assess of risks in excavation projects. According to the complexity of a problem and the inherent uncertainty, the framework adopted SWARA (Step-wise Weight As-sessment Ratio Analysis) and COPRAS (COmplex PRoportional ASsessment) methods through introducing new criteria for risk assessment. Data was collected through interview, a literature review and a questionnaire survey distributed to excavation project experts. A case study of deep foundation excavation in Shiraz was presented. The results have shown that the risks involving construction safety, unfavourable geological conditions, shortage of managerial experience, in-complete emergency plan and subsidence of ground are the most significant risks excavation projects in Shiraz. The proposed framework and the obtained results can help stakeholders of excavation projects in developing countries better to manage project risks