Publications
| Title | | Authors |
|---|---|
| EPRG - 30 years in pipeline research « back |
G Knauf and J Spiekhout |
| 3R International Vol 41, Special Edition 13/2002 | |
| For more than 100 years, pipelines have been used to transport natural gas over long distances. One of the first long distance pipelines was built in 1891 in the United States from Indiana to Chicago with a length of about 120 miles. However, until the 1940s only very few further pipelines had been built. Major progress in metallurgy, pipe manufacturing and welding techniques was needed to establish the start of the construction of a pipeline network in the US in the 1950s and 1960s. Prior to 1960, in Western Europe only a limited number of transmission pipelines with diameters up to 800 mm existed, transporting coal gas. Early in the 1960s natural gas fields in Europe were discovered and the construction of a European large diameter transmission pipeline network began. In 1973, gas was transported for the first time from the former USSR to Western Europe over a distance of 1800 km. As distances between gas exporting and importing countries have grown and the demand for natural gas has continuously increased, gas pipeline networks worldwide have been extended extensively. In Western Europe today gas is moved through a roughly 110 000 km pipeline system operated by major gas transmission companies. In conjunction with the growth of the natural gas networks it was realised that the integrity of the pipeline system and the safety of gas transport is an essential issue. In 1971, the problem of long running ductile fractures in gas transmission pipelines was brought to the attention of the European pipeline industry by the literature published in the United States. Subsequently, European gas transmission companies and line pipe manufacturers began to investigate the problem and recognised that further research, including expensive full-scale burst tests, would be necessary. Some of the European pipe manufacturers and gas transmission companies suggested that the concerned organisations in Western Europe should unite to study this problem. This suggestion led to the formation of the European Pipeline Research Group (EPRG) 30 years ago, in 1972. | |
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