【Haichuan Chemical Salary News】Western Pipeline Successfully Completed Gas Pipeline Leak and Jet Fire Test
Thread Content
The author learned from Western Pipeline Company that efforts to ensure a stable supply of natural gas during winter are intensifying at present. To guarantee the intrinsic safety of the pipelines, efforts to develop relevant technologies are being accelerated, and the functions of the full-scale pipeline blasting test facility are being expanded. On December 19, the company successfully completed the OD1219 natural gas pipeline leak jet fire test, verifying and correcting the effectiveness of the Thornton jet fire model under high-pressure conditions. This experiment is part of the research on the intrinsic safety aspects of X80-grade gas pipelines in service. Utilizing the CNPC Pipeline Fracture Control Test Facility located in Hami, full-scale tests on leaks and jet flames in buried gas pipelines were conducted to determine the safe distance for personnel in the event of a jet flame accident in such pipelines, thereby providing a reference for ensuring personnel safety and handling such accidents.
It is understood that currently, the only countries in the world capable of conducting full-scale gas blasting tests independently are the UK, Italy, and Russia. Entrusting such tests to foreign countries not only results in high costs and long testing periods, but also prevents access to the original data. In order to obtain experimental data and information on the crack resistance toughness of high-strength pipeline steel, establish and accumulate databases on pipeline properties and evaluation methods, meet the requirements for the construction and safe operation of high-strength, large-diameter, high-pressure pipelines, and fill the gap in domestic full-scale physical fracture testing technology, in 2012 the group company designated the Pipeline Fracture Control Test Facility as a key field test project under major scientific and technological initiatives.
Led by Western Pipeline Company, this project involves a research team composed of various institutions such as the Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Technology Research Institute and the Planning General Institute, which work together to address technical challenges; more than 10 construction units including Tuha Oil Construction and the Pipeline Bureau are also involved in its implementation. After more than 3 years of preliminary planning, research, and design, and by overcoming various key technical challenges related to design, construction, commissioning, and on-site testing, the project commenced construction in March 2015, and was ready for its first detonation test by October of the same year. Leveraging the pipeline fracture control test facility, researchers overcame numerous challenges, braved extreme heat and cold, and solved one technical problem after another. They successfully carried out a total of 8 tests: the first full-scale natural gas blasting test in China, the first full-scale air blasting test, the first full-scale parallel pipe blasting test, and the first full-scale low-temperature crack prevention and initiation tests. With each technological breakthrough, they also filled gaps in China’s pipeline industry technology, providing the strongest guarantee for the safe operation of the oil and gas strategic routes in the western region.