Structural Repair of Steel Piping by In-Situ Sleeving of Nanostructured Materials

This proposal describes the application of a mature nanotechnology-based crack arrest/structural repair technology as a novel in-field pipeline repair tool. The repair would be comprised of a thin layer or sleeve of electrodeposited nancrystalline material applied to the damaged region of the pipe in order to utilize the "crack filling" characteristic of the process. The concept proposed has already been successfully employed for in-situ structural repair / crack bridging of corroded steam generator tubing in nuclear stations across North America and is presently in development for application to the repair of degraded oil and gas heat exchangers in Saudi Arabia. This ASME-approved electroformed nanomaterial provdes superior strength and toughness and thus allows for design/operating load conditions to be accomodated with significantly less material build-up and with far superior bonding to the pipe surface than would normally be achieveable with a conventional full-encirclement sleeve. The objective of Phase I is to demonstrate that the mature nanotechnology-based structural crack repair concept can be adapted for application as an in-field pipeline repair tool. This will be accomplished by establishing the overall technical and economic feasibility via proof-of-concept degraded pipe plating, repair integrity characterization, preliminary burst testing, and a first-pass cost analysis.