Pipeline corrosivity assessment based on principal component analysis - Take the Sichuan-East Gas Transmission Pipeline as an example

Soil conditions around the Sichuan-East Gas Transmission Pipeline are quite complicated. With accidents induced by corrosion of pipelines can be observed frequently, it is necessary to perform effective assessment of soil corrosivity around the pipeline to determine expected pipeline corrosion and adopt necessary countermeasures in timely manner. Through application of principal component analysis (PCA), the statistical and analytical software, SPSS, has been deployed for assessment of pipeline corrosion. By eliminating repeated data or factors with significant errors from potential factors that may impact corrosivity, optimal combination of key factors can be highlighted to determine controlling factors for soil corrosivity. By using such factors, assessments for corrosion capacities of soil around the pipeline can be predicted with accuracy over 80%. These results may provide technical supports for assessment over corrosivity and routine maintenance of oil/gas pipelines. The PCA can be used for assessment of corrosivity involving huge quantity of data, multiple influencing factors. It is worth mentioning that the method displayed satisfactory performances in cases with significant errors induced by certain factors.