Measurement Performance

Understanding measurement performance is critical to manage asset integrity. It is used in burst pressure calculations, risk assessments and asset reliability. The industry relies on validation measurements to estimate measurement performance (ex. API 1163 Level III analysis). Since validation measurements are expensive to obtain, operators need to maximize the value from these measurements.

The Integral / Measurement Performance software automates this task, producing results that:

• Provide best estimates of the actual flaw sizes on a pipeline or facility asset

• Determine the actual measurement performance achieved by an inspection tool

• Characterize inputs in fitness for service assessments and risk evaluations

• Contribute to excavation and repair dig planning

The Integral / Measurement Performance software performs assessments of inspection tool performance using:

• A null hypothesis significance test (left image) to compare the measurements to a reference specified performance. This test is consistent with API 1163 Level II assessments.

• Estimates of the actual inspection tool performance (right image), calculated using a Hierarchical Bayesian model. These results are reported as credible tool performance metrics that explain the observed measurements, considering bias, slope and varying levels of error across the range of possible measurements. The Bayesian method used is consistent with the Level III analysis described in API 1163. The software uses a similar approach to quantify the probability of detection.

Contact us for a free trial or to learn more.