Performance Evaluation of High-Strength Steel Pipelines for High-Pressure Gaseous Hydrogen Transportation

Main Objective

The project addresses the most critical issues related to the safe and efficient transportation of hydrogen using pipelines. The impact of high pressure hydrogen on the fatigue behavior of commonly used linepipe steels will be studied systematically by conducting fatigue tests and developing a mechanistic-based analysis model/procedure to correlate and predict the test results. The testing system can greatly accelerate the time-consuming fatigue tests and the analysis model can provide critical inputs to the test matrix design and data interpretation. The combination of the test data and analytical procedure will enable a better understanding of the hydrogen effects on the materials proposed for hydrogen transportation.
The project objectives are to:

1. develop a multi-specimen, high-pressure fatigue system that can test multiple specimens at the same time,
2. conduct fatigue tests on well-selected practical pipeline materials,
3. review and identify the physical mechanisms responsible for hydrogen damage to linepipe from available test data, develop a mechanistic-based model,
4. develop mechanistic-based model and use the model to correlate test data, and
5. provide recommendations for code revisions for hydrogen pipelines.

Public Abstract

Hydrogen is being considered as a promising candidate for alternative fuels. One key component of the hydrogen infrastructure is the delivery systems from the point of production to the point of use. Transporting gaseous hydrogen via existing pipelines is recognized as one of the most cost-effective options for delivering large volumes of hydrogen. As the demand for hydrogen delivery increases, the ability to safely and reliably transport large volumes of hydrogen gas will become more and more important. One major safety concern is the performance of pipeline materials in a high-pressure hydrogen environment. The performance of these materials in such environment is the focus of this work.

The objectives of the work are to (1) produce performance data for materials used in hydrogen pipelines and (2) use mechanistic-based analysis procedures and models for correlating the test data and predicting material behaviors under practical conditions. Finally the test data and the analyses results will be used to enable informed updates and revisions of relevant ASME codes and standards for industrial applications.