ABSTRACT
Stedin manages over 23,000 kilometers of gas distribution pipelines and 1.9 million connections into homes in the western part of The Netherlands. Most houses in the Netherlands’ soft soil are built on a deep foundation, thereby preventing their subsidence. Gas distribution pipelines on the other hand subside with the soil they are in. This creates a hinge point where the gas pipeline enters the building. These connections are prone to breaking. The severity of subsidence directly correlates with problems in gas delivery service, as is well confirmed by inspection in the field. So subsidence-related maintenance is integrated in Stedin’s long-term planning efforts. In recent years, Stedin has adopted area-wide monitoring of subsidence by radar remote sensing (InSAR) and developed associated life cycle management procedures in order to lengthen the pipelines’ life expectancy. In this paper, we will provide an overview of the monitoring technique and its implementation for life cycle optimization of gas pipelines. The benefits, estimated to generate a 15% to 20% increase in effectiveness of the pipeline maintenance budget, are demonstrated at detailed scale in an area near Rotterdam. Both the monitoring procedure and the adaptations to the organizational maintenance procedures are discussed.
