Aging pipelines pose problem for Illinois
by Scott Marion, The Edwardsville Intelligencer (May 2, 2022) – Caram noted that pipeline incidents increase with the age of the pipe. Surprisingly, though, certain types of new pipes have a higher-than-expected incident rate. “There is something called a ‘bathtub curve’ where if you chart out incidents by year of installation, you often see the shape of a bathtub, where the older the pipe is, the higher the incidents are,” Caram said. “But with some newer pipes, you can also get more incidents. “Newer pipelines can have engineering issues that they haven’t worked out, so they tend to fail at a higher rate. Hinges or welds can break or get weaker, and corrosion can wreak havoc on a line.”
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