Invited Speaker Webinar with Dr. Changqing Gong

This webinar has been postponed.

Title: System Reliability Analysis of Corroded Pipeline Segments

Corrosion is among the most frequent threat to the safety and sustainability of aging transmission pipelines under high operating pressure. The potential substantial consequence of pipeline corrosion-induced burst failure in terms of fatalities, service interruptions, and economic losses lead to the increasing adoption of risk-based solutions by pipeline operators to prioritize maintenance of pipeline segments and demonstrate compliance with regulations. Existing risk approaches are primarily on a defect-by-defect basis without consideration of spatial dependence of corrosion defects on a pipeline segment.  Efficient reliability methods for detailed system-level probabilistic modelling are needed to better support segment-based pipeline maintenance. This presentation will 1) discuss the development of an efficient system reliability method subjected to random process deterioration and loading, based on first order reliability method, and 2) illustrate its application to assessment of probability of failure of corroding pipeline segments.

About the Speaker

Dr. Changqing Gong received his B.A from Yantai University in 2010, his M.S in School of Civil Engineering at Tongji University, China in 2013, and his Ph.D in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Western University, Canada in 2017.  After working as a technical lead at a pipeline risk consulting firm, JANA Corporation, for less than a year, he joined Lehigh University as a postdoctoral research associate in 2018.  Starting from December, 2020, he will work as Associate Professor with the School of Ocean Engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology, Weihai, China. His research interests include state-of-art reliability analysis of large-scale systems and risk-based integrity management of energy pipelines and naval structures, aimed at providing technical support and economically optimal solutions for structural risk management in the energy, marine, and insurance industry. His research outcomes have been published in top journals, including Structural Safety, Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Journal of Engineering Mechanics-ASCE, Journal of Structural Engineering-ASCE, and Engineering Structures.