Applying APDM To Pipeline Integrity Management At Petrochina

PetroChina began its pipeline integrity management (PIM) project in 2005. As the project progressed, officials realized the structure of the pipeline data model formed the basis for many kinds of analysis and assessments increasingly important to an operator when implementing PIM.

Petrochina needed a data model to store and organize pipeline data in a database to implement PIM. The company chose ArcGIS Pipeline Data Model (APDM). For the moment, the Geodatabase is built up by this model to manage data from more than 10,000 km of PetroChina pipelines and is providing data support for many kinds of analysis and assessment.

Four data models are available. They are the Pipeline Open Data Standard (PODS), the ArcGIS Pipeline Data Model (APDM), the Integrated Spatial Analysis Techniques (ISAT) model originally developed by Gas Research Institute, and the European Commission-funded Industry Standard Pipeline Data Management (ISPDM) project. Most operators now choosing a data model select either the PODS or the APDM, which this article will focus on.

PODS Pipeline Data Model

The PODS model began with PODS 2.0 released in 2001 as a modest set of less than 70 tables. PODS 4.0.1 was released in May 2007 with hundreds of tables. The current model includes tables for pipe location, pipe facilities, geographic features, inline inspections, cathodic protection, close interval surveys, physical inspections, integrity management data, offline events, and more. PODS is:

• A comprehensive pipeline data model;
• Primarily used for operations and integrity management but includes all areas of information related to a pipeline;
• Designed for gas and liquids;
• Designed for gathering, distribution, and transmission lines;
• An open standard;
• The intellectual property of the PODS Association; and
• Designed by PODS members - industry leaders who volunteer on the technical committee and on working groups.

APDM Data Model

Initial work on the APDM model was started by M.J. Harden in 2002 and APDM 1.0 was released in July 2003 at the ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, CA. The final version of APDM 4.0 has now been released, including 21 core classes, two metadata tables, 23 abstract or template classes and 102 example classes. APDM is:

• A comprehensive pipeline data template managed by APDM/PIG;
• Designed for management of a pipeline centerline to support facility, integrity and operational management;
• Designed for gas or liquid systems;
• Designed for gathering, distribution and transmission lines;
• An open template;
• The intellectual property of ESRI; and
• Designed by APDM Technical Committee.

Similarities And Differences

APDM and PODS are not competing models; they simply offer operators different options to meet the needs of their organizations. The APDM and PODS models have been specifically designed for the pipeline industry and each is appropriate for deployment in a transmission or gathering environment. There are similarities between the models, including that they: