Direct Assessment is one of the primary inspection tools acknowledged globally as an approved pipeline integrity inspection protocol. This paper is intended to provide an overview of the various types of Direct Assessment including the wide array of inspection tools and techniques. A comprehensive coverage of the various inspection tools including their applications, practicality and limitations are also discussed. Lastly, it concludes with the need for a practical database management system for integrating, analyzing and visualizing the state of the pipeline from the vast amount of data for sound engineering decisions. Overall, the paper will illustrate the all important need to integrate the various results from the wide array of inspection techniques in order to appreciate the overall integrity of the pipeline using a non-invasive, data intensive inspection methodology.

Subject
Holidays, Indirect inspection, External corrosion direct assessment, Piping, Pipeline integrity management, Pipelines, Soil resistivity, Inspection, Close interval potential surveys, Direct assessment, Cathodic protection survey, Direct current voltage gradient, Surveys
Keywords:
pipeline integrity management (PIM), direct assessment (DA), external corrosion direct assessment (ECDA), internal corrosion direct assessment (ICDA), stress corrosion cracking direct assessment (SCCDA), integrated direct assessment pipeline integrity management (IDAPIM), inline inspection (ILI), hydrostatic testing (HT), indirect inspection
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2011
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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