Improving concrete for enhanced pipeline protection

Different concrete mixes are used in various applications in the oil and gas industry, from oil well cementing to providing stability to offshore platforms. Concrete is also used in protecting oil and gas pipelines, most of them made of carbon steel, or providing them negative buoyancy in offshore applications and other wet environments. In onshore pipeline projects that cross challenging terrains -- rocky areas, urban, densely populated areas, etc. -- concrete is used in mechanical protection coatings (usually wire or fiber-reinforced concrete), in concrete casings and tunnels (for road or utility crossings), as well as in steel rebar-reinforced concrete slabs that deny access to the pipeline trench in regions where gasoline and product theft from the pipelines is still a major issue. Current concrete materials, when applied as a pipe coating, can offer a significant amount of mechanical protection; now a new class of cement-based materials has been developed as a replacement for traditional concrete coatings. Engineered cementitious composites (ECC) are a type of high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composite (HPFRCC) that offers several advantages in pipeline protection applications, such as improved durability, damage resistance, and flexibility. While research thus far has been centered on protecting pipelines by applying ECC coatings, the results are open to potential extrapolation to the other mechanical protection concrete applications mentioned for onshore pipelines.