Assessment of Fatigue and Toughness of Steel Pipes and Fittings in Gaseous Hydrogen

By means of the RFP, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) is seeking proposals from bidders to generate quantitative data for the performance of candidate steel pipes and fittings in gaseous hydrogen environments which is required to evaluate the suitability of these components for the transportation and distribution of hydrogen gas by the exiting and future pipeline systems. The contract will be carried out with the following objectives:

(1) Assessment of tensile properties, fatigue performance and fracture toughness of selective steel pipes and fittings in air as the reference condition. (2) Assessment of fatigue crack growth rate and fracture toughness (JQ) of the selected steel pipes and fittings in high pressure gaseous hydrogen (up to 3000 psi of pure hydrogen gas). (3) Determine quantitatively the properties degradation of the examined steels under specific hydrogen environment. (4) Develop knowledge and information to conduct in-situ mechanical testing in high pressure hydrogen gas and blends

The essential data and information collected from this contract will be fed into two (2) NRCAN’s OERD projects to assess the suitability and integrity of the selected steel pipes and fittings for hydrogen transportation, as well as to aid the development of proper codes and standards for line pipe steel qualification.

The contract entails two phases spanning two years: Phase 1, 36 weeks following the contract award starting in 2024-25 and an OPTIONAL – Phase 2, 72 weeks following the contract award ending in 2025-26.