From Sensor Reading to Defensible Pipeline Evidence

Instrumenting a pipeline increases observability only when the resulting measurements can be interpreted with known context and limitations. Pressure, flow, temperature, strain, acoustic, vibration, corrosion, fibre-optic and environmental data can all be affected by installation conditions, operating range, calibration, drift, sampling, timing, communications, data substitution and maintenance state.

This white paper develops a Sensor Evidence Qualification Path for determining when a sensor reading can reasonably be treated as dependable input to pipeline-integrity assessment and engineering decision-making. The path follows a measurement from the physical measurand through the installed sensor, acquisition and timing, transmission, data-quality and sensor-health context, and finally to its engineering use.

The analysis draws on publicly available standards, recommended practices and industry research, including DNV guidance on sensor and data assurance and PRCI research relating to instrumentation uncertainty, sensor performance, measurement and inventory error, and small-leak signal discrimination.

A central distinction is made between having a sensor value and having defensible evidence. A numerical reading alone does not establish measurement quality, temporal validity, sensor health, provenance or suitability for a particular engineering decision. Evidence therefore needs to preserve sufficient context regarding what was measured, how it was measured, when it was measured, the condition of the measurement chain, and the limitations associated with interpretation.

The paper does not propose a new metrology method, certification regime or proprietary monitoring architecture. Instead, it provides a manufacturer-neutral, public-source framework for strengthening the evidence chain between live pipeline instrumentation and human engineering decisions.

It forms No. 20 of the From Mill to Project Independent Practitioner Research Series — Phase III, extending the series from physical steel-pipe procurement and manufacturing evidence into operational measurement, digital evidence and lifecycle integrity.

Author-written abstract, reproduced from the authoritative Zenodo DOI record.