Pipeline Integrity Engineering: Defect Assessment Capabilities

Jul 08, 2026

This talk is about how fitness-for-service of buried carbon-steel pipelines is assessed, which technologies are used, and how to know whether that information is correct. Every measurement system contains error, and the tools that have the robustness to withstand launching in a natural gas or liquid carbon steel pipeline need to have the accuracy and sensitivity to give reasonable information - which can be difficult! 

This will provide an overview into the world of Pipeline Integrity Engineering: defect assessment methods from an in-line inspection perspective. 

2627 Center Street

Cedar Falls, Iowa

Lucy Smart is a Principal Engineer with Kiefner and Associates, Inc. She began her career in 2010 at ApplusRTD in Houston, TX, working in the newly developed engineering group as a specialized Integrity Engineering Data Analyst. As a mechanical engineering graduate from Iowa State University, her part-time job at the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation helped her secure this role, as many oil and gas pipelines use these evaluation methods. 

Primarily, she has worked with inline inspection methods (ILI), such as ultrasonics and magnetic flux leakage, as well as in-ditch Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) inspection methods. She has expanded her skill set beyond just ILI and the associated statistical data analyses, by participating in Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) research projects involving in-line inspection data, presenting at several industry-relevant conferences, developing and leading training workshops, and earning her master's degree from Iowa State focused on material properties of carbon steel pipeline. 

Now, as a principal engineer at Kiefner, she assists with root-cause failure assessments, risk assessments, integrity management procedural development, and more.

Dinner includes:

• Sirloin Steak
• Baked Potato
• Mixed Vegetable
• Salad with choice of dressing
• Roll
• Ice Cream
• Water, Pup, Coffee, or Tea