This paper aims to analyze the behavior and influence of pitting corrosion depth over the years in a subsea pipeline used for oil and gas exploration by a structural reliability approach. The references used to model the pit depth and its probability distributions were the distribution proposed by Velázquez et al (2009) together with the pit depth growth model proposed by Melchers (2018). A normative review of the pitting corrosion assessment chapter of API 579-1 ASME Fitness For Service (FFS) is intended to develop the limit state equation for the pitting failure mechanism. To calculate the failure probability, the Advanced First Order Second Moment is used in the limit state equation for an ASME SA106 pipe (grade B). The research allowed us to understand the functioning of an operating sector governed by complex standards, such as API 579-1 ASME FFS, which has strict criteria for reliability calculations, as well as performing an analysis of the growth in the failure probability over the years due to the influence of pit depth. The model described was observed to have a high level of relevance for professionals seeking to better understand structural reliability methodologies used in the oil and gas sector, as well as the influence that pitting corrosion can exert on a structural failure.
The economic interest in oil emerged around the 19th century, initially used for street lighting before Thomas Edison systematized and developed electrical energy and replaced previously used lighting sources. Subsequently, with the development of gasoline and diesel engines, commercial interest in oil grew considerably (Debeir, 1993).
According to Freeman and Soete (2013), the United States of America (USA) was the country that led the scientific learning process for oil exploration, which was primarily carried out on land. In Brazil, the first exploration attempts took place at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, but onshore exploration had a little result and made the country abandon the activities (Dias & Quaglino, 1993).
