Phil Hopkins

May 2, 1946 – MARCH 13, 2026 We are sad to tell the pipeline community that Ian Corder, formerly in the research team at the Engineering Research Station ('ERS'), Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, passed away peacefully on Friday, 13th March, 2026. Ian, amongst many things, was part of the team that developed the novel 'epoxy-filled shell repair' and...

There are over 4 million kilometres of transmission pipelines transporting crude oil and its products, and natural gases around the World. These costly and valuable, but potentially hazardous, assets are ageing, with most over, or approaching, 50 years old. This ageing can cause defects such as corrosion in the pipelines, but the good news is that...

This keynote presentation looks at the causes of engineering failures from many industries (aviation, construction, petro-chemical, medical, etc.). It suggests we can reduce failures in the pipeline industry by using the lessons learnt from these other industries, and emphasizes how the ‘root’ cause of a failure differs from the ‘failure’ cause...