Tracking and estimating tubing fatigue in cycles to failure considering non-destructive evaluation of tubing defects

A method, comprising:

• monitoring coiled tubing to detect the presence of an anomaly in the coiled tubing;
• providing data regarding the anomaly to a data processing system for comparison to stored historical data;
• estimating a worst-case threshold value assuming the anomaly existed since the beginning of use of the coiled tubing;
• establishing a fatigue life of the coiled tubing without the anomaly;
• determining the number of cycles experienced by the coiled tubing at the time the anomaly occurred;
• using combined data on the fatigue life, the type of anomaly, and the number of cycles experienced by the coiled tubing at the time the anomaly occurred to estimate a new fatigue life as well as a worst-case scenario based on the worst-case threshold value;
• and
• based on the new fatigue life, determining and outputting an estimate of the remaining number of cycles to failure to determine future use of the coiled tubing.

A system for estimating tubing life, comprising:

• a sensor positioned along a pipe to monitor for a magnetic flux leakage signal associated with an anomaly in the pipe;
• and
• a data processing system which obtains data from the sensor, the data processing system comprising:
• a display;
• a memory in which historical anomaly data is stored regarding the type of anomaly, the memory also storing fatigue life data regarding fatigue life of the pipe without the anomaly;
• and
• a processor which uses a computer model for combining data from the sensor, historical anomaly data, and fatigue life data to estimate a remaining number of cycles to failure of the pipe as well as a range from worst-case to best-case scenarios.