Who is a Pipeline Engineer?

A pipeline engineer is part of an engineering team that plans, designs, constructs, replaces and repairs oil and natural gas pipelines, pumps and stations. Pipeline may be required to be installed onshore or subsea (Onshore Pipelines and Subsea Pipelines). This career is suitable for individuals who are good in math and science (e.g. Mechanics of Material) and enjoy using their capability to design real things and do not mind working outdoors (sometimes). Pipeline engineers as a minimum should have bachelor's degrees in Mechanical and Structural (and sometimes Process) engineering (Most of the universities does not offer programs for pipeline engineering). Following aspects of engineering are very important in pipeline engineers: Thermo-hydraulic of fluids in pipes Strength of material Beam theory Theory of shells under internal and external pressure Internal corrosion in pipes Cathodic protection design Soil mechanics (pipe-soil interaction) Hydrodynamic loads on slender structures Vortex induced vibration Following software are very popular in performing different design activities: Microsoft Office Mathcad Pipeline Toolbox 2010 (Onshore pipeline design package) OFFPIPE (for pipeline installation) Orcina/ Orcalay (for pipeline installation analysis) Orcina/ Orcaflex (general purpose marine simulation tool) AutoPIPE/ CAESAR II (stress analysis) SAGE Profile 2D and 3D (bottom roughness assessment) Abaqus Ansys