49 CFR § 192.309 - Repair of steel pipe.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t49/s192.309"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "49 CFR § 192.309 - Repair of steel pipe."
title_number: 49
title_name: "Transportation"
section_number: "192.309"
section_name: "Repair of steel pipe."
chapter_name: "PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SAFETY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION"
subchapter_number: "D"
subchapter_name: "PIPELINE SAFETY"
part_number: "192"
part_name: "TRANSPORTATION OF NATURAL AND OTHER GAS BY PIPELINE: MINIMUM FEDERAL SAFETY STANDARDS"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "30 U.S.C. 185(w)(3), 49 U.S.C. 5103, 60101  and 49 CFR 1.97."
regulatory_source: "35 FR 13257, Aug. 19, 1970, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "192"
---


# 192.309 Repair of steel pipe.

(a) Each imperfection or damage that impairs the serviceability of a length of steel pipe must be repaired or removed. If a repair is made by grinding, the remaining wall thickness must at least be equal to either:

(1) The minimum thickness required by the tolerances in the specification to which the pipe was manufactured; or

(2) The nominal wall thickness required for the design pressure of the pipeline.

(b) Each of the following dents must be removed from steel pipe to be operated at a pressure that produces a hoop stress of 20 percent, or more, of SMYS, unless the dent is repaired by a method that reliable engineering tests and analyses show can permanently restore the serviceability of the pipe:

(1) A dent that contains a stress concentrator such as a scratch, gouge, groove, or arc burn.

(2) A dent that affects the longitudinal weld or a circumferential weld.

(3) In pipe to be operated at a pressure that produces a hoop stress of 40 percent or more of SMYS, a dent that has a depth of:

(i) More than 
1/4 inch (6.4 millimeters) in pipe 12
3/4 inches (324 millimeters) or less in outer diameter; or

(ii) More than 2 percent of the nominal pipe diameter in pipe over 12
3/4 inches (324 millimeters) in outer diameter.

For the purpose of this section a “dent” is a depression that produces a gross disturbance in the curvature of the pipe wall without reducing the pipe-wall thickness. The depth of a dent is measured as the gap between the lowest point of the dent and a prolongation of the original contour of the pipe.

(c) Each arc burn on steel pipe to be operated at a pressure that produces a hoop stress of 40 percent, or more, of SMYS must be repaired or removed. If a repair is made by grinding, the arc burn must be completely removed and the remaining wall thickness must be at least equal to either:

(1) The minimum wall thickness required by the tolerances in the specification to which the pipe was manufactured; or

(2) The nominal wall thickness required for the design pressure of the pipeline.

(d) A gouge, groove, arc burn, or dent may not be repaired by insert patching or by pounding out.

(e) Each gouge, groove, arc burn, or dent that is removed from a length of pipe must be removed by cutting out the damaged portion as a cylinder.

[35 FR 13257, Aug. 19, 1970, as amended by Amdt. 192-1, 35 FR 17660, Nov. 17, 1970; Amdt. 192-85, 63 FR 37503, July 13, 1998; Amdt. 192-88, 64 FR 69664, Dec. 14, 1999]