ndt ultrasonic testing equipment though usually inert, pose many potential hazards if permitted to deteriorate. The pressure contained within can escape, cause blowouts, cracks could cause spills, environmental damage can ensue, law suits, media condemnation, personnel safety are just some of the problems that can arise from poorly kept pipelines and piping.
The use of regular NDT (Non Destructive Testing) methods can help make sure the safe operation of pipelines and supply extra intelligence on the is happening in each part of the pipeline, which may help to create more informed decisions and take appropriate actions.
An illustration of this may be to do a complete inspection to start with, gauge the level of deterioration, identify at an increased risk areas, and then inspect the less urgent areas less regularly. For a pipeline it might not be financially possible inspect the complete pipeline in one go, based on its length, nevertheless the principle can use to smaller segments also.
One of the most effective developments for pipeline inspection comes out of your Houston lab, with the continuing development of automated long term pipeline scanning, using LFET (Low Frequency Electromagnetic Testing) and UT (Ultrasonic Testing) technology.
The equipment was bore out of necessity, when a prominent petroleum company suffered a loss of containment incident within the scenic and environmentally important North Slope of Alaska. The cause of the leaks came to exist by internal pitting corrosion on the bottom 1 / 2 of transit pipes (0.85m - 34 inch diameter). The pipeline was in charge of the transportation of 400,000 barrels of petroleum daily and immediately needed to be turn off.
Due towards the prospect of massive environmental disaster, press, environmental groups and jurisdictional authorities acted quickly. A Corrective Action Order (CAO) was issued and legally bound the business to complete UT inspection exclusively through the 4 to 8 o'clock sectors of 11 miles of pipeline.
In practice this become incredibly slow, and barely feasible, with 108 UT technicians working twenty-four hours a day, it absolutely was still estimated to consider 184 days, because of various constraints. A case was shown to USDOT to the usage of alternative technologies. After tests were performed with EMAT (ElectroMagnetic Acoustic Transducer), and LFET, LFET was determined to be the more suitable technology and USDOT accepted the proposition to the use of LFET.
Due to technology already underway for deep water testing of your similar nature, an instant modified rig was build for the automated scanning using RFET and UT. The rig proved effective and saved technicians from potentially hazardous height, challenging to reach areas over water, and exposure.
The rig has become progressed into the LineCat, for automated pipeline scanning, and it is still probably the most effective solutions for pipeline inspection.