Guided wave -v- smart pigging 1

[ronfrend]

Can anyone advise if guided wave corrosion detection a valid substitute for smart pigging considering the recent advances in the technology? Will it detect pinholes?



Ron Frend

http://www.predicon.net

 

[EdStainless]

The minimum size of dectection is one thing to be concerned about, accuracy of location is the other.
Do you know what defects you are trying to find? Have you done it with pigging before?

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Rust never sleeps
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[ronfrend]

This line has never been pigged before. The line is a subsea crude shipping line 10km in length. We do not have pig launchers/receivers of the right size for smart pigs.

Apart from the obvious environmental concern about leakage into the sea we are very concerned as there is a desalination plant very close to our facility and any leakage could potentially have serious consequences to the quality of drinking water produced.

We are looking at installing the pig launcher/receivers but if guided wave is now a valid alternative we would be keen to use this instead.



Ron Frend

http://www.predicon.net

 

[SJones]

How would you plan to perform guided wave UT of a 10 km subsea line when it only has a range of several tens of metres?

Steve Jones
Materials & Corrosion Engineer

http://www.pdo.co.om/pdo/

 

[EdStainless]

I am afraid that you will need to pig first to get a good baseline. Then you could evaluate other methods against the known condition.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Rust never sleeps
Neither should your protection

http://www.trent-tube.com/contact/Tech_Assist.cfm

 

[surfersconvert]

I'm afraid you cannot use guided waves on a subsea line the probes are exposed. They are more reliable on unpiggable process lines, road corssing and overhead(gantry lines). some applications are also in buried lines.But Subsea applcations? Never heard of 'em.

 

[rustbuster]

Guided wave is not a good alternative and will not detect pinholes or isolated pitting. It is a volumetrc method where a reduction in cross sectional area may be recognized IE corrosion under insulation. It is further limited by external coatings that attenuate the sound thus limiting distance. I suggest you install the pig barrels.

 

[finascaccia]

Guided Wave subsea system was first deployed by Guided Ultrasonics in 2004. They seem to be at advanced stage in the technology development for subsea applications.
Anyway best to check