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Note: The source of the technical material in this volume is the Professional
Engineering Development Program (PEDP) of Engineering Services.
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employees. Any material contained in this document which is not
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Chapter : Inspection
File Reference: COE10301
Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
CONTENTS
PAGES
Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
Safety
Damage detection and control
Time and money
Safety
Control of corrosion plays a major role in maintaining good safety standards. Not only should
equipment be designed properly, it must also be kept in good condition and protected against
the effects of corrosion. As seen by the examples below, an effective inspection program
must identify problems and also ensure that they are rectified.
In 1985, two platforms collapsed during a violent hurricane that hit the coast of the United
States near the state of Louisiana. Five people were washed overboard when a platform on
South Timbalier collapsed. Also, a nearby unmanned header platform and a three-pile,
single-well protector on South Pelto collapsed.
After conducting an inspection, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) reported gross
corrosion-related structural damage in 15 places on the South Timbalier platform. Seven of
the fifteen corrosion sites were above water and eight were below. Several were in or directly
adjacent to leg/joint welds and member intersections. According to the report, crew members
were aware that the structure had deteriorated.
Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
An analysis of the South Pelto header platform revealed that it had also deteriorated. The
three-pile, single-well protector adjacent to the platform was in very good structural condition,
but its piles were bent and flattened at the mudline from overload. The report went on to say
that using mechanical clamps to repair broken joints and failing to maintain an adequate
cathodic protection system probably contributed to the failure of the header platform.
To avoid future disasters such as this one, the MMS report recommended that Gulf of Mexico
operators submit reports detailing when they last inspected their platforms, the type of
inspection performed, the areas inspected, the condition of the structure, and cathodic
protection readings.
The Annual Report on Pipeline Safety (1988), published by the U.S. Department of
Transportation, revealed the statistics shown in Table 1 on failure-related deaths and injuries
in the oil and gas industry.
Injuries
76
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19
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Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
The Annual Report of Pipeline Safety listed causes for gas distribution line failures as shown
in Figure 1.
In the same report, the causes for liquid line failures were documented (see Figure 2).
Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
Inspection is also recommended for controlling a similar problem in a wet hydrogen sulfide
environment. Damage to pressure vessels, such as sulfide stress corrosion, hydrogen
blistering, or stress-oriented hydrogen induced cracking, can be caused by hydrogen
generated from corrosion reactions in this type of environment. Similar problems can also be
present in hydrofluoric acid environments.
The following incidents indicate the need for nondestructive examination (NDE) programs to
detect and diagnose corrosion-related damage.
A hydrogen-assisted cracking problem led to the Lemont refinery catastrophe in
Chicago
(USA), which killed 15 and seriously injured 22 people.
In a report published in 1988, cracks deeper than the corrosion allowance were
reported
in 20% of 189 vessels inspected by a major oil company. Extensive cracking
was observed in approximately one-third of the LPG storage vessels examined.
Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
The classic bathtub failure distribution graph illustrates a principle upon which this
philosophy is built. As shown in Figure 3, equipment will have high failure rate during the
burn-in phase.
These failures are caused by poor material quality and/or poor
workmanship. As these initial problems get fixed, the failure rate decreases. As the operating
life of the equipment increases, the rate of failures will increase due to corrosion, fatigue, or
abrasion. This period is known as the wear-out phase.
Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
A blanket coverage approach to corrosion prevention can cost millions of dollars for a
single field. For example, according to an article in Offshore Economics magazine entitled
Platform Probes Monitor Corrosion, Phillips Petroleum Co. performed 124 well squeeze
treatments in 1980 for a total cost of $9,000,000. Phillips estimated that 65% of the 120
wells in the field did not require treatment. The question was which 78 out of the 120 wells
were not in immediate danger of corrosion damage.
Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
The best way to find the answer is to use corrosion monitoring and inspection equipment.
Through analysis of the data from this equipment, an inspector can determine which wells
have corrosive tendencies and which do not. An inspection and prevention program can then
be planned based on current corrosion data. Implementing this type of program saves money
two ways.
To illustrate this point, by implementing a limited monitoring system, Phillips was able to
eliminate treatments for 24 wells and save $2 million in chemical costs during the test period
alone. According to Phillips, the total monitoring equipment costs, estimated at $2 million,
have been defrayed completely by the initial savings in chemical costs.
An inspection program also reduces production equipment costs. Studies have shown, for
example, that early detection and diagnosis of a problem reduces the damage to a piece of
equipment, thus prolonging its operating life. Keeping a piece of equipment in operation
longer reduces the need to purchase a replacement.
Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
Fiber optics
Fiber optics uses an optical instrument to visually inspect the interior surfaces of pipes
or other hard-to-reach places.
Pit gauges
Pit gauges are inspection devices used to measure the depth and width of a depression or
cavity in a metal surface.
Cameras
Downhole cameras provide photographs of the inside surface of a well casing or
production tubing. The photographs confirm any suspected internal casing or tubing
damage or check the wellbore condition.
Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
Mirrors
Mirrors can be used to inspect the bottomside of pipes or equipment that are difficult to
see because of their inaccessible location.
Magnets
Magnets check the magnetic properties of a material.
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Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
Nondestructive Testing
Nondestructive testing (NDT) is an inspection technique that detects defects in a test object
without requiring post-inspection repairs. This technique primarily involves looking at (or
through) a piece of equipment or measuring something about the equipment as a means of
locating and evaluating surface or interior irregularities, discontinuities, or flaws.
Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and nondestructive inspection (NDI) are other terms
associated with this type of inspection.
NDT inspection techniques can be used to
Ultrasonics
Ultrasonic testing techniques such as pulse echo use sound waves to penetrate an
object and generate reflections or echoes that are used to detect irregularities within the
object or changes in the objects material properties.
Radiography
Radiography detects material irregularities by using an X-ray machine or radioactive
isotope to produce the X or gamma radiation that penetrates the test object. Possible
irregularities appear on shadowgraphs (the developed film) as dark spots or density
changes in the film.
Magnetic particle
Magnetic particle inspection uses an induced magnetic field to detect and locate surface
irregularities. To detect flaws, iron particles (either dry or suspended in a liquid) are
dusted on the surface of a ferro-magnetic material. Irregularities in the materials
surface create distortions in the magnetic field.
Magnetic flux
Magnetic flux is a special type of magnetic leak field examination used to check loss of
metal.
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Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
Dye penetrant
Dye penetrants are probably the most widely used NDT method because they are easy
to use and relatively inexpensive. In this method, the dye solution is placed on the
cleaned surface of the test object or piece of equipment. After the excess dye has been
removed, a developer is added to draw the penetrant out of irregularities that open to the
objects surface. Penetrants can be either dry or liquid, dyed, or fluorescent.
Thermography
Thermography is an infrared inspection technique that is primarily used to check
temperature variations over the surface of an object. Detecting hot spots in heaters is a
typical application of thermography.
The data gathered by using NDT assists inspectors in evaluating the severity of a flaw or
determining the life span of a piece of equipment. Such determinations improve operating
safety and lower maintenance and operating costs.
A primary advantage of NDT inspection is that, in many instances, nondestructive testing can
be performed while the equipment is in use or online, thus avoiding costly shutdowns. NDT
also has the ability, through its recorded data, to direct any required internal inspection to a
specific problem area. Additionally, the NDT method detects and monitors active and
growing defects while ignoring dormant fabrication defects.
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Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
Instrumented Scrapers
Instrumented or intelligent scrapers are sophisticated pipeline inspection tools used to detect
and evaluate the deterioration of buried and subsea pipelines.
There are two basic types of instrumented scrapers: fluid propelled and umbilical (crawler).
Fluid propelled
The fluid propelled scraper moves with the flow of the pipelines product (crude, natural
gas, refined products, or water). Most intelligent scrapers are fluid propelled.
Umbilical (crawler)
The umbilical scraper inspects specific parts of a pipeline such as risers with heavy-wall
or varying-wall thickness. The umbilical scraper inspects within a limited distance.
Ultrasonic scraper
Ultrasonic scrapers are capable of qualifying and quantifying external and internal
corrosion. They provide a direct measurement of the wall thickness and can be used for
checking cracks. The most frequent use of ultrasonic scrapers is to inspect pipes with
heavy or varying wall thickness.
Camera scraper
Camera scrapers check the internal condition of a pipeline. The photographs from this
tool are used to look for corrosion, confirm suspected internal pipeline damage, and
inspect girth welds. Other uses include determining pipe cleaning efficiency and
checking the quality of internal coatings of a rehabilitated old pipeline.
Caliper scraper
Caliper scrapers detect dents or buckles, pipe out of roundness (ovality), and abrupt
changes in wall thickness. A typical use of calipers is to inspect pipelines after
construction and prior to operation to detect any damage resulting from construction.
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Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
In general, data gathered by instrumented scrapers assists in preventing pipeline leaks, which
are dangerous, potentially polluting to the environment, and expensive to clean up and repair.
After buried and subsea pipelines have been in service for several years, inspection of their
condition becomes important. Instrumented scrapers perform this vital function.
Downhole Corrosion Survey Tools
Downhole corrosion survey tools are wireline logging instruments that are used to evaluate
downhole casing and tubing. They predict and detect various types of corrosion, both internal
and external.
Downhole corrosion survey tools have the following categories.
Category
Mechanical
Electromagnetic
Ultrasonic
Tool
Calipers
Pipe Analysis Log (PAL)
Electromagnetic Thickness Tool (ETT)
Corrosion Protection Evaluation Tool
(CPET)
Acoustic Casing Evaluation (ACE)
Borehole Televiewer (BHTV)
Cement Evaluation Tool (CET)
Mechanical tools represent the traditional inspection technology. In fact, the mechanical
multifinger caliper is one of the oldest and simplest tools available for measuring changes in
casing and tubing internal diameter. By using spring-loaded feelers, these tools directly
measure general corrosion, pitting attack, or wear. Unfortunately, even with recent
improvements, the calipers fingers may damage protective scale or internal coating and
possibly score the tubing wall in the process. Corrosion inhibitors are usually used to prevent
corrosion at these locations.
Saudi Aramco DeskTop Standards
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Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
Gross damage
Cracks
Corrosion
Cathodic protection potential levels
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Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
Radiography
Radiography has been used for underwater inspection of welds and detection of pitting
on risers.
Stereo photography
Underwater stereo photography, also a visual method, measures corrosion pit depth.
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Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
These potential
AC potential drop
One of the newest underwater inspection techniques is the alternating current potential
drop (ACPD). In this technique, a high-frequency, alternating current passes through
the surface of the piece to be tested. The AC electrical field generated follows the
surface of the material, including the sides of any surface-breaking defects. Potential
drops across any of these defects are then used to calculate crack depths.
The advantages of using underwater NDT techniques include the ability to verify actual
integrity of offshore structures. Underwater NDT techniques make it possible to determine if
a repair is needed or if the repairs made underwater are acceptable.
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Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
Other Techniques
Other inspection techniques are used to determine the chemical compositions of alloys,
determine the mechanical properties of a metal, or listen to cracks grow in a metal.
Other inspection techniques include:
Eddy current
Eddy current testing uses interruptions in the flow of electrical currents (eddy currents)
to detect irregularities or changes in a materials properties. Using an electronic caliper,
electromagnetic waves are sent through a test object. Eddy currents are logged and
decoded, and the data is sent to a computer for monitoring and analysis. This method is
primarily used to
Acoustic emission
Acoustic emission (AE) is a nondestructive testing method that detects and locates
defects such as active stepwise hydrogen cracking and blistering in wet hydrogen sulfide
environments.
Using this method, stress waves (acoustic emissions) are produced by sudden movement
in stressed materials. Sudden movement in a metal, such as a crack growing, produces
waves that radiate out into the structure and excite sensitive transducers. These signals
are amplified and measured to produce data for display and interpretation.
AE is most effective when a follow-up method such as automated ultrasonics is used to
size the located defects. The acceptance of AE as a global inspection method is
expanding, due in part to comparison tests in which AE has proven to be more reliable
than traditional methods (MPI, for example) in detecting and locating defects.
Alloy Chem-sorter
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Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
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Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
GLOSSARY
bathtub failure distribution
cathodic protection
defect
developer (penetrant)
discontinuity
downtime
echo
Reflection of waves
ferro-magnetic
flaw
fluorescent
girth
Circumference
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Engineering Encyclopedia
Instrumentation
Importance of Inspection for Corrosion
instrumented scraper
nondestructive testing
(NDT)
penetrant
shutdown
squeeze treatment
stress corrosion
suitability-for-service
evaluation
Integrity of equipment
ultrasonic testing
visual inspection
workovers
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