Piping inspection

Insoluble polymers, 23 717 Insoluble silicates, synthetic, 22 474-475 Inspecting, piping system, 19 488-491 Inspection programs, for tanks, 24 312... 

Carefully inspect pipe and fittings. Be sure that there are no cracks or other flaws. 

CRBRP (USA) eamera mounted on arm to inspect piping and guard vessels... 

Equipment used to calibrate items listed above and to inspect piping and process equipment for flaws... 

Acoustic leak detection methods such as illustrated in Fig. 8.4 may find already broken or damaged pipes [7]. However, corrosion monitoring possibly may identify areas where corrosion activity on pipes is likely while the remote field effect can inspect pipes to find damage before they fail. A complete diagnostic program is likely to use all these inspection methods. 

Pipelines are cleaned and inspected using pigs . Pigs usually have a steel body fitted with rubber cups and brushes or scrapers to remove wax and rust deposits on the pipe wall, as the pig is pumped along the pipe. Sometimes spherical pigs are used for product separation or controlling liquid hold up. In field lines handling untreated crude may have to be insulated to prevent wax formation. 

The suggested method is appropriately implemented at the practice. The cost and working hours of unit measurement of it is less than of any alternative method of destructive test and with respect to the authenticity inspection of Stress-Deformation the given method is inferior only to destructive testing. The method was successfully implemented while evaluation of service life of main pipe-lines sections and pressure vessels as well. Data of method and instrument are used as official data equally with ultrasonic, radiation, magnetic particles methods, adding them by the previously non available information about " fatigue " metalwork structure. 

Because the system is meant to be used for a variety of heat exchangers we could not use a simple (ANN) classifier, but we chose for a CBR type system. The case-base stores signal shapes with corresponding classifications or actions to be taken (e.g. signal mixing). Beftxe each inspection the case-base is filled with data from calibration pipes oc a case-base from a previous similar inspection can be used. For each new possible defect signal a search is done in the case base for the most similar case. 

Inspection of frame equipment and pipe - lines for the presence of the fatigue, hardening, and other cracks, corrosion. 

The paper presents the results from systematic comparisons of contrast and resolution obtained with different types of radiation sources on steel thicknesses from 5 to 40 mm. These results have been taken into account with the definitions of the European standard for radiographic inspection of weldments (EN 1435) that is approved since 1997. Conclusions from practical investigations on pipe line sites, in petrochcemical plants and in nuclear power stations will be discussed as well. Furthermore, the presentation will stipulate a variety of advantages obtained from the new source in terras of coUimation and radiation protection. 

In general, radioscopic X-ray inspection systems are used in the serial examination of industrial workpieces since they enable a flexible adjustment of the beam direction and of the inspection perspective as well as on-line viewing of the radioscopic image. In the past few years this economic and reliable method has become prevalent in weld inspection during the manufacturing process of pipes. The configuration of such radioscopic systems is schematically represented in fig. 1. 

The corrosion inspection and wall thickness measurement of pipes was performed in the classical way both on film and on the monitor using simple software measuring tools. Additionally algorithms were developed for an interactive, computer supported evaluation. 

Projection radiography is widely used for pipe inspection and corrosion monitoring. Film digitisation allows a direct access to the local density variations by computer software. Following to a calibration step an interactive estimation of local wall thickness change based on the obtained density variation is possible. The theoretical model is discussed, the limitations of the application range are shown and examples of the practical use are given. The accuracy of this method is compared to results from wall thickness measurements with ultrasonic devices. 

Projection radiography has long been used for pipe inspection and corrosion monitoring. In this traditional tangential wall thickness estimation the distance of border lines of the projected wall shadows of a pipe onto the film is a direct measure for the wall thickness. This method is not considered here, newer developments can be found in / /. 

Speckle shearing interferometry, or shearography, is a full field optical inspection teclmique that may be used for the nondestructive detection of surface and, sometimes, subsurface defects. Whilst being more sensitive in the detection of surface defects, it may also be considered for pipe inspection and the monitoring of internal conoslon. In contrast, laser ultrasound and other forms of ultrasound, are point by point measurement techniques, so that scanning facilities and significant data processing is required before information on local defects is extracted from any examination of extensive areas [1 - 3]. 

Figure 6 AIR-1 articulated robot arm with six degrees of freedom Robot performs ultrasonic inspection of a large nozzle weld on a BWR main circulation pipe.

Examples will cover maintenance inspection such as corrosion detection in piping and tanks, but also routine weld inspection. The need for acceptance criteria for weld defects adapted for modern NDT techniques will be highlighted, because these form (in many cases) the key to benefit. 

LORUS is also used for inspection of piping that has been on supports or sleepers for some time, to see whether corrosion has developed at the contact points. But the technique can also be used for corrosion detection under insulation, inspection of pipelines at dike and road crossings, nozzle reinforcement pads or craek detection in suspension systems for railway cars. 

MFL is currently being used for the inspection of hundreds of kilometres of piping in the Oman desert, see figure 5., whereby an inspection rate of one kilometre per day is easily achieved. Try to realise what effort would have been needed if this would have been done with conventional ultrasonic wall thickness measurements. 

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