Proceedings of IPC 2006
6th International Pipeline Conference
PIPELINE INSPECTION WITH THE HIGH RESOLUTION EMAT ILI–TOOL:
REPORT ON FIELD EXPERIENCE
Dr.-Ing. Martin Klann
ROSEN Technology GmbH & Co. KG
Physics Department
Am Seitenkanal 8
49811 Lingen (Ems), Germany
Email: mklann@roseninspection.net
ABSTRACT
In succession of a research project to develop an EMAT in-
line inspection technology for the detection of stress corrosion
cracking (SCC) and disbonded coating, a 16” EMAT inspection
tool was manufactured and tested.
This 16” EMAT Crack Detection (ECD) Tool establishes a
new high-resolution approach to effective and accurate crack in-
spection technology especially for gas lines. The performance of
this tool was tested on several pipe samples containing natural
SCC as well as artifical anomalies and laminations. Further-
more, a field test is currently being conducted, which will detail
the tools performance under operational conditions. The new
technology will be compared to the results from the established
Magnetic Flux Leakage inspection (MFL) technology.
EMAT inspection technology, originally designed for detec-
tion of SCC, is also sensitive to areas of disbonded coating, other
crack-like features, and anomalies like gouging and channeling.
To distinguish the different types of pipeline threats, a qualita-
tive defect sizing process is under development incorporating the
EMAT data and the information from the other in-line inspection
technologies.
Following an introduction into EMAT guided wave theory,
data from a series of full-scale tests obtained with 34” prototype
sensors and the complete 16” ILI-EMAT tool, will be presented.
The inspection tool itself, as well as the process for evaluating the
recorded data, are undergoing continuous improvements. This
paper will discuss the development status of these technologies.
1 Copyright
September 25-29, 2006, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Draft IPC2006-10156
Thomas Beuker
ROSEN Technology GmbH & Co. KG
Product Development
Am Seitenkanal 8
49811 Lingen (Ems), Germany
Email: tbeuker@roseninspection.net
INTRODUCTION
Pipelines are commonly inspected by inline inspection (ILI)
tools equipped with sensors for nondestructive evaluation and
testing. These sensors utilize different nondestructive techniques
like Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL), Ultrasonics Testing (UT),
or Eddy Current (EC). ILI tools available in the market today
are primarily based on the MFL principle. These tools have ma-
tured over the years to provide superior mapping of corrosion.
On the other hand, adequate and cost effective techniques to de-
tect cracks especially in gas pipelines have not been realized yet.
Piezoelectric ultrasonics have been utilized for wall thick-
ness measurements and crack detection. These tools work well
in liquid filled pipelines since the fluid being transported is cou-
pling the pressure wave generated by the piezoelectric transduc-
ers to the pipe wall. However, in natural gas pipelines this cou-
pling mechanism does not work since nearly all of the acoustical
energy generated by the transducer in the gaseous product is re-
flected by the pipe wall and does not travel into the pipe wall.
In a research project conducted by ROSEN and Sonic Sen-
sors, Inc. [1], a new contact free sensor based on Electro-
Magnetic Acoustic Transduction (EMAT) was developed. The
EMAT sensor generates ultrasonic waves inside the pipe wall it-
self through a combination of Lorentz forces and magnetostric-
tion, no matter what medium is present in the pipe. The material
being inspected is its own transducer, eliminating the need for a
liquid couplant as required in traditional UT methods – a good
solution for natural gas pipelines.
c 2006 by ASME
a)
b)
c)
d)
Figure 1. EXAMPLES OF STRESS CORROSION CRACKING FOUND
IN TEST SAMPLES FROM 16” PIPE, VISUALIZED USING MAGNETIC
PARTICLE INSPECTION (MPI) METHOD.
NOMENCLATURE
EMAT Electro-Magnetic Acoustical Transducer
ECD EMAT Crack Detection
UT Ultrasonic Testing
MFL Magnetic Flux Leakage
SCC Stress Corrosion Cracking
SHn Shear Horizontal guided wave of order n
EDM Electro-Discharge Machining
MPI Magnetic Particle Inspection
STRESS CORROSION CRACKING (SCC)
Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is a term used to describe
service failures in engineering materials that occur by slow envi-
ronmentally induced crack propagation. This phenomenon is as-
sociated with a combination of stress (applied or residual) above
some threshold value, specific environmental and in some sys-
tems metallurgical conditions, which lead to surface cracks with
a high aspect ratio (long and shallow). SCC has been recognized
as a cause of failures in high pressure gas and oil transmission
lines since mid ’60s. SCC on the external surface of pipelines
has occurred in several countries throughout the world and con-
tributes to major failures in pipelines [2].
Although the mechanisms and causes for SCC in pipelines
are still an ongoing research topic, the shape and appearance of
SCC is well known. To investigate natural SCC features from an
inline-inspection point-of-view, several North American pipeline
operators provided pipe samples to ROSEN. Fig. 1 shows some
examples of SCC regions in these samples, visualized using
Magnetic Particle Inspection (MPI).
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Figure 2. SIMPLIFIED PRESENTATION OF PARTICLE MOVEMENT
FOR HORIZONTAL SHEAR AND LAMB WAVES.
Cracks exist often in colonies with various lengths and
depths. Typically there are numerous shallow cracks within one
colony. Their depth growth happens by coalescing of initially
shallow and short cracks. A distinct irregular surface, especially
for the inter-granular crack types can be expected. SCC occurs
in gas and in liquid pipelines, typically linked to sections with
disbonded coating.
EMAT BASICS
During the last two years, several investigations on EMAT
transducer technology and design were conducted. Remarkable
experimental results were obtained from laboratory as well as
from pulltests that proved the feasibility of using EMAT trans-
ducers and receivers to detect cracks and other structural defects
in pipelines.
Guided-wave Mode Selection
Fundamentally, guided waves can be categorized into Lamb-
waves and horizontal shear waves of different order. A guided-
wave solution is well suited to detect SCC, because the SCC is
a general degradation of the material, and the guided-wave is a
mechanical elastic wave whose propagation depends on the di-
mensions and properties of the material itself.
Guided-waves, as generated by an EMAT transducer, prop-
agate between the external and the internal pipe surface as a
boundary condition. The presence of SCC disturbs the guided-
wave and a ”significant” change in the dimensions of the wave
guide, such as that from a crack, will reflect the wave and cause
an echo, which may then be detected. The design of an EMAT
allows to control very well the type of guided wave and its prop-
agation properties.
A permanent magnet circuit based on a common MFL tool
generates a magnetic field that is orientated axially in plane with
the pipeline wall. A meander coil electromagnetic acoustic trans-
ducer (MC-EMAT) is placed in the magnetic field and driven
with a short tone burst of adjustable frequency. By Lorentz-
force and magnetostriction several types of waves are induced
inside the pipeline wall. The majority of these waves are largely
damped, except for guided waves that propagate in so-called
c 2006 by ASME
modes of the structure. The different modes exhibit dispersion, 1000
SH0
so there exist certain frequency-wavelength or frequency-coilgap SH1

frequency, kHz
relations, where the preferred mode is generated with sufficient 800 SH2
effiency. Since the acoustical wavelength of the induced guided SH3
SH4
wave is provided by the constant gap between the meander coil
600
loops, one of the guided wave modes is discriminated against all
others by adjusting the frequency of the applied tone burst.
The preferred mode is in general a horizontally polarized 400
shear wave, a so-called SHn wave, where n stands for the number
of nodes in the particle velocity amplitude distribution as seen in 6 8 10 12 14 16
wall thickness, mm
cross-section of the pipeline wall, see Fig. 2. The modes with
order n>0 have an especially high energy concentration at the
surfaces of the wall and hence are sensitive for possible cracks Figure 3. GUIDED WAVE FREQUENCY SPECTRUM AS A FUNCTION
or slots inside the sound beam that will lead to reflection and OF THE WALL THICKNESS.
refraction of the shear wave.

The EMAT excitation of distinct guided waves is based on

Dispersion Relation. the preselection of certain modes by adjusting the excitation fre-
Based on the common textbook by Achenbach [3] an quency f according to a given wave length in order to satisfy
overview on the theoretical formulation of guided wave propa- Eq. 3 with suitable values. The ideal case of monochromatic ex-
gation in plates will be developed. citation of a single mode at a single frequency would require a
From geometrical considerations the frequency equation for meander coil with an infinite number of loops and an excitation
harmonic SH waves in an elastic layer can be written as waveform with infinite length. If the temporal frequency of the
excitation does not correspond to the given wave length with re-
Ω2 = n2 + ξ2 (1) spect to Eq. 3, either no guided wave mode is excited at all or an
unwanted mode, e.g. a Lamb mode or a Rayleigh wave is excited.
Due to the finite length of both the meander coil and the ex-
While n = 0, 1, 2, . . . is the order of the guided wave mode, the citation tone burst, the excitation is not monochromatical but ex-
dimensionless frequency Ω and the dimensionless wavenumber hibits several frequency–wave length combinations that might lie
ξ are defined as inside the excitation bandwidth and can therefore be observed. It
is desirable to select an optimum frequency–wave length combi-
2W T f 2W T f 2W T nation so that only one mode of order n is actually excited while
Ω= , ξ= = (2) all the adjacent modes do not lie inside the excitation bandwidth
cT cSHn λSHn
and hence are not excited.
Figure 3 also shows that the SH0 mode frequency does not
The wavelength λSH of the SHn-waves is determined by the depend on the wall thickness, whereas the frequencies of higher
EMAT meander coil geometry actually implemented. Their modes do significantly depend on the wall thickness. This means
modal frequencies depend on the order n, the wall thickness W T , that a short sound burst containing higher order modes will elon-
and on the transverse sound velocity cT , that is cT ≈ 3255 m/s for gate with increasing travelling distance. This effect hinders the
constructional steel. Substitution of those entities relates all rel- use of higher order modes if large areas have to be covered with
evant parameters to each other. a single sound burst as it was implemented in previous EMAT
Some relations are of particular interest for the operation of ILI tools.
an EMAT. A few simple calculations lead to the following equa- Compared to the classical Ultrasonic Testing (UT) approach
tion describing the SH frequency spectrum of the steel layer: that uses short pulses of longitudinal waves, the transverse shear
wave burst generated by an EMAT transmitter is much longer

n 2
 in time. Classical UT obtains a high spatial resolution by us-
2 −2
fSHn = c2T + λSHn (3) ing short pulses, but cannot use frequency information since the
2W T
spectrum of the pulses is very broadband. EMAT generated
waveforms, on the other hand, are very narrowband in terms of
At a fixed acoustical wavelength, this equation relates the fre- their frequency content. Taking into account the dispersion rela-
quency of the guided wave modes to the wall thickness of the tion displayed in Fig. 3, the frequency spectrum obtained from
pipeline under investigation, see Fig. 3. the transmission signal can be used to estimate the actual wall

3 Copyright

c 2006 by ASME
 Pixel
Crack Run Direction /
Sender
Pipe axis
Echo Transmission
Receiver Receiver
Figure 4. CONFIGURATION OF INDIVIDUAL EMAT SENSOR REPRE-
SENTING ONE OF 72 PIXELS ON THE 16” EMAT ILI TOOL.
thickness. Furthermore, it is known that the interaction of shear
waves with features of varying depths depend on the mode of the
shear wave actually generated. This will be used to estimate the
depth of a defect from the spectrum of the echo signal obtained
in a run.
Laboratory Tests
Figure 5 shows a sample plate with EDM-notches of con-
stant length and width, but varying depths, that was used in lab-
oratory measurements with plain prototype EMATs. The basic
EMAT sensor configuration incorporating sender, transmission
receiver and echo receiver is displayed in Fig. 4. In the mid-
dle of Fig. 5, the resulting A-scan echo amplitudes are displayed
as a function of position (x-axis) and EMAT time (y-axis). The
bottom part of Fig. 5 shows the echo data integrated along the
EMAT time axis and gives a scalar representation of the acousti-
cal energy reflected by the notches.
The reflected energy is increasing with increasing depth of
the notches. A more detailed investigation of the frequency con-
tent of the reflected waveform reveals that different modes be-
have differently with regard to the depth of the notches. This
spectral information is used in a sizing algorithm to classify the
depth of features from the echo data obtained from the ILI tool.
EMAT ILI–TOOL DESIGN CONCEPT
EMAT inline inspection systems have been around for some
years; however, ROSENs EMAT Crack Detection (ECD) tool
takes a different approach to achieve optimum performance. The
first aspect in the new approach is to design the magnetic config-
uration similar to conventional MFL ILI tools. As a result, the
magnetic energization of the pipe-wall is obtained from a typ-
ical magnetic circuit design. There are no magnets located in
the ECD sensor housing itself. This approach makes the sen-
sors much smaller and lighter then alternative EMAT designs,
enabling excellent dynamic performance under a wide range of
operating conditions.
4 Copyright
Lab Test piece, WT = 8 mm
Depth:
0.1 0.5 1.0 2.0 mm
4× EDM Notches (l=20 mm)
time
Echo Envelopes
position
Integral of Echo
∫ dt
position
Figure 5. LABORATORY TEST MEASUREMENT WITH PROTOTYPE
EMAT SENSORS.
The ECD sensors carriers are spring-loaded integrated de-
vices with a total of 8 electronic assembly boards for pulse gener-
ation, receiver pre-amplifying, data processing, and communica-
tion, respectively. Extensive monitoring of sensor performance
parameters like supply voltages, charge currents and tempera-
tures ensure optimum reliability.
The actual EMAT sensors themselves are spring-loaded
modules with an integrated ceramic wear surface that ensures the
necessary low lift-off distance to the pipe wall. Since the EMAT
modules run completely independent from the magnets, wear is
greatly reduced and long inspection distances become feasible.
High-Resolution Pixel Definiton
Low-resolution EMAT tools are equipped with few EMAT
sensors on the circumference only. Such a design utilizes the
ability of a guided wave to travel around the perimeter but de-
mands a cumbersome interpretation of a single waveform that
contains information from a large area. Moreover, signal quality
and reliability is reduced since the guided wave is attenuated and
dispersed on its way between transmitter and receiver.
At this stage it was decided to utilize a high-resolution ap-
proach with a large number of individual EMAT sensors distrib-
uted around the circumference of the pipeline. Each individual
sensor is sampling a distinct area that is a fraction of the whole
circumference.
c 2006 by ASME

Figure 6. ROSEN 16” EMAT HIGH RESOLUTION CRACK DETECTION
TOOL EQUIPPED WITH 72 EMAT SENSORS.
The newly developed 16” EMAT tool as displayed in Fig. 6
is equipped with an improved resolution of 72 overlapping
EMAT channels, evenly distributed around the circumference.
By aligning adjacent EMAT pixels slightly oblique to each other,
a circumferential array is composed were each pixel covers an
area of only few square inches.
Since the sound path is limited to a short distance between
transmitter and receiver, both propagation loss and dispersion ef-
fects between transmitter and receiver are neglectable. This pro-
vides a superior signal-to-noise ratio of the EMAT sensor which
simplifies the subsequent data evaluation and avoids misinterpre-
tations. The generated waves are travelling in both clockwise and
counterclockwise direction and are reflected preferentially by ax-
ially oriented features. This interrogates irregular cracks from
two different sides.
Data Processing
An individual ECD carrier captures about 10,000 digitized
samples per logdistance, e.g. every 5 mm. Since memory capac-
ity is limited, it is not possible to store all raw A-scan data that
accumulates during a run. The overall amount of raw data poses
a severe challenge to the data transfer capabilities.
The features of interest in the pipe wall under investigation
may be obtained during runtime by appropriate data processing
inside the inspection pig. Actually, not all of the data is necessary
to display the results of the inspection run; in normal conditions
while ne feature is detected the amount of data to be stored can be
reduced significantly. So memory capacity is preserved to store
critical signals in greater detail to be investigated in the after-run
evaluation.
The data pre-processing is implemented utilizing high-
performance field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) for each
pixel individually and essentially consists of three steps:
5 Copyright
1. filtering the received echo and transmission waveforms with
matched filters to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio; a good
estimate of a matched filter is given by the actual excitation
waveform that is obtained and digitized for each shot indi-
vidually.
2. Fourier transforming the filtered data to obtain the frequency
spectrum of both the transmission and the echo signal.
3. deriving the envelope of the filtered data; the Hilbert trans-
form turns out to be the standard procedure to obtain the
envelope of a quasi-periodical waveform.
Data Evaluation Process
The evaluation of an actual inline inspection tool run con-
sists of the following main steps:
1. check lift-off channel to ensure proper mechanical contact
of the EMAT sensors to the inner pipeline surface
2. check transmission signal to ensure acoustical energy is
present in the pipe, obtain wall thickness from transmission
frequency analysis
3. find girth welds in transmission and echo signal
4. find regions with disbonded coating by adaptively analysing
the transmission signal amplitude and integral
5. find regions with significant values in echo signal, use corre-
lation and database to sort out installations and other known
features
6. investigate remaining echo signals in more detail with regard
to time waveform, arrival times, and frequency content
7. correlate results to previously obtained inspection data
8. classify echo based on a correlation algorithm taking into
account all available integrity management information
It is known that different feature types have different reflection
properties, e.g. seam welds are good reflectors for SH0 waves
while higher-order modes are preferably reflected at shallow
cracks.
Since the guided wave modes involved are well defined, it is
possible to derive the properties of the feature itself aided by a
conversion method. Hence it is possible to distinguish between
different feature types, e.g. long seams, cracks, general corro-
sion, lamination, installations, etc.
FIELD TESTS
Starting early in 2005, full-scale pulltests were conducted
with prototype EMAT sensors in a 34” pulltest line containing
artificial features as well as disbonded coatings and natural SCC.
Upon completion of the 16” ECD tool, pulltests in several
16” lines containing a variety of features were performed. This
section reports on the results of these test runs.
c 2006 by ASME
 ECD data analysis
Feature detection

Coating Disbondment Detection

8
7

(-dB versus bare pipe)

6
60 degrees

Signal Effect
5
4
3
2
1
0
5m
FBE Coating PE Coating Bitumen/Tar Tape coating
27 Pulltest data (integrated along EMAT axis)
Coating disbonded on 20 mm length
Figure 7. RESULTS FROM 34” PULLTEST: EDM-NOTCHES; THE UP-

EMAT transmission, a.u.

WT = 5 mm
1.2
MOST PIXEL SHOWS REFLECTIONS FROM A LONG SEAM. WT = 6.2 mm
1.1 WT = 10 mm

1
Artifical EDM-Notches 0.9
The 34” line contains natural SCC as well as a variety of 0.8
artificial electro-discharge machined (EDM) notches. 0.7
Figure 7 shows the integrated echo data captured during the 0 100 200 300 400 500
runs. Significant echo signals were obtained from the EDM- logdistance, mm

notches with a length ranging from 15 to 50 mm, a depth between

10% and 80% WT, and a width of 0.2 mm. A good correlation Figure 8. TOP: SIGNAL ATTENUATION FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF
between depth and frequency content was found that aids the data COATING; BOTTOM: INCREASE OF TRANSMISSION SIGNAL IN RE-
evaluation process currently under development. GIONS WITH DISBONDED COATING (FROM 16” PULLTEST).

Coating Disbondment
A coating present on the outer surface of the pipeline atten-
uates the guided shear wave significantly. This is a serious issue
in a low-resolution approach since this attenuation decreases the
signal amplitude obtainable if the EMAT receiver is positioned
at a large distance to the transmitter.
The high-resolution approach uses short distances between
transmitter and receiver so the signal amplitude is only slightly
attenuated with a neglectable effect on crack detection capabil-
ities. In this configuration the absolute transmission amplitude
obtained depends on the type of coating present, see Fig. 8 top.
Furthermore, coating disbondment is detectable as an increase
of the transmission amplitude, see Fig. 8 bottom. The minimum
detectable disbondment area is approx. 20 mm long and 50 mm
wide.
Figure 9. COMPARISON BETWEEN ECD AND MFL SIGNALS OF THE
SAME REGION OF A PULLTEST LINE CONTAINING ARTIFICIAL FEA-
Comparison between ECD and MFL data TURES.
Figure 9 shows a comparison of ECD and MFL data. The
area of the pulltest line displayed in Fig. 9 contains a total of
three artificial features. The prominent signal centered at about
37.1 m, 170 degrees is induced by a grinding machined into the Two other features are visible solely in the ECD data at 220
outer surface posing a significant loss of wall thickness. This is degrees, 36.8 m and 37.2 m, respectively. These are echos from
clearly visible in both MFL and ECD data; taking a closer look 0.2 mm wide EDM-notches with a length of 20 mm and 10 mm,
at the ECD data reveals a corresponding degradation of the trans- respectively. There are no signals in the MFL data of this regions.
mission signal that indicates a large-area feature with significant This comparison is a valueable step in the evaluation process to
depth. distinguish between general corrosion and crack-like features.

6 Copyright
c 2006 by ASME
Natural SCC colonies
Figure 10 shows the EMAT echo signals obtained from four
pixels each at different locations of a pulltest line . The sus-
picious regions were investigated with MPI showing significant
SCC crack colonies. The depth of these cracks was found to
be up to 0.120” at 5-6 mm wall thickness (prominent peaks in
a)
Fig. 10a) but also much shallower subcritical cracks induced sig-
nificant echo amplitudes. An excellent correlation between the
SCC regions made visible with MPI and the EMAT data was Pixel1
found. Signals were obtained from both sides of the cracks.
Pixel2

FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS Pixel3

The time axis of individual EMAT channels can be bro-
Pixel4
ken down to achieve an ”intra-pixel” resolution. Therefor the
acoustical information will be correlated with acoustical pat-
terns of available defect types. A sophisticated data evaluation
is currently under development, correlating all available inspec- b)
tion data including MFL data, geometry data, and pipe log data
contributed by the operator. The first inspection run under op-
erating conditions is scheduled for April 2006. Detailed results Pixel1
of this run will be presented upon availability in the conference
Pixel2
presentation.
Pixel3
SUMMARY Pixel4
A novel high resolution EMAT ILI tool was presented. The
tool has an improved detection capability for SCC colonies due
to an appropriate selection of ultrasonic guided-waves and a two- c)
directional circumferential pulse sequence. By additional mea-
surement results using a variety of guided wave features, in-
Pixel1
dependent of the SCC measurement, information about the in-
tegrity of the coating bond can be obtained. Pixel2
Tests on artificial notches showed an excellent sensitivity on
shallow and short defects (depth 10% of wall thickness, length of Pixel3
15mm). SCC colonies were detected with good signal-to-noise
ratio in a variety of real pipe samples. Thus, this technology com- Pixel4
bines proactive and reactive measures to improve the reliability
of a pipeline that is susceptible to SCC.

d)
REFERENCES
[1] Beuker, T., Brown, B., Alers, R., and Alers, G., 2004. “SCC
Pixel1
detection and coating disbondment detection improvements
using the high resolution EMAT ILI-technology”. In Pro- Pixel2
ceedings of IPC 2004, pp. IPC04–0697.
[2] Manfredi, C., and Otegui, J. L., 2002. “Failures by SCC in Pixel3
buried pipelines”. Engineering Failure Analysis, 9(5), Oct.,
pp. 495–509. Pixel4
[3] Achenbach, J. D., 1975, 8th imp. 1999. Wave Propagation
in Elastic Solids, Vol. 16 of Applied Mathematics and Me- Figure 10. MEASUREMENT RESULTS IN SCC SAMPLE REGIONS.
chanics. Elsevier Science.

7 Copyright
c 2006 by ASME