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19:25 Jun- LRUT Coverage Post


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Sudheer Dear All,

Krishnan What will be the coverage area(length) of LRUT if we     


are going to inspect a straight pipeline which is buried?

Translat
e

    

18:09 Jun- Re: LRUT CoverageIn Reply to Sudheer Jai Krishnan Post
at  19:25 Jun-25-2012(Opening). Reply

the range of LRUGW in buried pipelines depend en:


type of coating and it thickness increasing thickness     
causes more attenuation, how the coating is bended to
the pipe and also viscosity of the coating
Inspector, type of soil (the density of embedding materials) Translat
oil and gas
e
company,

Joined Apr     

19:50 Jun- Re: LRUT CoverageIn Reply to rabah at 18:09 Jun- Post
26-2012  . Reply
Sudheer
Hello Rabah,
Krishnan     
Thank you for the reply. Details as follows

10" line with nominal thickness of 9mm. Paint Coating Translat


of around 600 microns and soil type is loose sand e

    
05:37 Jun- Re: LRUT CoverageIn Reply to Sudheer Jai Krishnan at  19:50
28-2012 Jun-26-2012  .
Reyaz S.
Sudheer,

if the cover is loose sand, you should be able to get fairly decent
range. Translate

Another factor that was not mentioned is the actual product in


the pipe. Gas lines will typically have better range than crude or
water lines.

the factor you need to aware of is the frequency that is used for
the test. you can optimize range but lose some sensitivity and
spacial resolution.

hope this information is helpful. Email if you have any more


questions.

Reyaz

08:11 Jun- Re: LRUT CoverageIn Reply to Reyaz S. at  05:37 Jun-28-
28-2012 2012  .

hello,
exactly as sudheer said the pipeline content can have influence
en the attenuation if the viscosity of the fluid is high or there is
deposit en it Translate
Inspector, you can have more range but you loose the sensivity. you have
oil and gas to choose your frequency range depending en the type of defect
company, you expect to find.
for your case the coating is thin so the attenuation is not affected
Joined Apr as PE or thick soft bitumen.
an average of 20 m can be reatched but you have to be careful
because this is conservative and you have to test.

17:09 Jun- Re: LRUT CoverageIn Reply to RABAH at  08:11 Jun-28-2012 .
28-2012
Sudheer Jai Thank you Rabah and Reyaz. The service is crude oil. What will
Krishnan be the approx area in this case in meteres that we can cover in 8
hours?

Translate
18:56 Jun- Re: LRUT CoverageIn Reply to Sudheer Jai Krishnan at  17:09
29-2012 Jun-28-2012  .
Ezhilarasu
We cannot predict easily the production in LRUT in meters,
because if you have more corrosion your signal will die soon, so
it cover short distance. you need more number of spots. you can
cover 25 spots per shift that too vary depends on the acess to Translate
the spot.

20:20 Jun- Re: LRUT CoverageIn Reply to Ezhilarasu at 18:56 Jun-29-


29-2012 2012  .
Sudheer Jai
Krishnan Thank you Ezhil, but can you kindly tell me the spot in meters?

Translate

05:49 Jun- Re: LRUT CoverageIn Reply to Sudheer Jai Krishnan at  20:20
30-2012 Jun-29-2012  .

Hello Sudheer,

We cannot estimate per day achievable length especially in


LRUT. As it is buried line, test range(relabel range) vary in each Translate
location. In this case, how are you going to dig and remove
wrapping for collar mounting (for the data collection)? No one
can standardize the test range. 

I can guess this proposed site which is some where in middle


east. How deep is the pipe lining? Can the vehicle reach up to
the pipe line each day(Because none of the inspection
company/inspector is going to take any chance in keeping the
unit on extreme temperature)? 

08:15 Oct- Re: LRUT CoverageIn Reply to Sudheer Jai Krishnan at  19:25
08-2012 Jun-25-2012(Opening).

My question relating to LRUT is can it be used for dual


metallurgy??
Translate

22:56 Oct- Re: LRUT CoverageIn Reply to Sudheer Jai Krishnan at  19:25
11-2012 Jun-25-2012(Opening).

Dear All,

It is sad that nobody is talking about defect size when they are
Sang Kim Translate
saying about inspection range of guided wave testing. The
Consultant,
inspection range depends on both defect size and attenuation.
NDT Trainer 
For more information please refer to this website
Guided Wave
(http://www.gwanalysis.com/long-range-UT-inspection-
Analysis LLC,
range.html). How far can you see with your eyes (a receiver)
under the sun (a transmitter)? The inspection range depends on
Joined Feb
attenuation (weather condition) and size of object (people,
home, building, mountain, etc). We are human so that we don’t
 
know the inspection range of buried pipeline without testing and
checking the signal. The inspection range depends on the
attenuation (rainy day, foggy day, sunny day, smog, etc). The
inspection range depends on the attenuation of pipeline. The
attenuation of pipeline depends on 1) operating center frequency
of guided wave – usually 10- to 32-kHz center frequency is good
for buried pipeline, 2) pipe wall thickness --- thicker pipe has
less attenuation because the thicker pipe has less surface area
compared to the volume of pipeline, 3) pipeline inside corrosion
--- every corrosion byproduct or local wall thickness change
reflects the ultrasonic wave so that the inspection range gets
shortened, 4) viscosity of content in the pipeline --- higher
viscosity makes inspection range shorter, 5) thickness of coating
--- thicker coating shortens inspection range, 6) softness of
coating --- softer coating reduces inspection range, 7) soil depth
--- deeper soil shortens inspection range, 8) compaction of soil
--- compacted soil reduces inspection range, 9) condition of
coating --- damaged coating reduces inspection range because
ultrasonic wave reflects from the damaged coating, and 10)
coating material --- bitumen or PE coating decreases inspection
range . The inspection range is also function of defect size. The
defect size of guided wave testing is usually reported with
percentage cross-sectional area (CSA). Do you know how big is 2
% CSA defect or 5 % CSA defect? We cannot tell without
knowing the pipe outer diameter (OD). It depends on the total
cross-sectional area of pipe. This is the diameter of through hole
defect for the 5 % CSA defect: 
1) 0.31 inch (7.98 mm) for 2-inch-OD pipe
2) 0.71 inch (17.95 mm) for 4.5-inch-OD pipe
3) 1.04 inch (2.43 mm) for 6.625-inch-OD pipe
4) 2.0 inch (50.87 mm) for 12.75-inch-OD pipe
5) 2.51 inch (63.84 mm) for 16-inch-OD pipe
6) 3.77 inch (95.76 mm) for 24-inch-OD pipe
7) 7.54 inch (191.51 mm) for 48-inch-OD pipe
8) 9.42 inch (239.39 mm) for 60-inch-OD pipe
Some people does not understand this one. I will explain more.
The 5-percent cross-sectional area defect of 16-inch-OD pipe is
2.51-inch through hole that is slightly smaller than tennis ball
size (2.63 inches). Therefore, we have to reduce the threshold
level if the pipe diameter bigger for finding small defect. In other
word, the guided wave probes using ring, belt, or encircling
probe are not good for inspecting 16-inch-OD or bigger diameter
pipe. If the pipe is bigger than 16-inch-OD, we have to use a
sector probe for increasing sensitivity that covers only section of
pipe. For more information please refer to page 3 in this
brochure (http://www.gwanalysis.com/gwa_brochure.pdf). What
is inspection range of buried pipeline? It is approximately 20 ft
(about 6 meter) along each direction of pipeline for finding 5-
percent CSA defect. If some inspection company claims more,
please ask to show the data. I found that many inspection
companies are overselling with the number. Please check the
report. Actually human does not know without doing field testing.
The actual value should be measured with the field testing. The
measurement of inspection range in the field data is not difficult.
The inspection range of guided wave testing is calculated with
the following procedure:

1) Find signal reflected from a weld


2) Check the signal amplitude of weld and the noise amplitude at
the weld location. 
3) The weld signal is usually 10 to 20 percent CSA reflector.
Calculate the percent of noise amplitude by assuming 15-percent
reflector for a weld. For example, if the amplitude of weld signal
is 0.8 volt and noise amplitude is 0.2 volt, the noise level is
equivalent to 3.75-pecent CSA signal. Therefore, the inspection
range is shorter than the weld location because every indication
should be signal-to-noise ratio of 2-to-1. 

The inspection range for finding 5-pecent CSA defect will be the
location at which the noise amplitude is 2.5-percent CSA. If client
wants to find a defect of 2 % CSA or smaller defect, the
inspection range will be the location in which the noise amplitude
is 1-percent CSA by checking with the weld signal reference.

If you have any question about the inspection range, please


email me at skim@gwanalysis.com

Thanks,

Sang

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