Saiiperrrn

The plantcoversan area of aboutthreethousandsquaremetersand is dedicatedto: R&D for

advancedand conventional weldingiechnology and for NDETechnology, procedure qualification
for pipelinewelding, proceduredevelopmentfor special welding--applications, equrpment
development for pipelinewelding,trainingcourseand welderqualificaiions
for weldingprocesses
andtrainingcoursewhitfinallycertification
for NDEpersonnet.
The laboratoryoffersthe capabilityto'simulatethe actualfield weldingconditionsof offshore
(S-lay& J-lay)andcross-countrypipeline.
SaipemNDTGroupas partof a largepipelinecontractmeansthatit hasaccessto a largepartof
welddata,samplesandfeedbackresults.
ThismeansthatAUTperformance hasbeencomprehensively validated
and is subjectto continuos
rmprovement.
AUT Personnel
All SAIPEMoperatorsundergoan intensive 4 weektrainingcourse
at the SAIPEMweldinglaboratory locatedin Cortemaggiore (ltaly),
followedby a week trainingcourseon equipmentmaintenance rn
au9!ec, Canada(RD/Tech,manufacturer of the pipe WizardpA)
andfollowedby a stringent
examination at the end.
Upon satisfactoryresultsthe operatorswill be given a training
coursecertificate
withthe courseprogramas attachments.
On passingthe examination,the technician will undertake fieldwork
as a scannertechnicianpriorto, if suitable,qualifying
for a position
as an assistantAUT Technicianand finally AUT Technician
(Capableof interpretationand reporting).This processtakes a
minimumof 6 monthsbeforea suitableoperatoris regardedas fully
trained.
Successfulcandidatesare formallycertifiedin accordancewith
ASNTSNTTC 14 or equivalent and SAIpEMWorkInstruction Wl_
SPA.PSEM-OO1-E.

EngineeringCriticalAssessment(ECA)
Pipelinesare typicallyconstructed
by joiningsectionsof pipetogether,
usingeithermanualor automated welding.Sincepipelinesoperateat a
highpercentage of weldstrength,theseweldsmustbe constructed to a
+
Workmanshipcriteria
high standard.The adventof higherstrengthsteels,highdemandfor
pipelines,greater environmental concerns,thinner pipe walls and
improvedtechnologyhave all lead to more demandinginspection
requirements.

ln recentyears, Engineering
CriticalAssessment(ECA, also called
FractureMechanism,Fitness-For-Serviceor StrucluralIntegrity)has
been used to evaluatedefectsbecauseECA is consider-blyless
conservativethan traditional "workmanship,,criteria. ECA is
aovantageousas it can reducethe rejectrate significanfly,
thereby
reducing
construction
costs.
EngineeringCriticalAssessment
Engineering
CriticalAssessment
ECA, due to its skill in determininghow much dangerousis a
* defect, permits to consider acceptable a "safe,' deflct even if
longer than established,avoidingrepairswhich could cause bad
qualityof the pipeline

1. INTRODUCTION