Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Insulated pipe and steel structures arise in a large number of applications including oil and gas pipeline,balance of plant in the petrochemical industry, steel support structures for buildings and large liquid storagecontainers. Degradation of insulated metal piping, pressure vessels and structural components may be theresult of 1) internal corrosive processes, arising within the existing transport medium or 2) external sourcessuch as aerated water or water with corrosive contaminants that have been introduced into thick (up to 51 mm)insulating barriers. Other areas where corrosion may occur include above ground carbon steel storage tanks,where insulating layers can be 6 to10 mm thick. Current ultrasonic inspection technology is only capable oflocalized wall thickness measurements after insulation removal. PEC has a demonstrated capability to performinspection in the presence of conducting ferromagnetic materials at large lift-offs. This project will: 1) Developpulsed eddy current (PEC) technology, including probe design that is optimized for rapid inspection ofinsulated electrically conducting pipe at large lift-off for general corrosion. 2) Demonstrate capabilities andlimitations of such technology. 3) Develop theoretical models of the response of PEC to changing wallthickness, lift-off and permeability and validate these against laboratory measurements. 4) Optimize probedesign for the target inspection conditions and assist in identifying parameters that may affect measurementaccuracy using the developed models. This work will be important to inspection service providers who cannotcurrently perform local inspection of pipe without expensive and time consuming removal of insulation.Development of technologies that will assist in lifecycle management and improve assessment capability forconditions of corrosion in chemical processing, oil and gas and liquid transport and containment industries willsupport the performance of Canadian industry in these areas. HQP will be trained to enter the workforce in thisrapidly growing area of in-service inspection.