Prevent the Next Failure! Act Now!

Modern industries are fully automated and these perform without too much of human intervention. This is true for the Automotive or the Aerospace Industries as it is for the Pharmaceutical or Pulp and Paper. Most of the processes are now under robotic controls that are studied from inside glass consoles that display instrumented gauges and dials. There is redundancy in case of failure of primary systems and adequate audio as well as visual warnings. However, failures will take place. Failure analysis is mandatory to find the cause of the failure, analyze and take corrective measures to prevent the next one from happening.

In the engineering industry failure analysis could reveal the cause to be either due to a material defect, design failure, human error or an external cause such as a bird hit in mid-air resulting in an engine failure. The analysis is carried out mainly in materials testing laboratories to rule out the cause to be due to a material defect.

The various facilities of materials testing could include laboratories to assess various compositions or the several properties of the sample that is under investigation. Chemical testing and analysis at the macro level and under a scanning electron microscope, gas chromatography or simple metallography at the micro level could assess the compositions. The properties of materials that are assessed could be the UTS or the yield strength, torsional strength, elasticity, bendability, creep or fatigue. In complicated cases help is often taken of mathematical or computer modeling and simulation studies.

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How One Failure Can Prevent Many

It’s absolutely true that a failure in the industry, unfortunate though it maybe, can actually prevent other failures. Imagine what would happen in a combat aircraft production industry. Supposing one of the turbine blades fractures and the broken pieces of the blade bring the engine to a deafening halt. The shattered blade pieces are analyzed in a materials testing laboratory for its contents. Another blade from the same batch is tested for creep and thermal stresses. A series of tests is run as a part of failure analysis to determine whether the failure was due to poor material, damage due to a foreign object or some extraneous causes. Here the facilities provided by materials testing laboratories could cover mechanical properties such as hardness, impact strength, UTS and bendability or creep resistance and metallurgical properties concerning the internal structure at the micro level.

Analytical equipment such as a Scanning Electron Microscope and Gas Chromatography could also be used in isolated cases while carrying out failure analysis of a failed component or part. Finally, the result of such analysis is expected to conclusively determine the actual cause of the failure. Failures are caused due to poor material, workmanship, design, maintenance or human error and in some cases due to an extraneous cause such as a foreign object. The result of the analysis will define how subsequent failures could be prevented. These measures could involve a change in material used or the design of the failed component among other options that may introduce special maintenance checks.

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The Intricacies of Pipeline Testing

Pipelines form the core part of some industries such as Refining and Petrochemical. Because of the likelihood of huge losses if pipeline defects are not detected in time pipeline inspection assumes significance in terms of the need for it to be carried out on a regular basis. In certain cases, such as offshore drilling the likelihood of corrosion in pipelines makes this need that much more acute. It’s also likely that minor leakage that may be draining out tens of thousands of dollars worth of oil every day may go undetected because of the pipelines being submerged. Then there is the problem of pipelines being hundreds of miles long and passing through almost inaccessible places. This too makes pipeline inspection a nightmare for all concerned, those who run the industry and those who are in charge of executing the inspection.

Typically the inspection of pipelines is carried out by visual means, Magnetic Testing, Radiographic Testing, Specialized Testing and Ultrasonic Testing. While the Magnetic Testing may use the Magnetic Flux Leakage Induction (MFL) or the modified method using the inline inspection tool (MFL-ILI) the Radiographic Testing could use the services such as Gamma Radiography, X-ray and DR or Digital Radiography. The Ultrasonic Testing services include Acoustic Ranger, Accuscan, Advanced Flaw Sizing, Corrosion Sizing and Electromagnetic Acoustic Transmission or EMAT and the Phased Array (PA). The Phased Array method uses the principle of deploying a number of probes that sweep a high-resolution beam to reveal the internal imagery of the object and hence its defects.

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Industrial Inspections – a brief discussion

Industrial inspections are unavoidable and may be difficult to perform. The bulk of industrial inspections are non-destructive in nature such as Eddy Current and Magnetic Testing or Ultrasonic Testing and Radiographic Testing besides Visual Testing. Turbine inspection is common in industries such as Power Generation, Nuclear and Aerospace. This is a very important inspection in these industries that depend on turbines. Turbine inspection could be conducted by one or more methods such as with the help of bore scopes that could be used to locate cracks or imperfections in blades. This is a tedious process since turbine blades are not accessible unless you strip them from the turbine. More often, this inspection is carried out in situ.

Another method of inspecting turbines is a modified visual method that involves the use of a special dye to highlight the location of cracks and other imperfections in blades. The kit consists of a cleaner for surface preparation, a penetrant for highlighting the crack and a developer to increase the resolution. Bore Sonics consisting of ultrasonic transducers is also used for locating flaws inside the rotor forging. Another difficult task is the carrying out of pipeline inspection.

The relative inaccessibility in cases and the interminably long pipelines make pipeline inspection a difficult task. Generally the Magnetic Flux Leakage In Line Inspection (MFL-ILI) tool is used to carry out this inspection. A strong magnetic field is created around the pipeline through which the tool travels and both cleans and detects the flaws in the process.

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Why Industrial Inspection Can Be Difficult

Industrial inspection is mandatory. These inspections are invariably non-destructive in nature involving services such as Ultrasonic Testing, Magnetic Testing, Eddy Current, Visual and Radiography. The important requirements should be that the services should not be intrusive in nature and there should be no stoppage of work. At times Industrial Inspection is required to be conducted in relatively inaccessible areas. This would require some specialized servicing as provided by the Rope Access Inspection Services. Earlier scaffolding was used for the kind of inspection that was to be conducted in difficult to reach areas. Scaffolding was most intrusive and generally created obstruction to the movement of men and material. Besides this scaffolding had to be erected and dismantled repeatedly and above all there was an element of risk however small. It was also more expensive when compared to the rope access.

Besides the rope access that has succeeded in reducing the difficulty faced in inspecting in remote areas of the industry the other problem faced is in conducting pipeline inspection. The inspection of pipelines is laborious and lengthy due to the miles of pipelines that have to be inspected in some typical industries such as the Petrochemical and Power Generation. Pipeline inspection is often carried out by the Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL) method that uses an inline inspection (MFL-ILI) tool. This tool travels inside the pipeline while detecting the flaws and simultaneously cleaning the inside walls as well. In an advanced method involving large lengths of pipeline GPS is sometimes used for pinpointing the exact location of the defect.

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Difficulties You Can Face In Industrial Testing

Carrying out industrial testing may not be a cakewalk each time. To begin with industrial testing requires a team of dedicated professionals who are certified and are mission oriented. Imagine carrying out pipeline inspection in the middle of a desert like location where we are talking of hundreds of miles of pipelines. Imagine carrying out ultrasonic testing of the pipeline in an almost inaccessible location. You may need to carry equipment such as the Electromagnetic Acoustic Transmission or EMAT that radiates an ultrasonic wave. The ultrasonic testing may involve the Guided Ultrasonic Wave equipment. Whatever be the method of testing how do you get the technicians and the equipment to the location safely, carry out the testing and then bring them down without an accident and also importantly without shutting down the industrial machinery?

Earlier days such inspections used to be carried out by the help of scaffolding. Scaffolding was repetitive and you had to spend money raising the scaffolding and bring it down each time the inspection was completed. It was also obstructive and impeded the smooth flow of men and materials in an industry. Today the rope access is a more acceptable method compared to scaffolding. Rope access is cheaper. It’s non obstructive and much safer than scaffolding. More than 100,000 hours of accident free rope access time has in fact brought about an increase in cost benefits by 75%. The industry therefore prefers this method while carrying out inspections in hard to reach places on account of safety and lower costs.

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Can Inspecting Pipelines Be Risky?

Pipelines are fairly common in industries. The industries could be either Petrochemical or Power Generation and Nuclear or Pharmaceutical besides Pulp and Paper Industries. These pipelines run in miles sometimes in hundreds of miles in large installations. These pipelines have to be inspected on a periodic basis to ensure that these are free from cracks; fissures and bulges and also that they are not choked. In all industries pipeline inspection is given the highest importance next only to running machinery. At times these pipelines run in remote and difficult-to-access places. Sometimes, it may even be risky to carry out inspection of such pipelines. Rope access is of course one way out of this situation when pipelines at heights can be safely inspected.

Isolation of a fault in miles of pipelines is not an easy operation at all. It requires the involved professionals to be well trained, experienced, and dedicated as well. The equipment that’s used has to be the latest in technology and duly calibrated. Non-destructive testing methods are invariably used for obvious reasons. The various options for pipeline inspection could be by the use of Magnetic Testing, Radiographic Techniques or Ultrasonic Testing methods. The Magnetic Flux Leakage In Line Inspection tool is one of the popular options wherein a tool called “PIG” travels inside the pipeline. The tool is smart and it collects the data of the inner wall in real time while assessing it as it runs inside. The use of GPS can help pinpoint the defect location.

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