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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