Mechanical damage to pipelines from outside forces, if undetected, can lead to leaks and occasionally ruptures. This damage can be caused over time by rocks or abruptly by excavation equipment. A majority of the anomalies due to outside force are not injurious. However, a few prominent pipeline failures have been attributed to mechanical damage. The primary objective of this consolidated research program is to provide guidance to the pipeline industry regarding the use of New and Current ILI technologies to prioritize excavation and repair of mechanical damage. This program is co-funded by DOT as a consolidated program.
The Pipeline Research Council International, Inc is conducting research which will evaluate the capability of in-line inspection Dual Field Technology to detect and characterize mechanical damage defects. The main scope is to evaluate the use of magnetic flux leakage technologies through the use of high and low magnetic fields. These evaluations will include runs in active pipelines and the excavation results from those indications.
The work will establish the capability of the dual magnetic field MFL technology to detect mechanical damage and discriminate between critical and benign anomalies. This project will entail building a dual magnetization MFL tool and testing it in an operating pipeline.
In addition to developing new technologies, the pipeline industry already has multiple in-line inspection approaches to inspect for mechanical damage. Commonly used methods include in-line deformation (caliper) tools, which measure the bore diameter and magnetic flux leakage technology (MFL). The pipeline industry and government regulatory organizations need to know the relative capability of these approaches and best way to apply these inspection technologies. This project would identify current capabilities of mechanical damage inspection technologies used in the pipeline industry.
This project will provide data to validate assessment capability of in-line inspection tools while tying these results back to fundamentals and performance characteristics.