The presence of hard spots, a localized confined region of relatively higher hardness, cause pipelines to be prone to crack initiation and hydrogen embrittlement. Early detection and mitigation of hard spots following plate manufacturing are essential to mitigation of any hard spot-related failures. This issue of early detection of hard spots and the related verification and validation of applicable technologies are the primary focus of PRCI project NDE 4-11. PRCI project NDE 4-11 consisted of two phases: Phase I, “Review of Existing and Emerging Technologies for Hard Spot Detection”...
The presence of hard spots, a localized confined region of relatively higher hardness, cause pipelines to be prone to crack initiation and hydrogen embrittlement. Early detection and mitigation of hard spots following plate manufacturing are essential to mitigation of any hard spot-related failures. This issue of early detection of hard spots and the related verification and validation of applicable technologies are the primary focus of PRCI project NDE 4-11. PRCI project NDE 4-11 consisted of two phases: Phase I, “Review of Existing and Emerging Technologies for Hard Spot Detection” (2017-2018), and Phase II, “Statistical Evaluation and Performance Assessment of Emerging Hard Spot Detection Technologies” (2018-2019). Phase I of this project reviewed the electromagnetic principles that apply to hard spot detection/discrimination, and the identification of applicable non-destructive evaluation technologies that have either been developed or are being developed. Six different non-destructive evaluation technologies were identified for their further evaluation during Phase-II.