Non-Intrusive Online Multi-Sensors for Pipeline Corrosion Monitoring “Field Testing”

Corrosion costs the Oil and Gas industries alone billions of dollars annually in downtime, production loss, equipment failures, environmental contamination and most importantly personnel injuries and fatalities. Many of these corrosion related costs could be significantly reduced by endorsing the use of continuous corrosion monitoring technologies as part of a plant comprehensive corrosion management program.
In the last few years, there has been an increasing need demand for online corrosion and/or erosion monitoring tools for monitoring wall thickness measurements on pipelines and process equipment. Corrosion-related failures can be significantly minimized if a rigorous corrosion monitoring and inspection program, including predictive maintenance and real-time monitoring tools, are in place. Utilizing a non-intrusive approach will provide flexibility in selecting the monitored locations in non-accessible or congested areas where intrusive devices may not have room to function.
The paper will address a recent field assessment program conducted on a new non-intrusive multi-sensor corrosion monitoring tool. The evaluated technology is based on Acoustic Guided Lamb Waves (AGLW). This paper will specifically discuss the obtained data of the evaluated system and will also provide some insights on the applicability and limitations of this technology