Verderg Pipe Technology launches NDT method

“Verderg Pipe Technology was set up to improve the design of deepwater pipelines. With this new technology, we intend to make them safer and more competitive. Our ambition is to improve pipeline industry standards, delivering long-term benefit to customers and to the supply chain worldwide” said Verderg Pipe Technology’s Finance and Strategy Director, Renato Martins.

The new technology addresses current and future industry needs by offering the following main benefits:

• Reduced manufacturing cost through more competitive supply chain and reduced material use. Wall-thickness reduction results in a reduced volume of steel required, the price of which is strongly influenced by weight. Costs now can remain in line with typical norms rather than ‘frontier’ project costs.
• Reduced installation costs, as the lighter pipe can be laid by smaller vessels, due to the wall-thickness reduction.
• Reduced risk of schedule delay with near real-time testing of pipe joint strength during manufacture. Early detection of defective joints reduces the risk of quarantining large inventories, which can delay project progress and ultimately, first gas.
• Improved quantified and auditable insight into safety, during the preliminary design of pipelines.
• Improved competitive bidding as lower wall thickness means more pipe mills worldwide can pre-qualify for deepwater line pipeline projects.

Verderg Pipe Technology’s patented NDT technology measures the Ultimate Collapse Strength of a pipe joint by compression testing a short ring cut from the pipe end, leaving the joint within length tolerance for project use. This is relevant to marine pipelines installed beyond the depth where the pipe’s Ultimate Collapse Mode changes from tensile failure under internal pressure into buckling implosion under external hydrostatic pressure.

Verderg Pipe Technology’s patented statistical analysis routine determines with a high level of probability the absolute minimum collapse strength of an inventory of manufactured pipe. Approved by DNV GL, this improved insight into the safety of a complete pipeline means that the pipe wall thickness can be reduced to what is actually required, while still maintaining a demonstrably safer pipeline. The resulting benefit to customers includes reduced CAPEX during manufacture because of reduced material use and improved competitiveness in the supply chain. In addition, the lighter weight pipe can be installed by smaller installation vessels, reducing project costs.

Perhaps most importantly of all, the calibration of the safety of the more economic design de-risks what might have previously seemed to be a high-risk ‘Frontier Project’ into an Investment-Grade opportunity.

“This technology facilitates both a cost reduction and enhanced safety assurance of deepwater heavy wall pipelines. It is also relevant to larger diameter pipelines in shallower waters which must be designed to not suffer elastic buckling failure under hydrostatic loading” said Martins.

Technology qualification approval has been gained from DNV GL.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/22012020/verderg-pipe-technology-launches-ndt-method/