Acoustic resonance technology

Ensuring safety and reliability of subsea pipelines is a top priority for all subsea asset owners. An effective integrity management plan encompasses simulation, analysis, inspection, testing, and mitigation. The results of these inspections such as close visual inspection, cathodic protection (CP) surveys, wall thickness surveys, and crack detection surveys are then fed back into the analysis to determine the performance of the pipelines or flowline system and the probability of failure – ensuring safe operation now and into the future.

Subsea pipelines have typically relied on intrusive inspection technologies for wall thickness inspections. The advantage of inline inspection (ILI) being the vast amount of data that can be collected over the full length of the pipeline system. However, the application of ILI technology is not always feasible in some systems, or it represents a significant challenge in terms of production deferment and HSSE risk. These unpiggable pipelines present a major gap in inspection data that can impair proper integrity management and safe operation, presenting a risk for operators of these unpiggable assets.

External inspection technologies are a logical answer to the inspection gap for unpiggable subsea pipelines. Developing these technologies is a very difficult task due to the extreme pressures, various pipeline coatings, thick insulation systems, position of the pipelines and the need to perform the inspection remotely utilising an ROV system. Existing technology can come at a high cost, HSSE risk (if utilising a radioactive source), have difficulty inspecting through thick subsea coatings, and provide limited data …

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Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/equipment-and-safety/30062023/acoustic-resonance-technology/