Above-Ground Inspection and Integrity Services for Unpiggable Pipelines
Alternative methods for assessing the integrity condition of a pipeline
Integrity management of unpiggable pipelines remains a significant challenge for all operators. Often, these pipelines can be made piggable using customized and innovative in-line inspection (ILI) approaches. However, there is a need for alternatives when assessing the integrity condition of a pipeline where conventional in-line inspection methods are not feasible or a preliminary screening of the pipeline is required to justify subsequent inspection efforts.
Your benefits of our above-ground inspection and integrity services
Identification of the most severe defect location to target inspection efforts
No disruption to pipeline operations
Increased Probability of Detection (POD) through combined inspection techniques
ROSEN's Integrity Data Warehouse allows for prediction of pipeline conditions
Standards compliance, including ISO 22974 and NACE direct assessment methodologies
LSM is a non-intrusive, above-ground inspection technique that identifies stress anomalies in the pipeline and enhances direct assessment. LSM provides a comprehensive assessment of significant pipeline integrity threats, such as corrosion, dents and gouges, bending and ground movement, without disrupting pipeline operations. Any defect in a pipeline that raises or causes a change in the pipeline's natural stress state is possible to detect. LSM can also be used for custom applications such as detailed pipeline mapping, depth of cover surveys, change monitoring, and pig tracking.
The data obtained from LSM can be combined with other complementary survey techniques such as:
- Close Interval Protection Survey (CIPS)
- Direct or Alternating Current Voltage Gradient (DCVG / ACVG)
- Current Attenuation (CAT)
- Flow modeling and internal corrosion assessments
- LiDAR or satellite imagery
Download our Large Stand-Off Magnetometry Inspection Service specifications and learn more
CIPS is one of the inspection methods used to assess the integrity of cathodic protection systems. During a CIPS, measurements of the pipe-to-soil potential are taken at regular, closely spaced intervals (often less than one meter apart) along the length of the pipeline. The data collected helps to identify areas where the pipeline is not adequately protected or where there might be coating defects.
DCVG or ACVG are both used to inspect the condition of cathodic protection systems and locate and evaluate potential coating defects. Both methods are based on the measurement of voltage gradients in the surrounding soil and are essential techniques in the maintenance and integrity management of pipelines. They help ensure that coating defects are promptly identified and repaired to prevent corrosion.
Non-Intrusive Pipeline Assessment (NIPA) is an above-ground integrity analysis approach for unpiggable pipelines that integrates and overlays pipeline data obtained from construction and operational records, large stand-off magnetometry (LSM) surveys, cathodic protection (CP) monitoring and geographic information systems (GIS).
Overlaying multiple data sets increases confidence in anomaly detection and provides contextual insight into stress raisers both internally and externally. By identifying root causes and potential hotspots, the service helps to optimize excavation activities and prioritize NDT inspection efforts.
NIPA can be tailored to a pipeline's unique requirements, ensuring adaptability and effectiveness in addressing specific challenges. Depending on what operators need, our services range from:
- Above-ground pipeline inspection
- Complete assessment of pipeline condition by integrating multiple data sets to identify and characterize internal and external defects
- Holistic integrity management, including in-field verification services and development of integrity management plans
Predictive analytics as part of Non-Intrusive Pipeline Assessment
Predictive analytics can help reduce uncertainty in the assessment process by combining multiple datasets from other pipelines to benchmark their condition and enable predictions on future behavior. This helps operators to prioritize and target inspection efforts.
ROSEN’s Integrity Data Warehouse (IDW) contains an expanding number of historical pipeline datasets including information on in-line inspection (ILI), design, construction, environment, operations, and surveys.
This database allows us to leverage supervised machine learning to predict the behavior and benchmark the condition of uninspected pipelines to a global population of pipelines that have been inspected in the past.
As part of the Non-intrusive Pipeline Assessment (NIPA), predictive analytics provides contextual insights into the size, number, and severity of defects and compares these to the findings of the above-ground inspection to validate its effectiveness and confirm that the expected defects have been found.
Discover more
Watch the video and learn more about ROSEN's Integrity Data Warehouse: