Ultramonit sensorbelt; a system for wall thickness monitoring Håvard Sletvold Axess Orkla Inspection AS, Orkanger, Norway Email: hsl@axess.no
Permanent monitoring - Agenda Technology background Overview Solutions HW/SW Ultrasound technique Trend curve vs. Tmin Presentation of data Reference projects Advantages amongst compared to conventional thinking Trend curves operator based UTM Can the traditional UTM Inspector be replaced?
Technology background Started as R&D activity with financial support from Statoil Proof of concept: Kårstø Subsea installations in 2008 and 2009 Land pipeline in 2010-2011
Mechanical solution
Overview Clamp on tool Fast and simple installation Ultrasonic measurements Measures pipe wall directly Automatic or manual transfer of data For permanent, or temporary installation
Remote monitoring Communication options: Local flash memory Cable Cell phone Satellite Radio modem
Mechanical solution Suitable for different pipe sizes, and narrow spaces
Mechanical solution Fast and simple installation
Mechanical solution
Ultrasound technique Trend curve vs. Tmin Array of UT probes
Presentation of data UT measurements logged automatically to flash memory Recording of raw data Measurements transferred to a data server, either automatically, or manually Fully automated processing, analysis and trending Simple Graphical User Interface for presentation of data
Web interface, wall thickness and one UT waveform
Ultramonit pilot installation at Kårstø, 10 CS, T300 Sleipner condensate
Remaining wall thickness [mm] Remaining wall thickness [mm] Corrosion rate, 10 CS, T300 Sleipner condensate 10 Pos."d": Channel 04, 4.0 MHz 10 Pos."j": Channel 12, 4.0 MHz 9.5 9 ULTRAMONIT measurements ZC analysis XC analysis Regression trendline Corrosion rate: 1.5 mm/year 9.5 9 ULTRAMONIT measurements ZC analysis XC analysis Regression trendline Corrosion rate: 1.3 mm/year 8.5 8.5 8.6 mm 8 8 7.8 mm 7.5 8/1213/12 20/12 27/12 3/1 10/1 17/1 24/1 31/1 7/2 14/2 21/2 28/2 7/3 14/3 Time (date) 7.5 8/1213/12 20/12 27/12 3/1 10/1 17/1 24/1 31/1 7/2 14/2 21/2 28/2 7/3 14/3 Time (date)
des 6 jan 3 jan 31 feb 28 mar 28 apr 25 mai 23 jun 20 jul 18 aug 15 sep 12 Wall thickness [mm] Continuous monitoring of wall thickness CO2 corrosion in pipeline bend 10,0 9,5 9,0 8,5 Position 0 (upwards) Position 90 (inwards) 8,0 7,5 7,0 Date
Case 1-14 inch Ultramonit subsea clamp for Heidrun 14 water injection pipeline Monitoring for internal corrosion 96 ultrasonic transducers evenly spaced Installation and collection of data by ROV Wireless acoustic communication
Case 1-14 inch Ultramonit subsea clamp for Heidrun Modular system for simple ROV installation: Monitoring clamp Interface clamp Data logger clamp
Case 1-14 inch Ultramonit subsea system
Comprehensive successful testing of aluminum, FBE and compact PE coating ROV installation without lifting assistance. Wet weight within ROV handling capacity Retrieval of data by acoustics and ROV operation No corrosion observed during first 2.5 months of monitoring Case 1 Experience
Case 2 - Land applications Flexible belt of transducers Simple and rugged construction Completely encapsulated in polymer mould, waterproof Retrofittable, can be moved easily between monitoring locations Can be installed independently of pipeline operation EX
Automated processing, and GPS positioning
Reference installation in Canada Application: Oil sand slurry pipeline in Alberta Extremely high erosion of pipe Pipes are flanged, the operator uses UT to monitor wall loss per clock position, and rotates the pipes to optimize lifetime Challenging temperatures, from 80 deg. C operational temperature to ambient Canada winter (-40 deg. C)
Wall thickness loss vs operating hours
Wall thickness [mm] Zoomed in at beginning of testperiod 12.4 12.35 12.3 12.25 12.2 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12.15 12.1 12.05 12 20 40 60 80 100 120 Operating hours
Advantages Non-intrusive technology, very simple no-risk installation Retrofittable Direct pipe wall thickness measurement Accurate, repeatable and very high resolution Data logger, wired or wireless communication Very low power consume, 1 year+ battery life
Compared to conventional thinking Operator independent No bedroom space occupied Ex Classed (today's UT instrument are not EX-safe) Can be sold with fixed parameter of accuracy Dry coupling; temp. independent Access to all areas; no RAT activities, permit to work, weather Stable to surface condition; no coating change/re-painting Stable to temperature variations
Pipe temperature Temperature sensor included in clamp on tool Indicate active process in pipe system Sound velocity variations with temperature
September 17 and April 17 Quality Assurance (QA) First and last waveform from transducer 9 15000 10000 5000 0-5000 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Time axis [us]
Monitoring periode, September 17 - April 17 QA, waterfall plots of UT waveform versus time stable performance no loss of acoustic coupling 2 x 10 5 waterfall plot transducer 9 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Time axis [us]
Trend curve based on manual UTM
Trend curve based on manual UTM
Can the traditional UTM Inspector be replaced? Yes, we think so!! However: Large installations and process plants requiere more than only automatic assessments Small offshore installations typical applications for complete aut. set up FPSO`s and similar smaller plants with a reduced number of systems Also related to MMO strategy; Tmin or replace steel when corr. allow. lost
QUESTIONS?