Webinars
17-18 October 2023
TWI Webinar on Inspection of Corrosion at Pipe Supports
Session One: 17 October at 09.00, BST, UK
Session Two: 18 October at 15.00, BST, UK
Focusing on corrosion at pipeline supports, this free-to-attend event will look at the factors that affect inspection of these hard to access areas and examine ways to reduce maintenance costs and the likelihood of pipeline failure.
Poor pipework life management often leads to incidents that impact safety and production across the Oil and Gas industry. Such events can result in costly shutdown of production facilities, or have a detrimental effect on the environment or the safety of personnel.
One of the major concerns is corrosion in areas that are difficult to inspect, such as pipe supports. The presence of pipe supports usually makes the areas prone to corrosion and inaccessible to standard NDT techniques, which significantly limits the reliability of data obtained from NDT inspections. In particular, accurate through-wall sizing is very challenging, due to the obstruction caused by the support, the variable nature of the corrosion itself and the risks associated with lifting an in-service pipe. Furthermore, many of the available NDT techniques have limitations in terms of the types of pipe support they can accommodate, pipe diameters and wall thicknesses to which they can be applied.
This webinar will introduce a TWI-led Joint Industry Project (JIP) in which TWI and the sponsor group will work with facility operators to trial and evaluate a number of candidate NDT techniques that have been developed specifically to inspect corrosion at pipe supports. This activity will identify and rank the available inspection techniques designed to detect and quantify corrosion located in inaccessible areas. Upon completion of the evaluations, information and data concerning the best performing inspection method(s) will be shared with the sponsors. This will then be used to develop equipment/system specific procedures, as required by the sponsors. Cooperation with key equipment manufacturers, suppliers and/or service providers will be sought for these activities, in preparation for validation of the successful NDE methods. The sponsor group will tailor the work programme to suit their specific needs and will take account of TWI’s insight into industry’s shared issues. It will thereby be in a strong position to benefit from the outputs of the project.
Who should attend?
- Plant owners
- Pipeline operators
- Third party maintenance providers
- Inspection engineers
In order to attract a global audience, we are running this webinar on the following dates and times below. Please ensure you register at the correct time zone for you.
Meet the team
Martin Bourton
Principal Project Leader
Following graduation from the University of East Anglia in 1987, Martin joined TWI as a Project Leader developing hardware and software solutions. Since 2014 he has managed a series of technology transfer programmes and collaborative research projects related to welding engineering and structural integrity.
Michelle Forster
Section Manager - NDT
As Section Manager of the Non-Destructive Evaluation Inspection Services (NIS) section at TWI, Dr Michelle Forster is responsible for the management of on-site NDT inspection and the development of NDE techniques for application in the nuclear industry.
Michelle has 15 years experience of research, development and on-site inspection with an expertise in the deployment of automated ultrasonic inspections. She was awarded a PhD in ultrasonic transducer development and has a BSc in Applied Physics. Since joining TWI in 2018, Michelle has managed projects that focus on advanced ultrasonic technologies and the development of UT solutions as a replacement for radiography.
Paul Evans
Senior Project Leader (NDE)
Paul Evans is a Senior Project Leader in the Non Destructive Examination (NDE) group. Prior to joining TWI Paul has been predominantly working within the Oil and Gas industry over the last 14 years, performing multiple advanced NDT techniques. Paul is certified in PCN Level 2 for Phased Array and ToFD as well as PCN Level 3 in Ultrasonic Testing. He also has an extensive knowledge for techniques such as flange face inspection, nozzle inspection and corrosion mapping with use of Phased Array.