Full Scale Testing at TWI
We provide full scale testing for products and components, including purpose build areas at our facilities to house specific testing rigs along with the knowledge and skills to design, construct and run bespoke testing rigs to suit the needs of our customers.
Our full scale testing facilities are used to verify research undertaken on your behalf at TWI, check in-service performance of welds and materials, and assess service-related conditions such as sour service, permeation, and more.
Services include:
- Resonance Testing
- Pressure Testing
- Leak Testing
- Sour Fatigue Testing
- Permeation Testing
- Corrosion Testing
- Axial / Bend Testing
- Cyclic Load / Load Testing
- Fracture Assessments
Unique Full Scale Testing Rigs and Facilities
Decades of experience in supporting many of the biggest names from across industry has allowed TWI to develop the required expertise and technical excellence to create one-of-a-kind, bespoke, full scale testing rigs to meet the requirements of industry. These bespoke rigs provide unique solutions for research verification, standards and design developments, product qualification, and more. Each of the rigs and facilities at TWI can be repurposed from their original function, and we also have the capability to create new bespoke rigs as required.
Examples of the unique testing rigs and facilities already available for full scale tests at TWI include:
Mooring Chain Test Rig
We engineered a one-of-a-kind testing machine to research the fatigue performance of high-strength steel mooring chains used on large floating structures offshore. Tests were performed in seawater to simulate the typical corrosion conditions and cyclic loading experienced offshore.
Although fatigue data for mooring chain in seawater had been obtained before, this was only for lower strength, smaller diameter samples. Fatigue data for this relatively new specification of mooring chain was not widely available, so a joint industry project was established at TWI to obtain an S-N curve for grade R5 steel chain with a link diameter of 127mm, and a proof strength of around 1000MPa.
The bespoke machine, which has a load capacity of 6000kN, was used to perform fatigue tests that provided valuable and unique data for industry.
Pressure Testing Facility
TWI designed, built and commissioned a pressure containment facility, which enables large components to be subject to high internal and/or external pressure, in combination with axial or bending loads, adding to our capabilities to test a range of specimen shapes and sizes with internal pressure.
The pressure containment facility allows us to test pressure-containing equipment such as pipelines, risers and pressure vessels. These components are subject to complex loading conditions during their lifetimes, and highly specialised testing is required to accurately reproduce the environment in which they operate. While results from small-scale tests can, to some extent, be extrapolated to predict the behaviour of larger components, this method usually does not satisfy the safety concerns of oil and gas companies, who require the level of assurance that only full-scale tests can provide.
Applications for the pressure pit have included:
- Large, full-scale tests of components with internal water pressure to check for leak tightness and/ or determine burst pressure
- Proof of concept tests for new component designs
- Testing new connector designs in line with the requirements in ISO 13628-7 Annex I or API 17G
- Bend tests on components containing internal water pressure of up to 29,000psi
- Testing components under axial loads (static or cyclic) whilst containing internal water pressure
Specifications:
- Dimensions 3.7m x 3.45m x 13.5m (A partition can be added to make two shorter facilities)
Loading:
- 1500 tonnes (15,000kN) tensile or compressive axial static loads
- 500 tonnes (5000kN) tensile or compressive axial cyclic loads
- 1000 tonnes (10,000kN) vertical load on cross beams
Pressure:
- Up to 2000bar (29,000psi) internal water pressure
The facility features remote viewing via video camera and is fully serviced by an overhead crane with two hooks of five tonnes each (ten tonnes total capacity). It has a blast proof lid for containment of fragments and pressure, allowing burst tests to be carried out. There are a number of attachment points on all four walls, and I beams across the pit, so tensile, compressive and bending loads can be applied to specimens. Components such as sections of pipeline and other pressure containing equipment up to 10m in length can be tested. Shorter lengths can be tested across the width of the pit.