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Corrosion Detection in Pipelines Using Infrared Thermography: Experiments and Data Processing Methods

Authors:
Gianluca Cadelano at Italian National Research Council
Gianluca Cadelano
Alessandro Bortolin at Italian National Research Council
Alessandro Bortolin
G. Ferrarini
G. Ferrarini
G. Ferrarini
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Bernardo MOLINAS AGNELLINI at Eniprogetti SpA (Entreprise of ENI group), Venice, Italy. Formerly Full Profesor at the National University of Rosario and Researcher of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (Argentina)
Bernardo MOLINAS AGNELLINI
  • Eniprogetti SpA (Entreprise of ENI group), Venice, Italy. Formerly Full Profesor at the National University of Rosario and Researcher of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (Argentina)
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This article summarizes the main results of an investigation about the corrosion detection in pipelines by infrared thermography, a non-destructive testing and evaluation technique that allows a reliable and fast analysis of large surfaces. The experimental work has been carried out in laboratory on a specimen that has been manufactured using a piece of a real pipeline system for oil transportation. Defects of different kinds have been artificially introduced in such a system to be tested by thermography. The objective is the detection and analysis of the presence of water in the pipeline jacketing system, that is the cause of the corrosion under insulation. Standards indicate thermography as a technique for the detection of this last phenomena, even though a precise procedure is not defined up today. This work aims at contributing in the specification of such a procedure.
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J Nondestruct Eval (2016) 35:49
DOI 10.1007/s10921-016-0365-5
Corrosion Detection in Pipelines Using Infrared Thermography:
Experiments and Data Processing Methods
G. Cadelano1·A. Bortolin1·G. Ferrarini3·B. Molinas2·
D. Giantin2·P. Zonta2·P. Bi son 1
Received: 29 April 2016 / Accepted: 9 August 2016 / Published online: 17 August 2016
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016
Abstract This article summarizes the main results of an
investigation about the corrosion detection in pipelines by
infrared thermography, a non-destructive testing and eval-
uation technique that allows a reliable and fast analysis of
large surfaces. The experimental work has been carried out
in laboratory on a specimen that has been manufactured
using a piece of a real pipeline system for oil transportation.
Defects of different kinds have been artificially introduced
in such a system to be tested by thermography. The objec-
tive is the detection and analysis of the presence of water
in the pipeline jacketing system, that is the cause of the
corrosion under insulation. Standards indicate thermogra-
phy as a technique for the detection of this last phenomena,
even though a precise procedure is not defined up today.
This work aims at contributing in the specification of such a
procedure.
Keywords Corrosion under insulation (CUI) ·Infrared
thermography (IRT) ·Higher-order statistics (HOS) ·
Pulse phase thermography (PPT) ·Principal component
thermography (PCT)
1 Introduction
Corrosion detection is one of the main fields covered by
the Non-Destructive Testing and Evaluation (NDT&E) tech-
niques in the last years and the principal problem for
BP. Bison
paolo.bison@itc.cnr.it
1CNR-ITC, Corso Stati Uniti, 4, 35127 Padua, Italy
2Tecnomare S.p.A., Via delle Industrie, 39-30175
Porto Marghera, Venice, Italy
3DII-UNIPD, via Venezia 1, 35131 Padua, Italy
industries such as the naval oil and energy among others
[1–3]. Significant savings could be achieved on maintenance
and repair cost if the prevention and early detection of hidden
corrosion is performed. Moreover, a greater safety could be
ensured if a possible failure is detected in advance, avoiding
disasters such as the piper Alpha in 1988 or the BP offshore
platform in 2010 [4,5].
There are different forms of corrosion in metals (uniform
attack, crevice corrosion, pitting galvanic corrosion, inter-
granular corrosion, selective leaching, erosion corrosion and
stress corrosion) that could cause an unexpected or prema-
ture failure of a structure or component. One form could be
more or less probable instead of the other depending on the
specific material and its environment.
In this study the objective is the detection of corrosion in
pipelines in which a hot fluid (90/130 ◦C) flows through, as
commonly found e.g. in piping network for oil transportation
or chemical production plants. Particularly, extended corro-
sion on the bottom of the pipe has the appearance of cavities
and is considered very dangerous because even a small per-
centage of material loss can cause the failure of the system
with the consequent leakage of the fluid. There are many
NDT techniques that could be applied to inspect the presence
of corrosion (eddy currents, ultrasounds, radiography, etc.)
[6–9] each one with advantages and drawbacks. There is not
an ultimate means of corrosion detection for all the corrosion
forms. The most suitable technique must be selected con-
sidering each particular case. InfraRed Thermography (IRT)
could be one of these techniques and the purpose of this work
is to verify its potentiality. IRT as an NDT&E technique pro-
vides a reliable, fast and straightforward means to retrieve
vital information (surface and subsurface) when a clear
relationship exists between surface temperature and defect.
Moreover, large areas can be scanned with a relatively high
throughput. The ultimate goal is to test the detection capabil-
123
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... In 2012, Burleigh and Sanders [18], based on the research results of the crude oil pipeline with foam insulation and galvanized metal jacket in Alaska, described in detail the specific operation process, analysis method, precautions, and applicable conditions of using IRT to detect whether water is contained in the foam insulation in engineering. In 2016, G. Cadelano et al. [19] established an experimental setup to simulate the sublayer corrosion of carbon steel thermal pipes with an aluminum protective jacket and glass wool insulation. as shown in Fig. 5. ...
... Sub-layer water corrosion inspection in pipelines based on IRT[19] ...
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