Propelling ILI to the next level

Innovative hardware and next-generation digital capabilities combine for the benefit of crucial infrastructure class, writes Stuart Clouston, Global Product Line Manager Pipeline Inspection, Baker Hughes Process & Pipeline Services, US.

Pipeline integrity, safety and regulatory compliance are the watchwords for a global pipeline market seeking to maximise efficiencies and showcase safety at a time of increasing energy demand Inspection and management technologies have therefore never been more important, whether dictated by regulatory regimes, market imperatives or operational requirements – or some combination of those elements.

Innovative pipeline inspection smart pig technology, together with digital capabilities, artificial intelligence (AI), data analysis and engineering expertise are, perhaps like never before, being used to detect defects, map maintenance and highlight future problems.

This is why companies including Baker Hughes Process & Pipeline Services (PPS) put so much faith in inline inspection solutions: a complete picture of the overall condition of an asset, over time, is the best way to provide confidence in its integrity lifecycle.

A difficult landscape

Pipelines are a crucial, integrated and expanding segment of the world’s industrial and energy infrastructure. The global market for management and inspection of the network is already estimated to be worth multiple billions of dollars and is widely expected to more than double by 2030. Baker Hughes alone had, by the end of 2021, inspected more than 2.5 million km of pipeline, including 600 000 km under the

banner of geometry and mapping, 1.65 million km for corrosion and metal loss, and over 240 000 km for crack detection.

Regulatory adherence dictates much of the work involved in the sector, with ageing networks – and the issues that accompany time served – also responsible for increased frequency and complexity of some inspections.

Whether faced with heavily corroded assets, difficult to access pipelines, pinhole corrosion, cracks, or even pilfering and illegal tapping, Baker Hughes believes that the right inline inspection tool can help to attain safer operations, improved integrity and higher profitability.

Data and service There is more to inspection than simply gathering data or producing a report – a partner with powerful engineering capabilities and experience, alongside a strong service footprint, can help operators manage the lifecycle of an asset from start-up through day-to-day operation and into controlled decommissioning.

Companies like Baker Hughes offer the ability to bundle technology, solutions, and expertise into a full-service package that produces a smarter way of working. And while that starts with identification of corrosion, metal loss, cracks etc., it also extends to management of solutions and meeting the kinds of difficult challenges often posed by complex and crucial infrastructure.

Baker’s inspection tools, for example, can inspect single km or hundreds of km, in pipes from 6 - 56 in. diameter across, and in both liquid and gas. The information collected is then downloaded, analysed and used to produce a report on the condition of a line.

The value of any inspection is multiplied by the integrity engineering services supplied on top of that raw data: here are your most crucial issues, here is what needs to be fixed today, here is something to watch, here is where problems have developed compared with the last inspection – it goes beyond information and into the realm of intelligence.

Evolving technology Technological advances across the inline inspection market are often incremental but that does not make innovation any less important.

Last year, Baker Hughes expanded the availability of the AXISSTM system, which measures axial strain. The proactive, costeffective inline detection system searches for small changes in axial strain conditions which can be crucial to the life and safety of any pipeline, supporting geohazard management programmes and identifying threat locations.

The advance helps operators to mitigate lifetime or manufacturing issues before they develop and threaten failure, while avoiding interventions such as strain gauges or cut-outs, and bending strain data from an inertial measurement unit will provide a more complete picture of overall condition.

Surveys – based on an electromagnetic sensor technology and benchmarked against either a representative pipeline sample or predicted using proprietary analytical calibration – can be included as part of scheduled corrosion inspections, further enhancing operational efficiencies and cost-effectiveness.

The result is a better understanding of strain history from construction through operational life, the ability to validate strain levels following relief activities, and a more comprehensive view than can be supplied by standard IMU bending surveys.

It is also possible, using AXISS, to produce a total longitudinal strain integrity engineering report.

Deeper insight The capabilities of inline inspections are further enhanced and expanded through the application of digital analysis, software solutions and expert engineering services.

In one example, an operator was faced with an inspection that highlighted more than 24 000 corrosion features in a section of a high-pressure gas pipeline with over 20 yrs in service, and exceeding 100 km. A prioritised repair plan was required, but that might normally take two weeks to a month, depending on factors including run length, inspection specifications, additional inputs, and scope.

However, a solution developed by Baker Hughes provided an Integrity Report in just 24 hours thanks to power and benefits of our PipeImage software environment. The results are reviewed for accuracy by an integrity engineer, and data can be gathered by a third-party or by Baker Hughes, but speed is guaranteed.

The comprehensive, but concise, report includes key statistics, and the full in-line inspection findings with immediate and future integrity implications. Deeper insights in this example including a high concentration of external metal loss near field joints – suggesting a possible problem with the field wrap.

Also highlighted was a slightly higher proportion of metal loss in the last quarter of the pipeline, with a higher frequency at the top of the pipe, hinting at problematic soils or some other environmental influence.

Overall benefits included the organisation of corrosion according to criticality, underpinning a more strategic response to the data that provided significant cost and safety benefits.

Seeing eye to eye In another example of leveraged inspection results, a subsea pipeline operator in the Middle East was faced with two sets of inline inspection data based on different technologies – resulting in a question of how best to identify appropriate remediation based on the range of information provided.

Corrosion was identified first through ultrasound and then magnetic inline inspection, but recommendations in a fitness-forpurpose assessment differed in terms of both extent and location of remedial requirements. For instance, the results from the 2012 exercise showed a significant number of pitting areas, while the 2010 scan showed a number of areas of continuous long corrosion.

Combining the results into a meaningful inspection report required a point-by-point comparison of corrosion defects with validation using new infield AUT data. The matching was carried out over relatively short scan distances (metres) and resulted in hundreds of accurate plots.

Data was, ultimately, visually aligned and scaled to ensure location accuracy. The operator was, as a result, able to investigate and compare individual site depths embedded within complex corrosion features.

Collaboration was key to the result, which provided a high level of confidence in the integrity and remediation strategy to the customer. Baker Hughes believes it is an excellent example

of working together to adapt advanced technologies for use in different applications and achieving shared objectives – in this case, avoiding pipeline failures.

Rising to the challenge The demands of the global pipeline network require a dedicated, dogged approach to inspections designed to highlight the problems of today, the anticipated issues of tomorrow, and the earliest indications of any threat to operations in the longer term.

The right inspection tool hardware of course is key: whether, in the case of Baker Hughes, that means the AXISS system, whether it is the UltraScanTM, the VectraTM Gemini, the MagneScanTM or TranScanTM. Equally essential is what happens to the information collected, the solutions identified using the expertise and experience developed over 50 years in the industry.

Leveraging the power of next-generation digital technologies is part and parcel of that analysis, alongside the unrivalled insight offered by the application of AI by engineers who know how best to harness its capabilities.

Pipelines are a rich source of highly unique data requiring interpretation which lends itself well to the application and advantages of machine learning and other advanced signal analytics techniques. Our Baker Hughes analysts play an essential role to ensure data is correctly interpreted and that critical integrity decisions can be made with the confidence needed.

Analysts use sophisticated software with embedded algorithms trained on a vast database of real-world pipeline defects to produce a report from this data, that helps the operators manage their pipelines. A report is actually an optimum combination of human analysis experience with the speed and capabilities of computational algorithms to detect and interpret sometimes millions of possible areas of interest found by the inspection tool. At Baker Hughes we were early adopters of the use of AI techniques in pipeline inspection data analysis, having actively used machine learning and other methods to supplement human analysis since the mid 1990s. This is an area of continued and increasing focus and as cloud computing rapidly evolves, it offers new possibilities that will continue to translate into more effective and efficient means to detect and precisely measure the integrity of pipelines. Society expects pipelines to be safe and cost-efficient; operators are seeking compliance with regulatory regimes, proven long-term integrity and higher profitability. Inline inspection technologies are central to addressing both sets of demands. Because from the moment a pipeline is commissioned, the clock is ticking. Corrosion can take root no matter what the protection system, whatever the type of product being carried, and no matter what the environment through which a pipeline runs. That is what makes accurate, comprehensive identification of defects, sizing and classification so essential. It is why companies including Baker Hughes combine data and service into a seamless market offering, powered by digital and AI technologies. Threats identified, objectives achieved, job done.

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