Is your pipeline clean enough for inline inspection?

摘要

Intelligent inspection plays a key role in the ongoing monitoring of pipeline integrity. It is widely recognised that one of the main causes of the failure of such surveys is the unexpected presence of unacceptable quantities of debris in the line being surveyed, leading to a degradation of data quality. As a result, the design of a suitable pre-cleaning programme, and the reliable assessment of its results, plays an important role in the overall success of the inspection process. However, since techniques for assessing pipeline cleanliness have remained relatively primitive, it is generally required to design these pre-inspection cleaning programmes in a conservative way, for example by aiming to clean until satisfied with the volume of debris produced with a pigging tool. This extends the timescale for the operation, while nevertheless, all too frequently, failing to prevent surveys which deliver data compromised by the presence of large quantities of debris.