Over the past three years there has been increasing industry interest and profile regarding the role and pipeline integrity management potential of EMAT crack inspection technology in the Oil & Gas pipeline industry. This paper outlines the stages and results of the effective collaboration of a major pipeline operator and a service company to advance the true predictive performance of the EMATScan Gen III crack inspection technology. The paper will also summarize and provide examples of lessons-learned from this collaboration across all stages of EMAT based SCC integrity management program. The paper will similarly outline ongoing work in progress regarding the assessment of the ILI data relative to hydro-testing equivalency, detection of injurious defects and the related analysis and reporting improvements made over the past three years.

This paper will summarize the evolution of the EMAT technology since GE’s initial product launch in 2002. A key focus of this paper will be outlining several tool and analysis enhancements that result from the evaluation of over a 1000kms of EMAT tool pipeline inspection and 207 field confirmations. These tool and analysis enhancements are now incorporated in GE’s new 30 inch third generation EMAT In-Line Inspection (ILI) tool.

Mechanical damage has been identified as a significant integrity threat within the Oil & Gas pipeline industry. In addition to deformation, associated secondary pipeline damage may also consist of coating removal, metal removal and cold working of the underlying metal that may result in cracking within the dented area. Detection of cracks within dented areas of the pipe using conventional Ultrasonic Technology (UT) and Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL) In-line Inspection (ILI) technologies has been of limited success due to the variety of possible feature expressions, sensor design and arrangements, and the related complexity within the underlying physics for detection and characterization. Previous studies have shown the feasibility of Electro Magnetic Acoustic Transduction (EMAT) technology for detecting and characterizing crack related indications within dents on liquid pipelines. This study expands upon experimental investigations using pull through ILI tests on manufactured dents where machined linear indications (notches) were introduced into the dents. In this paper, the performance of EMAT technology for detection and characterization of crack related features in liquids pipelines under real operating conditions is presented. EMAT data were combined with high resolution caliper data, ultrasonic crack inspection data and dent strain assessment data, to demonstrate the EMAT capabilities to enhance pipeline integrity management of dents. Results of field non-destructive examinations are compared to EMAT predicted values to assess the performance of this technology. This study presents a supplementary method of detecting and mitigating coincidental crack related features with dents on liquids pipelines, further enhancing the safety and improving the integrity management of pipelines.

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TransCanada typically manages the integrity of sections of gas transmission pipelines that are susceptible to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) by periodically performing hydrostatic testing. Interest in an alternative approach to manage pipeline integrity in the presence of SCC and other forms of longitudinally oriented defects resulted in the endorsement of the latest generation of dry coupled in-line inspection tool. GE’s EMAT In-Line Inspection (ILI) tool uses the electromagnetic acoustic transducer technology to meet this requirement. This paper will summarize field experience results of the latest generation Emat In-Line inspection tool, which is commercial available since September 2008. It demonstrates, that the challenges have been overcome, the targets have been achieved, and the tool delivers the information of a distinguished ability of detection, sizing and discrimination performance, key parameters to conduct an effective pipeline integrity program.