How Does Your Technology Fit? A Guide to New ILI Technology Validation
Authors: Cornu Sylvain , Roniger Nicolas , Hensley Alex 
Published: December 2024

The pipeline inline inspection industry is a mature industry with technologies being developed and refined as far back as the 1960s. The industry relies on core technologies, namely Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL) and Ultrasonic Technology (UT) to address metal loss and cracking threats. However, as operators and technologies have improved in the management of such features, new and emerging threats have resulted in additional integrity needs. These needs center around more accurate measurements, combined technology platforms, advancement in data gathering and analytics, and even new metrics like pipeline loading conditions. Introducing new technology to manage new or emerging threats is a constant effort for the industry to maintain pipeline safety.

The needs are often formulated first, by the pipeline operator(s) and then, translated as performance specification to the Inline Inspection (ILI) vendor(s). But the solution can also emerge from cross-industry innovation, for example, ultrasonic testing was developed historically for medical applications and has now become the most reliable crack detection and sizing technique. In some cases, the technology is developed purely for research, with no immediate application in mind. Regardless of the source, the technology is often developed at the ILI vendor level(s) in collaboration with the pipeline operator(s) to better address pipeline safety and regulatory requirements. Both vendor and operator must develop a partnership to deliver the new services to address the pipeline integrity needs.

This paper will share experiences and knowledge and highlight how to combine efforts to solve the difficulties around validating new technology. The paper will cover the validation of technologies from first, the pipeline operator’s needs and then, the internal development from the ILI vendor to answer the needs. The core of the paper will focus on the validation of the solution proposed. Operators must manage the pipeline selection, understanding the features present and what threat is being addressed. Additional factors to consider include tool readiness, and operational constraints such as run speed, fluid medium, line length, etc. Vendors must be cognoscente of the safety requirements around deploying new technology and manage the expectations of internal and external stakeholders while understanding marketing and commercial risks. Operators and vendors must be in constant communication throughout the process even through the integration of the results into the integrity management plan. The principles of this technology development and rollout followed the previous successes of the development of the Eclipse crack inspection platform.

To illustrate this point, a review of a recent, successful technology validation to address the threat of geohazards to pipelines was undertaken. Pipeline geohazard identification, assessment, and mitigation is a prominent topic in the industry, with ongoing development across multiple technologies. Geohazard management perfectly illustrates the need for new technology integration to better mitigate the threat. Current approaches to geohazard management are based on IMU (bending strain), LiDAR, InSAR, and deformation platforms. ILI vendor(s) have been developing new strain measurement technology to detect and measure the external loading caused by geohazards.