Understanding Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL) Signals from Mechanical Damage in Pipelines

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• Onshore Transmission Pipeline
• In-Line Inspection/Pigging
• Integrity Management

Main Objective

The Pipeline Safety Research and Development project will provide for understanding, identification, and characterization of the MFL signals arising from the geometric and residual stress components to enhance the reliability of employing MFL tools for mechanical damage detection.

Public Abstract

Study of MFL Signals From Oval Dents. FEA modeling of MFL signals from dents having shapes and sizes that are more characteristic of those found in mechanically damaged pipelines � namely oval dents of various orientations.
Investigate MFL Signals From Dents Containing Single Corrosion Pits. This will involve FEA modeling of MFL signals from circular dents containing corrosion pits. Stress FEA modeling will be used to model the dent + corrosion pit stress fields (due to the fact that pits will create stress concentrations around themselves. The resulting stress state and the geometry of the pit + dents will be incorporated into to the magnetic FEA model. Experimental verification will involve creating circular dents in plate samples with our existing circular denting tool, and then electrochemically machining pits into the base. MFL patterns from these defects will be used to experimentally verify the modeling results.