Since its development and commercial availability, guided wave applications have been rapidly gaining acceptance as a cost-effective means of screening pipelines to validate their operational integrity (Alleyne and Cawley, 1996). At the same time, the applications on which the technique can be used have also expanded to envelop a wide range of lines that traditionally would have required testing efforts that were both labor intensive and prohibitively costly. Among these is the screening of extended lengths of insulated aboveground and road crossing line. Both of these applications would have traditionally involved costly efforts that would cause disruptions to the operation of the pipeline itself or to critical infrastructure surrounding the line. This paper outlines some recent advances in the guided wave technique and correlates these to the application of corrosion under insulation detection on an extensive length of piping.

Related Publications