UPP Detects 8” Pinholing with Advanced Inline Inspection Technology

Project overview

Our client runs a pipeline prone to pinhole corrosion. Pinholes are a type of localized corrosion that creates small-sized holes in a metal surface, like a pin! Although pinhole aberrations are tiny, often measuring just a few millimeters in diameter, they can wreak havoc within a pipeline system and compromise the structural integrity of the metal over time. MFL (magnetic flux leakage) tools generally have a hard time detecting pinholes, but our client was curious to see how UPP’s Tri-Axis sensors picked up on these anomalies.

Inline Inspection

UPP inspected the pipeline using standard flow and pressure. To improve detection of pinhole corrosion, it’s often necessary to use a combination of inspection techniques, including ultrasonic testing or other advanced methods specifically suited for detecting very small or localized anomalies. Our inline inspection multi tool could handle it all, and we encountered zero issues during this inspection phase.

Analysis result

UPP’s small but powerful tool identified multiple pinholes measuring less than 8mm across. Some pinholing can be more challenging to detect and assess than typical pinholes because of their irregular shapes and the potentially more complex corrosion patterns around them. Thankfully, our multi-tool solutions are highly adaptable, sensitive, and precise. With just one piece of equipment, a pipeline system can undergo corrosion detection, dent detection, and pipeline mapping. Then, after the field work is complete, we conduct powerful data analysis and present detailed reports.

Client result

With a detailed report in hand, our client opted to dig in order to validate our findings and make repairs where needed. The pinhole corrosions were verified and fixed, proving UPP’s final report was 97% in tolerance.