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A Fortune 500 global provider of subsea engineered services and products to the offshore oil and gas industry had a critical problem that required an urgent solution. Its pipeline inspection division had lost competitiveness and market share due to its lack of a DNV-approved, code-compliant ultrasonic testing technique for inspecting subsea Corrosion-Resistant Alloy (CRA) cladded pipeline weldments.
To regain its previous competitive position, the company (a.k.a., the client) needed an immediate solution that would meet the stringent requirements of DNV-OS-F101 for inspection of subsea pipeline CRA dissimilar metal welds (DMW) utilizing Automated Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing (PAUT).
The client sought the combined expertise and resources of Sound NDT Solutions and Top Notch EDM Services, asking us for a turnkey solution that would encompass the design and fabrication of flaw samples and calibration blocks, development of PAUT techniques and automated scanning tools and procedures, and partnership through the DNV performance-demonstration qualification process.
Our integrated expert project team designed and delivered all elements of the solution, including calibration blocks and samples, on schedule and under budget. The full suite of deliverables included:
- Designs for calibration blocks and flawed samples per DNV-OS-F101 requirements
- Welding and weld consumables for flawed specimens
- Design and creation of required simulated defects
- Machining of reflectors for calibration blocks
- Acquisition and tooling of EDM electrodes
- 2D flaw maps of defects in CAD format
- CAD drawings of calibration block designs
- Replications with dimensional inspection reports for calibration blocks
- Techniques and procedures for three separate PAUT systems
- Validation reports for each system including statistical analysis and sizing accuracy
Our subject matter experts worked closely with the client’s technical team to implement the automated PAUT techniques protocols in their environment and make sure they met the requirements of the DNV performance demonstration qualification (PDQ). With successful DNV approval of the protocol for automated PAUT examinations of CRA weldments, the client was able to resume its competitive place in the market.
