With an overall objective for broad and confident integrity management of the PetroChina Pipeline Company’s pipeline network, we illustrate the impact of a collaborative effort between PetroChina and GE Oil & Gas for the inspection and mitigation of spiral weld anomalies, particularly for new advanced assessments of features oriented along and within the spiral weld.

Tool configuration, sensor types and the role of novel data analysis techniques including magnetic vector component measurements, is presented as a set to address a broader variety of spiral weld threats, while ensuring a high level of operational robustness and reliability.

This paper describes some of the science behind the art, and describes the fundamentals of MFL magnetics and it’s evolution as an ILI technology into the 21st century for spiral weld anomaly inspection.


This technical paper was originally published by ASME, who owns copyright. It was presented at the 2010 International Pipeline Conference. © copyright 2010 ASME.