Structural heterogeneities of tube steels taken into account in the development of contactless magnetometry of pipeline systems

Peter the Great Saint-Petersburg Polytechnic University, 29, Polytechnicheskaya st., Saint Petersburg, 195251, Russian Federation

^* Corresponding author: s.b.ermakov@bk.ru

Abstract

One of the problems facing gas and oil pumping companies is the aging of pipelines, whose service life is rapidly approaching, or even exceeding, the resource planned during design. The only possible way to evaluate the possibility of further safe operation and residual life of pipelines is to conduct studies of the actual state of the parent metal and welded pipe joints. However, the direct investigation of metal pipes is practically impossible due to the linear dimensions of objects and their position. The analysis of the state of the pipeline system can only be made with the help of contactless, most often magnetic methods. Interpretation of magnetograms and detection of defects that are dangerous for the operation of pipes is one of the most difficult problems facing defectoscopists, which can be solved only by creating a library of structures and defects. This paper presents the results of a structural analysis of the metal of pipes, which must be taken into account when interpreting the results of magnetograms. These results constitute a part of the library of defects in pipeline systems developed in SPbPU.