Traditional subsea inspection campaigns have required divers or work class ROVs deployed from a dedicated Inspection repair maintenance vessel. In a bid to support further reduced costs, Sonomatic has pioneered innovative, lightweight asset deployed advanced NDT solutions.
These tools can be deployed directly from the facility, supporting cost reductions associated with the inspection. Tooling is available to deploy a wide variety of inspection techniques and capable of performing cleaning for a range of inspection techniques. Tools are integrable with any ROVs that can be designed for asset management and deployment.
In partnership with our sister company Geo-Oceans, we can offer the complete advanced NDT solutions for asset deployed inspection, providing the ROV, cleaning and inspection tooling required for the asset inspection.
The Mini-ROV tools are operated using topside-controlled actuator arms and our technicians have hundreds of hours of flight experience, being able to maneuver a vehicle with millimetre accuracy.
Our advanced NDT attachments can perform Ultrasonic Testing (UT), Alternating Current Field Measurement (ACFM), and C-scan Corrosion Mapping. We can also deploy advanced NDT equipment capable of detailed corrosion mapping in a payload capacity.
Ultrasonic corrosion mapping involves scanning the pipeline to determine the minimum remaining wall thickness for each position and can be achieved using an advanced automated ultrasonic tool The systems deployed, produces comprehensive high-quality data that can be displayed in different views to easily identify and/or verify any areas of concern. Sonomatic Inspection Management Software (SIMS) is used to generate 2D and 3D thickness map composites to improve efficiency in data management during the collection phase, and assists in semi-autonomous data analysis and reporting.
TOFD is a method of accurately sizing and monitoring the through wall height of in-service flaws.It is effective for weld inspection flaw detection irrespective of the flaw type or orientation. TOFD doesn't rely on the reflectivity of the flaw, but uses diffracted sound initiating from the flaw tips. TOFD main advantage is that it has a through wall height accuracy of +/- 1 mm, and a crack growth monitoring capability of +/- 0.3 mm, on defects of all orientations.
DRS is a proprietary technology developed by Sonomatic using frequency-based ultrasonic wall thickness measurements. It is a corrosion mapping technique that applies a broad range of low ultrasonic frequencies (<1 MHz) to penetrate challenging coatings such as composite repairs, PE and Neoprene, and excites the natural frequencies of vibration of the underlying steel. The DRS probe raster scans over an area of interest and collects response signals. Advanced signal processing algorithms have been developed to extract the vibration frequencies and map the wall thickness profile.
Full matrix capture (FMC) is a data acquisition strategy that allows for the capture of every possible transmit-receive combination for a given ultrasonic phased array transducer.
ACFM is an electromagnetic technique for detection and sizing of surface-breaking indications. It works on all metals, does not require direct contact and works through various thicknesses of coatings. ACFM can accurately detect and size linear indications both length and depth. It is also easier to use on complex geometries such as nodes and nozzles.
PEC is a comparative technique whereby advanced processing of the eddy current signal decay and comparison with a reference signal, allows for the determination of the average wall thickness (AWT). This fast-screening method allows for the assessment of the general condition of structural steel and is best suited for general corrosion-type defects in subsea pipelines. A major benefit of PEC is its ability to inspect through challenging coatings such as concrete weight coat, and marine growth.
