In service contact point corrosion, or corrosion under pipe supports (CUPS) is an area of continued concern in the energy industry – several in-service leaks and ruptures have been attributed to this type of corrosion. HOIS work on this topic started in 2008 with a series of blind trial programmes. The focus has been on the assessment of through-wall sizing accuracy of the techniques (in addition to detection performance). The trials have been performed on several sample sets.
The results of the trial programmes led to the development of guidance, published in 2019 which is confidential to HOIS members. However, there is continued interest in this particular inspection challenge.
As a result, this project was initiated to investigate the performance of new or improved methods on existing CUPS samples.
Work on this project started in April 2022 and trial participants included Bilfinger with Holloway NDT and GUL, who were the first trialists to take part in trials. Escon and Rosen visited HOIS facility later in 2023.
The trial results have been analysed and included in a trial report which has been completed and issued to HOIS members.