Magnetic Tomography Method (MTM)

To detect Stress on Buried Pipelines. The stress level provide information which can be translated into Metal Loss, Cracking, Wall Loss and Dent.

• Permanent metal defects of ferrous magnetic will be memorised (in the metal structure)
• Local stresses causes change in the magnetic field strength
• Evaluate defects based on relative change in the local stress
• Does NOT evaluate based on physical feature changes on the pipeline like other NDT techniques

Benefits

• No lost in production
• Does not affect any Pipeline operations
• No need to increase or reduce pipeline pressure or flowrate
• Independent to any other system installed onto the Pipeline (eg: CP System, Coating etc)
• Most suitable for pipelines without Inline Pigging capabilities
• Aqua-MTM is suitable for Subsea Pipeline

Limitations

• Distance from pipeline to measure: 15 times diameter
• Pipe to pipeline distance (in parallel): 0.4 meters
• Minimum distance to inspect: 50 meters
• Difficult pipeline routes; swampy , land filled with mines,
  heavy traffic
• Complex pipeline network; refinery, chemical plants
• Lack of calibration points due to inaccessibility
• Longer waiting time for excavation