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Refinery Process Piping & Chemical Plants
Refinery Process Piping & Chemical Plants
Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) Screening Inspection Scope
Turnkey NDT Solution for Insulated Piping, Process Vessels & Column Skirts
Primary NDT Techniques:PECRTRGWT
Targeted Damage Mechanisms
- Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI)
- External Chloride Stress Corrosion Cracking (ECSCC)
- Atmospheric Rusting
Key Inspection Challenges Resolved
- Insulation removal costs can exceed 80% of total maintenance budget.
- Traditional visual inspection requires scaffolding and thermal insulation stripping.
- Severe CUI can cause catastrophic pinhole leaks and sudden hydrocarbon releases.
Standard Field Inspection Workflow
1
Risk-Based CUI Mapping
Review API 570 circuit records and thermal camera imagery to prioritize CUI-susceptible operating temp zones (30°F to 300°F / -4°C to 150°C).
2
Guided Wave (GWT) Screening
Attach magnetostrictive GWT ring to screen long straight piping runs (up to 50 meters in both directions) from a single transducer location.
3
Pulsed Eddy Current (PEC) Grid Sizing
Perform high-density PEC grid scan over elbows, tees, nozzle connections, and pipe support shoes to map remaining wall thickness.
4
Verification & Direct Repair
Use Real-Time Radiography (RTR) or targeted insulation window cuts for UT validation on locations showing >25% wall loss.
Recommended Hardware & Probes
- Eddyfi Lyft PEC System
- Guided Ultrasonics Wavemaker G4
- OpenVision Real-Time X-Ray
Governing Inspection Standards
- API 570 Piping Inspection Code
- NACE/AMPP SP0198 Control of CUI
- ISO 20669 PEC Testing
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