5th Pan American Conference for NDT

2-6 October 2011, Cancun, Mexico

Inspection of Composite Pipelines using Computed Radiography

Davi F. OLIVEIRA1, Srgio D. SOARES2, Ricardo T. LOPES1
1

Nuclear Instrumentation Laboratory, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Phone: +55 21 2562-7311; e-mail: davi@lin.ufrj.br, ricardo@lin.ufrj.br
2
CENPES/Petrobras; Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil: e-mail: sdama@petrobras.com.br

Abstract
Composite materials have proven themselves to be a good option among the selection of engineering materials
due to some of their properties, such as mechanical resistance, resistance to corrosion, lightness and good
durability. However, as it is the case with alloys of any kind, composite materials have to be inspected during
their lifespan, which may take place either during the manufacturing process or while they are performing their
working functions. In the oil industry, composite materials have been employed more and more often, especially
with respect to the transportation of fluids in pipelines. Generally speaking, the defects which are most
commonly found in bonded joints are the presence of porosity, cracks and lack of adhesive. The present study
aims at evaluating the feasibility of employing Computed Radiography (CR) to detect discontinuities in
polymeric adhesives that are used for joining together pipeline segments made of epoxy resin reinforced with
fiber glass. The tests were performed in order to assess the detectability of the discontinuities of certain joints
containing fluid inside the pipelines, aiming to simulate real working conditions. Results show that it is possible
to detect defects even in pipelines containing fluids, which is highly relevant to the inspection of operative
pipelines made of composite materials.
Keywords: Computed Radiography, Composite Pipelines, Lack of Adhesive, Image Plate.

1. Introduction
The insurgence of composite materials in offshore oil and gas development was fairly evident
over the last decade, after 35 years of satisfactory service rendered to the aerospace and
transportation industries. Offshore production extracted from lower water depths has
prompted an effort to enable the usage of composites as a cost-effective alternative to
standard metallic materials [1].
Composite materials have proven themselves to be a good option among the selection of
engineering materials due to some of their properties, such as mechanical resistance,
resistance to corrosion, lightness and good durability. However, as it is the case with alloys of
any kind, composite materials have to be inspected during their lifespan, which may take
place either during the manufacturing process or while they are performing their working
functions. In the oil industry, composite materials have been employed more and more often,
especially with respect to the transportation of fluids in pipelines.
Adhesive-bonded joints are a rigid joints consisting of a slightly conical (tapered) bell end and
a machined (cylindrical or tapered) spigot end. Alternatively, the bell-and-spigot tapers may
be threaded. A typical adhesive-bonded joint is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Typical adhesive-bonded joint [2].

Adhesive joints have the lowest material cost among all other kinds of joints, and are
structurally efficient when made up correctly. If a cylindrical spigot is used, the joint is made
up to a shoulder. The tapered bell and tapered spigot joint has two matching tapered surfaces
and does not make up to a shoulder. The former has the advantage of enabling the position of
final make-up to be readily determined. The latter (taper/taper joint) is a stronger joint but is
more prone to positional errors if incorrectly assembled, which can weaken the joint.
The production process of adhesive joints tends to become more difficult for larger sizes,
particularly for pipes above 450 mm diameter. One of the main concerns is then the size of
the adhesive bead that is created when the joint is made up, which could protrude into the
bore of the pipe. This could not only create a substantial blockage factor, but could also
provide a source for erosion and cavitation damage [2] as well.
The defects which are most often found in Glass Reinforced Epoxy (GRE) pipe systems are
lack of adhesive, disbonding and delaminations in bonded joints, which can only be detected
through hydrostatic testing or in operational conditions due to induced vibrations. Most of the
service failures in composite materials systems are due to mistakes made during the assembly
stage.
The relevance of this fact points to the need of having evaluation tools capable of performing
accurate detections, as well as of building databases for projects qualification and creating
assembly procedures for such systems.
When the adhesive comes apart or loses its adhesion power, pressure loss on the lines can
occur, as well as oil leaks or oil contamination, which can result in productivity losses,
environmental damages and even lethal accidents. Due to those reasons, there is an urge for
inspection methods capable of assessing both the integrity and the quality of the adhesives
used in such joints.
Due to the difficulties and the high costs implied in interrupting commercial production
processes, it is often required that non-destructive methods are employed for joint evaluation,
especially because it can be performed on site without disrupting the production process.
There is, therefore, a big concern for providing reliable inspection techniques capable of
inspecting such materials.

This paper presents the development process of an inspection methodology based on

computed radiography (CR). It aims to prove that this technology may be employed to inspect
adhesive joints on composite pipes made of epoxy resin and reinforced with fiberglass.

2. Radiographic tests on composite pipes

Radiography (RT) is quite useful for detecting wall thickness variations, water ingress, scale
build-up and some voids and areas lacking adhesive, as well as the presence of damages
caused by impact, porosity or inclusion, and other volumetric defects. Besides, cracks can
also be also detected, as well as incorrect insertion of pipes in adhesive sockets and internal
excess of adhesive [3, 4]. It is important to mention that radiographic technique is not
sensitive to surface roughness, but it is sensitive to the orientation of the defect [4].
Radiographic test parameters (i.e. tube voltage and exposure time) shall be adjusted compared
to steel due to the low density of the polymers and composites. Low to medium tube voltages
are suitable for radiography of Glass Reinforced Epoxy (GRE) [4].
Voids in the bonding (adhesive layer) appear on the films as darker areas. The defects are
easy to detect, as long there is an air gap between the bonded faces. If the air gap is less than
0.5 mm, it is very difficult to detect lack of adhesive without modifying the adhesive by
adding heavy elements, which act as contrast enhancers. ZnI2, BaSO4, PbO, and W (at 5
weight percent) function well as contrast enhancers [3]. Figure 2 shows a radiographic image
of a bonded joint with ZnI2 additive.

Figure 2. Detection of disbonding areas with addiction of ZnI2 in the adhesive.

3. Methodology
3.1. Sensitivity
As specific image quality indicators (IQIs) for these materials do not exist, an IQI that will
work as a contrast sensitivity penetrameter for the radiography images was developed. This
IQI consists of a small piece of adhesive material (1.00 mm thick) containing two circular
holes of diameters of 1.00 and 2.00 mm, respectively. It will be used to check the
radiographic image sensitivity to detect voids in the adhesive area. Figure 3 shows the
contrast sensitivity IQI.

Figura 3. Adhesive hole-type IQI.

To keep the same thickness and magnification factor of the adhesive layer, the IQI was
positioned between the inner wall and a shim stock made of the same material of the pipe.
Figure 4 shows the placement of the IQI.

Figura 4. Placement of IQI.

3.2 Radiographic Tests

The radiographic tests were performed in two steps: laboratory tests and tests simulating
operational conditions.
For the lab tests, a test sample consisting of two pieces of a 4 inch diameter pipe bonded
together and containing lack of adhesive in the form of horizontal and vertical stripes was
confectioned, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Test sample with horizontal and vertical lack of adhesive.

The images were obtained by constant potential x-ray equipments. IP HD Plus (Drr) Image
Plates and a CR system model CR50P (GEIT) were used.
As the test samples were manufactured by piping cuts, they were positioned in certain way in
order to simulate a double wall single image (DWSI) setup, which is the recommended
geometry for this kind of inspection. Figure 6 shows the geometry setup for the tests.

Figure 6. DWSI simulated setup.

For the tests in operational conditions, radiographic images were obtained from bounded
joints of a hydraulic circuit developed to simulate the water flow in the pipeline, aiming at
evaluating the detectability of defects and image quality under the influence of the presence of
liquids inside the pipes.
The hydraulic circuit is composed of 4 inch diameter pipes containing bonded joints. In the
assembly stage, defects in the adhesive layer were inserted in order to simulate real
discontinuities that could be found in such joints. Radiographic images of two bonded joints
of lack of adhesive defects were carried out, as well as images of one joint presenting lack of
adhesion defects and one joint with no defects. As in the lab tests, the DWSI technique was
employed and four images per joint were acquired.
Figure 7 shows the hydraulic circuit and the scheme of the inspected joints, and Figure 8
shows the exposure setup.

Figure 7. Hydraulic circuit and positioning of the inspected joints.

Figure 8. Exposure setup (DWSI).

Table 1 shows the exposure time used in the lab tests and in the operational condition tests. In
both tests, a high voltage of 70 kV and a current of 3 mA was employed.
Table 1. Exposure time (s) used in the radiographic testing.
Laboratory
Operational Condition
Lack of Adhesive No Defects Lack of Adhesive Lack of Adhesion
With Water
12
5
5
13
Without Water
30
30
60

3. Results
Figure 9 shows the radiographic images of the lack of adhesive sample for the lab tests. In a)
and b), it is possible to notice the presence of horizontal and vertical stripes without adhesive
(indicated by the red arrows), respectively. In c) and d), the same images are shown after
being processed with the computational filter Enhance Details.

Figure 9. Radiographic images acquired in lab tests.

Figures 10 and 11 show the radiographic images of the joints presenting lack of adhesion (1
and 2), where a) and c) are respectively the images that were made without and with water

inside the pipe, and b) and d) are the same images processed with the computational filter
Enhance Details. The lack of adhesion, which consists in poor or no adherence between the
piping walls and the adhesive, could not be visualized. Only the areas where there isnt any
adhesive or its quantity is less than the recommended in the bonding standards could be
displayed in the images. These empty regions appear as black spots in the image due to the
lower attenuation of radiation in these areas (indicated by the red arrows).

Figure 10. Lack of Adhesion 1 a) e c) without and with water, respectively and b) e d) same images processed
using the computational filter Enhance Contrast.

Figure 11. Lack of Adhesion 2 a) e c) without and with water, respectively and b) e d) same images processed
using the computational filter Enhance Contrast.

Figure 12 shows the radiographic images of the joint No Defects, where a) and c) are the
images without and with water inside the pipe, respectively and b) and d) are the same images
processed by using the computational filter Enhance Details. No areas showing or
indicating the presence of defects were found.

Figure 12. No Defects a) e c) without and with water, respectively and b) e d) same images processed using
the computational filter Enhance Contrast.

Figure 13 shows the radiographic images of the joint Lack of Adhesive, where a) and c) are
the images without and with water inside the pipe, respectively and b) and d) are the same
images processed by using the computational filter Enhance Details. The red arrows
indicate the areas where defects in the bounded joint were found. It can be noticed that there
wasnt a perfect coupling of the piping components, showing that a failure occurred in the
assembly process.

Figure 13. Lack of Adhesive a) e c) without and with water, respectively and b) e d) same images processed
using the computational filter Enhance Contrast.

4. Conclusions
The experiments showed the viability of employing the radiographic technique for inspecting
bounded joints of GRE pipes. In all tests, the circular holes of the contrast sensitivity IQI were
detected. It shows that it is possible to detect small areas of lack of adhesive and that this

penetrameter can be used as an image quality indicator in order to evaluate the radiographic
sensitivity in composite materials images, analogously to hole-type IQIs commonly used in
metallic material radiographies.
The CR technique proved to be capable of detecting discontinuities in operational condition
joints, i.e., containing fluids inside the pipeline. This is a great advantage because there is no
need to interrupt the production and drain the line in order to carry out the inspection.
Another advantage of this technique is the possibility of processing the images by
computational filters. These filters have proven to be very useful in detecting defects
indications, resulting in images with high contrast enhancement.
The lack of adhesion joints had the same kind of indications of voids. However, the lack of
adhesion could not be clearly identified. As bounded joints have the correct quantity of
adhesive but dont present adhesion of the components, the space between the adhesive layer
and the piping wall was not visible in the radiographs because the layers were superimposed
on the image.
Acknowledgements
This work was partially supported by Petrobras, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento
Cientfico e Tecnolgico (CNPq), Fundao Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo Pesquisa do
Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) and Coordenao de Aperfeioamento de Pessoal de
Nvel Superior (CAPES).
References
[1] Jeremy C. Price, The State of the Art in Composite Material Development and
Applications for the Oil and Gas Industry, Proceedings of The Twelfth (2002) International
Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference, Kitakyushu, 2002
[2] ISO 14692-3 Petroleum and natural gas industries - Glass-reinforced plastics (GRP)
piping - Part 3: System Design, 2002;
[3] ISO 14692-4 Petroleum and natural gas industries - Glass-reinforced plastics (GRP)
piping - Part 4: Fabrication, installation and operation, 2002;
[4] NORSOK Standard M-622 Fabrication and installation of GRP piping systems, 1994