Inspection

NDE Associates, Inc. provides nondestructive testing (NDT) inspection and Witness services for petroleum and power industries. The company specializes in the application of advanced NDT techniques, including phased arrays, eddy current testing (ECT) and ultrasonic testing (UT)
Flaw Sizing by
Phased Array. High resolution phased array of a 38 mm thick weld showing
interbead lack of fusion. PA probe is GE 5 MHz, 16 x 1.5 mm



Capabilities
Inspections

WITNESS INSPECTIONS AND THIRD PARTY SUPPORT

  • Oversee qualification of UT in lieu of radiography as per ASME VIII-2
  • Oversee Qualification of AUT Systems for pipeline inspection as
    per DNV-OS-F101.
  • Provide AUT Witness for Phased array and TOFD inspections.
  • Review NDT Procedures

Anmol Birring – NOTABLE WORK IN NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING

  • Developed ultrasonic backscatter technique for High Temperature Hydrogen Attack. The technique has been used world wide for HTHA inspections.
  • Applied ultrasonic technique for detection of hydrogen damage in boiler tubes and reduced the boiler forced
    outage rate.
  • 2004 – Detected Advanced levels of HTHA in a reactor vessel in France. The vessel was immediately taken out of service
  • Tubing Inspection – Found that flaw sizing of ID pits with eddy current is highly dependent on frequency.
  • Found during a qualification of manual UT angle beam inspectors that inspector experience did not play a significant role in their performance. Inspector skill level played a major role.
  • For improved flaw definition and sizing, the phased array probe aperture plays a key role. The recommended active aperture should be about 0.4 x weld thickness.
  • TOFD of welds. The OD notch used for TOFD calibration blocks the lateral wave provides a false sense of coverage. To validate TOFD dead zone the TOFD calibration should include a 2 mm side drilled hole at a depth of 4 or 5 mm.
  • The so called creeping waves are 75 degree longitudinal waves and have no sensitivity to surface cracks that are more than 10 mm from probe.
  • AUT Temperature qualification – Found that AUT done on hot welds during pipe lay first misses ID root cracks. AUT qualification should therefore always include root cracks.
  • Corrosion resistant alloy (CRA)
    welds with or without CRA clad are made in many configurations and the
    selection of UT/PAUT technique is specific to each configuration
  • UT of CRA alloy welds. Found that
    ultrasonic longitudinal waves when calibrated on side drilled holes will
    have 16 dB lower sensitivity on ID notches and can miss ID cracks.

    NDE Associates, Inc. Mission Statement