Pipeline pigging has become a standard practice in the petroleum and natural gas industry, utilizing fluid or gas pumping upstream to facilitate cleaning of wax, sediments, or dewatering. In previous research by the authors, a specialized epoxy membrane embedded with chemical sensors was developed to monitor in-line environments. However, the durability of this thin film material under pipeline cleaning conditions remained unexplored. This study conducted experimental tests simulating industrial pipeline cleaning procedures using rubber-based cleaning disks. Results indicate that a standard 3mm epoxy base attached to the pipeline's inner wall maintains integrity with minimal surface wear during pipeline cleaning activities. Additionally, the study found that the maximum shear stress applied to the membrane increases with thickness, reaching a maximum of 2.95 MPa when the membrane thickness is less than 3mm. These findings provide valuable insights into the resilience of epoxy-based membranes in harsh pipeline cleaning environments, informing future development and deployment of in-line monitoring technologies.
Civil engineering structures are routinely exposed to corrosive environments, posing threats to their structural integrity. Traditional corrosion control methods often involve employing physical barriers, such as various coatings, to isolate the steel substrate from surrounding electrolytes. Among these methods, thermal spraying of alloy coatings has emerged as a prominent technique in safeguarding steel matrices against corrosion, particularly in industrial and marine settings. However, the inherent porosity of thermal spraying coatings compromises their corrosion resistance. Incorporating a polymer top layer offers a promising solution by sealing pores and augmenting overall performance. This study investigates corrosion on duplex-coated steel utilizing distributed fiber optic sensors based on optical frequency domain reflectometry. Experimental analyses involve embedding serpentine-arranged distributed fiber optic strain sensors within both thermal spraying layers and epoxy layers. Results demonstrate the efficiency of distributed sensors in identifying corrosion propagation paths by measuring the induced strain changes. Furthermore, the duplex coating exhibits significant enhancements in corrosion resistance for steel structures.
Each year, the global cost that is accounted to corrosion was estimated at $2.5 trillion. Corrosion not only imposes an economic burden, when corroded structures are under various loading conditions, it may also lead to structurally brittle failure, posing a potential threat to structural reliability and service safety. Although considerable studies investigated the combined effect of external loads and structural steel corrosion, many of the current findings on synergetic interaction between stress and corrosion are contrary. In this study, the combined effects of dynamic mechanical loads and corrosion on epoxy coated steel are investigated using the distributed fiber optic sensors based on optical frequency domain reflectometry. Experimental studies were performed using the serpentine-arranged distributed fiber optic strain sensors embedded inside the epoxy with three different scenarios including the impact loading-only, corrosion-only, and combined impact loading-corrosion tests. Test results demonstrated that the distributed fiber optic sensors can locate and detect the corrosion processing paths by measuring the induced strain changes. The combined impact loading-corrosion condition showed significantly accelerated corrosion progression caused by mechanical loads, indicating the significant interaction between dynamic mechanical loading and corrosion on epoxy coated steel.
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