Above-ground storage tank inspection using the ‘Robot Inspector’

Blakeley, B; Emmanouilidis, Christos; Hrissagis, Kostas

doi:10.1784/insi.2005.47.11.705

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…While inspection of steel and metal ASTs, such as for oil, have been investigated using NDE methods (e.g., [12][13][14][15][16]), relatively few studies have been performed on HDPE ASTs (e.g., [17]). While guidelines and standards are available for NDE inspection of steel tanks, such as the Steel Tank Institute's STI SP00l and the American Petroleum Institute's API Standard 653, no such guidelines are available for NDE of HDPE ASTs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laboratory Study on Non-Destructive Evaluation of Polyethylene Liquid Storage Tanks by Thermographic and Ultrasonic Methods

2021

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High-density polyethylene (HDPE) above-ground storage tanks (AST) are used by highway agencies to store liquid deicing chemicals for the purpose of road maintenance in the winter. A sudden AST failure can cause significant economic and environmental impacts. While ASTs are routinely inspected to identify signs of aging and damage, current methods may not adequately capture all defects, particularly if they are subsurface or too small to be seen during visual inspection. Therefore, to improve the ability to identify potential durability issues with HDPE ASTs, additional non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques need to be considered and assessed for applicability. Specifically, this study investigates the efficiency of using infrared thermography (IRT) as a rapid method to simultaneously examine large areas of the tank exterior, which will be followed by closer inspections with conventional and phased array ultrasonic testing (UT) methods. Results show that IRT can help to detect defects that are shallow, specifically located within half of the tank’s wall thickness from the surface. UT has the ability to detect all defects at any depth. Moreover, phased array UT helps to identify stacked defects and characterize each defect more precisely than IRT.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laboratory Study on Non-Destructive Evaluation of Polyethylene Liquid Storage Tanks by Thermographic and Ultrasonic Methods

2021

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“…Despite the size limitation, collectively the robotic sensor platforms possess a full set of NDE inspection capabilities and can be configured to suit the demands of different applications, environments and materials. A size and weight reduction of a factor of three compared to systems that have been previously appeared in literature has been achieved [5], [6], [36], [37], while versatility and complete autonomy without trade-off in the performance of various NDE payloads has been attained.…”

Section: Magnetic Flux Leakage 1940mentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Inspection MFL is a commonly used NDE technique for ferromagnetic materials and is one of the most economical methods for detection of material loss due to corrosion, pitting or gouging [6], [17], [18]. It finds widespread application for in-service inspection of oil and gas pipelines, wire ropes, and floors of storage tanks, where corrosion pits can develop at a significant rate, as stated previously [17], [19].…”

Section: B Magnetic Flux Leakagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…To date, a wide range of research involving robotic vehicles for NDE has been reported [1], [2]. This includes teams of small robots for reconnaissance and surveillance [3], tethered large scale inspection robots for hulls of vessels [4], pipes [5], and storage tanks [6]. Separate developments that involve concepts of collaborating robots [7] and climbing techniques for small mobile robots for different surfaces and surface conditions and with low power consumption have been presented [8], [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Miniature Mobile Sensor Platforms for Condition Monitoring of Structures

et al. 2009

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An autonomous, multi-sensor inspection system for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of ferromagnetic materials is described. The sensor configuration enables two inspection modes -magnetic (flux leakage and eddy current) and non-contact ultrasound. Each is designed to function in a complementary manner, maximizing the potential for detection of both surface and internal defects. Particular emphasis is placed on the generic architecture of a novel, intelligent sensor platform and its positioning on the structure under test. The sensor units are capable of wireless communication with a remote host computer, which controls manipulation and data interpretation. Results are presented in the form of autonomous scans with different NDE sensors in a series of experiments on thin plate structures. To highlight the advantage of utilizing multiple inspection modalities, data fusion approaches are employed to combine data collected by complementary sensor systems. Fusion of data is shown to demonstrate the potential for improved inspection reliability.

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