About the development of a method for remote determination of the underground pipeline insulation coating condition

Abstract

Corrosion protection of underground steel pipelines is carried out by means of electrochemical protection and insulation coatings. During the operation of pipelines, under the effect of various external factors, the insulation properties of coatings decrease over time, which leads to an increase in the operating modes of electrochemical protection means. Operating organizations need to monitor the condition of the coating of underground pipelines, to predict the protection against corrosion and to plan repair work. Using the remote corrosion monitoring systems made it possible to obtain a mathematical model of the electrochemical protection system against corrosion of the object, which allowed to determine the true impact of cathodic current sources on the protective potential control points, excluding the impact of related and external power sources. Knowing the effect of the source on the protective potentials on the section, accordingly, it can accordingly be assumed that it is possible to identify patterns between the amount of change in this affect and the condition of the insulation coating on the section. A method for determining the integral condition the insulation coating is proposed, with the possibility of remote implementation on the basis of remote corrosion monitoring equipment, for which the pipeline model was tested in the laboratory. Testing of the developed method on a real gas main transport facility showed its practical applicability, as well as sufficient accuracy for engineering tasks, in determining the indicators of the insulation coating condition.