Novel quantum NMR magnetometer non-contact defectoscopy and monitoring technique for the safe exploitation of gas pipelines

Abstract

Pipeline transportation has already proved to be a high-performance tool of resources transportation for the efficient functioning of modern society. However, an aggressive environment, the modernization of existing pipelines and the building of new pipelines pose a number of problems to be solved for secure exploitation. Such problems include mapping, systems certification, technical inspection and monitoring. Recently much attention has being paid to the effective solution of these problems, with no interference into the functioning of the existing systems (non-contact methods), and the magnetometric technique is one such method. The method presented in this paper is based on the interpretation of the absolute value of the magnetic field of an object, which allows us to carry out measurements more accurately compared to other approaches. This paper presents the preliminary results of the usage of high-precision absolute quantum Overhauser “POS” (proton Overhauser sensor) magnetometers in the oil-and-gas field. The field work conducted in the summer of 2013 showed that this equipment has great potential for safe exploitation of oil-and-gas pipelines. The efficiency of the geophysical equipment for gas pipelines of a large diameter (1400 mm) was also confirmed under actual operating conditions. © 2014 WIT Press.