6th International Conference on Certification and Standardization NDT

Valencia 2011, June 13th – 14th

27-32

 
GUIDED WAVES: STANDARDIZATION AND
CERTIFICATION

A. Demma, D. Alleyne

Guided Ultrasonics Limited, London, United Kingdom

Abstract

The Guided Wave Testing (GWT) Method is a new NDT Method, which is
typically used for rapi d screening of lo ng lengths of pi pe-work. One of the
main attractions to this method is its ability to screen relatively long length of
pipe from a r emote location (avoiding the need to directly access the ar ea to
be inspected). GWT is now widely recognized and is the preferred NDT
method when other a pproaches are not very effecti ve. This article
summarizes the effort that has recen tly been made to qual ify the method,
standardize the inspection approach an d certify the personnel that carry out
the inspection. This work aimed to provi de confidence to the i ndustry that
appropriate GWT tools can be used by qualified operators to pr operly assess
their assets.

Key words: Guided Waves, Standardization, Certification, GWT, LRUT

1. Introduction

Non-Destructive Testing is rapidly evolving due to i ncreased safety

requirements of industrial plants, more challenging environments (e.g. deep
water pipelines) and t he general requirement to offer more effi cient
inspection. Evolution has certai nly been attained in recent years; however
this implies major efforts for the i ndustry as sever al steps are neede d for a
genuinely good i dea to evolve from i ts incubation stage to an offi cially
recognized testing method, the last of which is the creation of standardization
documents and related recommended practi ces. With regard to Gui ded
Waves, this process started in the 80s. This article is aiming to offer a view of
the current status of the Guided Wave technology and summarizes the effort
made in several countries towards standardization of the testing method.

2. Status of Guided Waves Testing Method

Research conducted in the late 1980s in the field on Non-destructive testing

using Guided Wave demonstrated the potential of this innovative approach.

27
 6th International Conference on Certification and Standardization NDT
Valencia 2011, June 13th – 14th

By the 1990s the patents [1, 2] that ar e the basis of the exi sting technology
were filed. By the end of the 19 90s the fi rst generation of Gui ded Wave
equipment for the routi ne inspection of pl ant piping entered the market an d
was sold to NDT service providers. Currently the third generation of Guided
Wave technology (e.g. Wavemaker G3) is available and its capabilities have
greatly improved compared to the fi rst generation equipment. At the same
time the knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of Guided Waves has
increased and the boundaries have been pushed with more applications being
developed every year. Concurrently training schemes have be en developed
by the equipment manufacturers (e.g. GUL training scheme, [3]) to create a
quality system that coul d ensure a mi nimum standard to al l users. Indeed
training of operator is critically important in the Guided Wave field due to the
novelty of the i nterpretation approach compared to other existing NDT
methods and the l evel required that i s above the industry average. Where
this is a potential weakness of Guided Waves, the method offers great
potential to the i ndustry when appro priately applied (using best available
technology, appropriate training and skilled personnel).

Guided Wave Testing is now routi nely used i n a number of countri es

worldwide and the ca pabilities and l imitations are known by a number of
experts in the NDT field. The spreading of thi s know-how has enabl ed open
discussion amongst users of the t echnology and consequently the creation of
industrial standards and recommended practices.

3. Guided Wave Testing is a new method

Guided Wave Testing is now accepted as a new method rather than a

technique of other existing methods (namely UT or AT which with it has some
similarities). As reported in previous publications by the same authors [4] the
interpretation rules of a Gui ded Wave test result are uni que. Although the
software tools of advanced equi pments (e.g Wavemaker G3) w ere developed
in a way to mi nimize operator effort in learning a new inspection system, the
GWT inspection approach is unique. While UT is a detection and sizing
method that uses bul k waves and propagates al ong short lengths, GWT i s a
screening method that u ses Guided Waves and h as long propagation range.
Mode conversion, effect of geometri c features along the l ength of the pipe
and sensitivity to stiffness changes are also aspects that make GWT different
from UT. Similarly to electromagnetic waves, the properti es of waves having
different wavelengths induce differences in behaviour that l ead to our
perception of them being completely different. For example this is the case of
Microwaves and Infrared as i t is fully accepted the fact th at both ar e
electromagnetic waves and that they are so di fferent that th ey should be
treated separately. This concept al so applies to UT and Gui ded Waves. AT
uses Guided Waves however the way the i nformation is gathered (p assive

28
 Guided Waves: Standardization and Certification

system in AT, send-rec eive system in GWT) and the type of i nformation
gathered (number of events or energy in AT and echoes i n GWT) makes the
two methods radically different in their practical use.

In agreement with the above, a number of GWT committees (e.g. BINDT,

UNI, RINA working groups) have compl eted their work in the fi eld of
standardization and certification and have reached the conclusion that GWT is
a new NDT method.

4. Guided Wave Testing standards

UNI/TS 11317

The first standardization document on GWT was p ublished by UNI (Ital y) in

February 2009. The tech nical specification UNI/TS 11317 gi ves some basi c
recommendations on how to screen a bove ground pipelines and plant piping
using long range guided waves. This product standard defined the testing
approach and set minimum requirements for th e equipment, preparation of
the inspection job, follow-up inspection and reporting [4]. UNI/TS 11317 was
referenced in another UNI standard UNI/TS 11315 that defines the inspection
approach to be followed in Italy to comply with Italian decree D.M. 329. This
standard is in Italian, however an English version has recently been made
available.

JIS – NDIS 2427

This Japanese standard was published in 2010 and addres ses the genera l
principles of Guided Wave inspection as the ti tle suggests “General principles
of Guided Wave inspection for piping by pulse echo technique”. This standard
is available in Japanese only.

Active working groups

There are s everal working groups i n the proces s of defi ning new standard s
and/or recommended practices on Guided Waves.

ASTM committee on emerging NDT methods is working on the defi nition of a

“Standard practice for Gu ided Wave Testing of A boveground Steel Pipework
using Piezoelectric Effect Transduction”. This document is well underway and
is aiming to provide a practical guide on how to carry out Guided Wave
inspection.

BSI committee WEE/46 is working on the defi nition of both a genera l

principles document and a related document that sets the basi c requirements
for guided wave testing of pipes, pipelines and structural tubulars.

29
 6th International Conference on Certification and Standardization NDT
Valencia 2011, June 13th – 14th

NACE TG 410 aims to develop a standard that establishes performance

specifications for the capabilities, limitations and minimum detection and
identification capabilities of Guided Wave Testing.

IIW commission V is currently drafting a document that could provide guidance

on inspection of aboveground pipes using Guided Waves.

Integration of national and international standards

One of the potential threats of such a prol ific activity in the creation of
standards is the possi bility that they are not harmoni zed. The authors and
other individuals involved in many of the com mittees listed above are
attempting to keep a co mmon basis amongst the standards developed to
avoid compatibility issues that coul d generate performance i ssues and/or
increased costs.

Another point is the integration of the standard within a specific industrial

and legal environment. In Italy the s tandardization process started for the
need to offi cially authorize the use of Gui ded Waves as thi s approach could
help comply with existing regulations. The path was traced by the responsible
Italian authorities (Italian HSE) and the Guided Wave standard was readily
integrated with an i nspection standard (UNI/TS 11315) and a set of HS E
guidelines on Guided Waves that was designed to help the final users
(petrochemical or power generation inspection managers) t o identify if
Guided Waves could be a good sol ution for thei r inspection issue. In othe r
countries the GW T standard may precede a specific regulation on pi pe
inspection and the integration at national level shall be carefully considered.

5. Personnel certification

Guided Ultrasonics Ltd (GUL) have desi gned a training scheme for GW
operators which has been i n use si nce 2000, and has been conti nually
updated to k eep up with new appl ications and d evelopments. GUL has al so
created a certification system that enables operator qualification and
experience to be moni tored. Each o perator has a personal ID key whi ch
stores the information about the number of days experi ence, number of tests
performed and revalidation date together with other useful information to
monitor operator qual ity. Each testi ng day the operator must logon to th e
Wavemaker G3 instrument and th e information on the key will be updated
with the tests performed by the o perator. This method f or monitoring
operator experience and quality is unique and very effective.

Compliance with existing international standards on personnel certification

has been also addressed in recent years and EN473/ISO 9712 compliant
schemes have been put in place for example by RINA (an Italian certification

30
 Guided Waves: Standardization and Certification

body) that included in its quality system a Guided Wave syllabus and issued
the first EN473 compliant certificates for the Gui ded Wave method i n 2008.
More recently PCN has organi zed a worki ng group on G uided Wave
certification where a major point is that under the same scheme 3 different
certifications are allowed that are for the 3 different GW technologies
commercially in use. The PCN scheme is due to s tart by end of 2011. ASNT
Guided Wave committee is also discussing the topic of certi fication and some
updates may be issued before the end of 2011.

Fig. 1. Certificate confirming qualification of Guided Ultrasonics GWT

procedure according to EN 14748/2004.

31
 6th International Conference on Certification and Standardization NDT
Valencia 2011, June 13th – 14th

6. Qualification under EN14748

The European standard EN14748/2004 sets out basic principles and provides
recommendations and general guidelines for carrying out qualification of non-
destructive tests. Considering the current absence of an EN or ISO standard
on GWT, qualification under the EN14748 can be a very useful tool to confirm
the capability of the me thod, using a speci fic equipment, procedure and
training scheme. Recently TUV agreed to verify the qualification process of
the Guided Ultrasonics GWT procedure (specifically including use of
Wavemaker G3 instrumentation package and an inspector cert ified under the
GUL Training and Cer tification Scheme). The succ essful completion of the
qualification programme was confirmed with the issue of a TÜV-Süd
certificate (see Figure 1).

7. Conclusions

Guided Wave Testing is a new NDT method. Several national and

international standards are being developed to support the use of GW T for
pipe screening. Company and thi rd party GWT personnel certification
schemes are already available and have been reported here.

8. References

[1] Cawley, P., Alleyne, D.N. and Chan, C.W. (1994) 'Inspecti on of pi pes',
WO 96/12951,20-10-1994.

[2] Teller, C., Kwun, H. (1996), “Nondestructive Evaluation of Pipes and

Tubes Using Magnetostrictive Sensors,” Patent No. 5,581,037

[3] Guided Ultrasonics Train ing scheme available at www.guided-

ultrasonics.com

[4] Demma A. et al ., “Guided Wave trai ning and certifi cation”, Certification
2007, Berlin

32