Corrosion Monitoring

What is Corrosion?

Corrosion is defined as the partial or complete wearing away, dissolving or softening of any substance by a chemical or electrochemical reaction within its environment. Due to the environment around or in the equipment, there are many different types of corrosion:

  • General corrosion or wall loss is fairly uniform material loss with little to no isolated attack.
  • Flow Accelerated Corrosion - in areas of increased fluid or vapour velocities where the corrosion products are stripped from the material exposing new, fresh material.
  • MIC or microbial induced / influenced attack occurs where colonies of micro-organisms thrive and produce environments which promote, create, or sustain corrosive environments.
  • Intergranular corrosion is a localized form of attack that occurs at the grain boundaries of a material resulting in loss of strength and ductility.
  • Exfoliation corrosion is an intergranular type of attack where corrosion occurs beneath the material surface, forms corrosion products, and lifts the material away resulting in thin layers of metal breaking away like pages in a book.
  • Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) can result where water entering the insulation may collect at low spots / insulation support rings and cause (localized) corrosion of carbon steel.

Proactive Monitoring

Corrosion monitoring and metal degradation prevention are predictive approaches to minimising the consequences of degradation and can be performed at low costs with limited personnel. With Visions Enterprise, monitoring can advance from a reactive process to a thoroughly proactive and reliable one.

Visions Enterprise uses Risk-Based Inspection methodology (RBI) as the basis for prioritizing and managing a corrosion monitoring program, resulting in an optimum combination of inspection methods, scopes and frequencies. The program thus incorporates fitness-for-service procedures, risk assessment and risk insurance and meets operational and environmental safety guidelines.

With Visions Enterprise, Thickness Monitoring Locations (TML's) can be efficiently predicted with effective monitoring intervals and Visions Enterprise modules can be used to analyze inspection, design and process data to determine areas of over-inspection and/or inadequate or deficient inspection methods.

Corrosion Monitoring as an Ongoing Process

In order to avoid costly repairs, environmental damage and contaminated product, corrosion monitoring must be an ongoing process. This does not mean inspecting equipment on a regular basis but rather developing a strategy for inspection, maintenance and mitigation that is based on equipments' needs using an integrated and streamlined approach. Visions Enterprise's RBI approach shifts inspection and maintenance resources to providing an elevated level of coverage on high risk items and an appropriate effort on lower risk equipment.

In the bigger picture, corrosion monitoring represents an integral part of maintenance and asset management.

Minimize Corrosion's Impact and Costs

In view of the enormous scale and costs associated with deteriorating infrastructure, corrosion monitoring has become increasingly important for maintenance scheduling and life prediction purposes. Visions Enterprise can give you the tools and structure to plan an effective corrosion management strategy which offsets costly downtime and increases equipment lifespan.

Corrective maintenance "fixes" when a problem occurs. This approach is followed by many companies, even though it is less effective in ensuring reliability and more costly in the long run. In contrast, risk-based, preventative maintenance "acts" before a failure occurs. The aim is to minimize, or even eliminate, unnecessary maintenance and inspection activities and to focus maintenance efforts when and where they are most needed.

With Visions Enterprise as your partner in corrosion monitoring, you can achieve significant cost savings, reduce schedules and manpower, and be armed with the critical information you need to make informed business decisions in the future.