Building on the established services departments, MACAW Engineering has introduced unbonded flexible pipe solutions to the product range to allow for a more integrated holistic integrity service. Meeting clients’ needs for a holistic view of operating assets in a cost-effective environment is further enhanced by the introduction of this service.
Using key personnel with unbonded flexible pipe knowledge and incorporating this into the robust services already provide by MACAW, the introduction of this service links subsea asset integrity management to a topside platform and/or floating units.
There are presently various inspection, testing and monitoring options available that seek to understand the condition of flexible pipes. These systems however, are either concentrated on a limited subset of the known failure modes or, at best, offer general snapshot of pipe condition. In terms of inspection solutions, there is no panacea for flexible pipes to rival the range of ILI tools that can be deployed in rigid-steel pipelines.
Given the lack of commercially available and proven inspection technologies for flexible pipes (to permit an assessment of all layers), a picture of the current condition of a flexible pipe and active failure mechanisms can be built up from knowledge gained through a process of efficient and consistent data gathering. Ideally, this should be initiated at the design stage of the flexible pipe, but experience suggests that this is very often not implemented within the industry in this manner.
In all such cases it is critical to minimise the time between a failure mechanism being present and it being detected. This can be achieved by the implementation of a FIMS, which will promote and facilitate frequent, consistent and reliable collection of data and empower the operator to make decisions regarding the integrity of their flexible pipe assets.
For more information, please contact MACAW.