Eddy current detection of fatigue cracks in drill pipes

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dc.contributor.advisorTait, Robert Ben_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorWilkinson, Andrew Johnen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorBecker, THen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMolteno, Matthew Roberten_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-08-13T13:24:30Z
dc.date.available2014-08-13T13:24:30Z
dc.date.issued2012en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes abstract.en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThe Vertical Marine Mining technique is a lucrative method used by De Beers to recover bottom lying diamonds from the seabed, mainly off the coast of Namibia. The method employs a 200m length pipe-drilling structure rotated from the surface and acting as a conduit through which the disturbed sediment is transported to the surface for processing. However, cyclic operating stresses combined with corrosion have tended to cause circumferential fatigue cracks to develop on the outside surface of the drill pipe and propagate inwards. As no early warning system exists, these cracks propagate undetected until failure occurs. High operational costs and losses associated with down time, provide a strong motivation for a system to detect fatigue cracking prior to failure, especially given that fatigue crack growth rate and fatigue lifetimes can be estimated using Fracture Mechanics principles. Therefore what is required is an early warning of fatigue crack initiation with non-destructive testing (NOT). The eddy current method is an ideal NDT technique as it does not require contact with the test surface and is highly sensitive to fatigue cracks .. However, this method is generally only sensitive to surface and near surface defects. This proves to be a major limitation - the external drill pipe surface is obstructed by flanges and fittings such that continuous inspection of the external surface would be impossible. Therefore two specialised eddy current methods to allow the detection of external fatigue cracks from inside the drill pipe were reviewed, namely: Pulsed Eddy Current (PEC) and Remote Field Eddy Current (RFEC). It was found that unlike PEC, RFEC is highly sensitive to external circumferential planar defects in ferrous pipes. This, above all, highlighted the suitability of RFEC for drill pipe inspection.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationMolteno, M. R. (2012). <i>Eddy current detection of fatigue cracks in drill pipes</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment ,Department of Mechanical Engineering. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6084en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMolteno, Matthew Robert. <i>"Eddy current detection of fatigue cracks in drill pipes."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment ,Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6084en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMolteno, M. 2012. Eddy current detection of fatigue cracks in drill pipes. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Molteno, Matthew Robert AB - The Vertical Marine Mining technique is a lucrative method used by De Beers to recover bottom lying diamonds from the seabed, mainly off the coast of Namibia. The method employs a 200m length pipe-drilling structure rotated from the surface and acting as a conduit through which the disturbed sediment is transported to the surface for processing. However, cyclic operating stresses combined with corrosion have tended to cause circumferential fatigue cracks to develop on the outside surface of the drill pipe and propagate inwards. As no early warning system exists, these cracks propagate undetected until failure occurs. High operational costs and losses associated with down time, provide a strong motivation for a system to detect fatigue cracking prior to failure, especially given that fatigue crack growth rate and fatigue lifetimes can be estimated using Fracture Mechanics principles. Therefore what is required is an early warning of fatigue crack initiation with non-destructive testing (NOT). The eddy current method is an ideal NDT technique as it does not require contact with the test surface and is highly sensitive to fatigue cracks .. However, this method is generally only sensitive to surface and near surface defects. This proves to be a major limitation - the external drill pipe surface is obstructed by flanges and fittings such that continuous inspection of the external surface would be impossible. Therefore two specialised eddy current methods to allow the detection of external fatigue cracks from inside the drill pipe were reviewed, namely: Pulsed Eddy Current (PEC) and Remote Field Eddy Current (RFEC). It was found that unlike PEC, RFEC is highly sensitive to external circumferential planar defects in ferrous pipes. This, above all, highlighted the suitability of RFEC for drill pipe inspection. DA - 2012 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2012 T1 - Eddy current detection of fatigue cracks in drill pipes TI - Eddy current detection of fatigue cracks in drill pipes UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6084 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/6084
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMolteno MR. Eddy current detection of fatigue cracks in drill pipes. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment ,Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2012 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6084en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Mechanical Engineeringen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherMechanical Engineeringen_ZA
dc.titleEddy current detection of fatigue cracks in drill pipesen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMScen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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