L51587 Field Techniques to Determine Electrical Shorts Between Carrier Pipe and Casing Pipe

Corrosion protection of pipelines inside casings recently has received increasing attention. Although, historically, the safety record of operating pipelines within casings has been excellent, recent experience of the pipeline industry has suggested that potential problems may exist and improved or new field techniques for monitoring the effectiveness of corrosion control practices need to be developed specifically for the pipeline within casings. Furthermore, the mechanism or the root cause of corrosion of pipelines inside casings needs to be better understood.

The objectives of the research have been to develop a reliable field technique, based upon the AC-impedance technique, to determine whether or not a carrier pipe is electrically (metallically) shorted to a casing pipe, and to develop a prototype instrument for field use. During 1987, Task 1 “Development of a Field Technique to Determine Electrical Shorts” was performed. Major subtasks performed in Task 1 were a review of the currently available field techniques for electrical short detection