PR652-233815-W01 SSWC Identification and Measuring Grooving Ratio in the Ditch

Dec 17, 2025

This webinar provides an overview of PRCI project NDE-2-15 Selective Seam Weld Corrosion (SSWC) Identification and Measuring Grooving Ratio in the Ditch. SSWC is a narrow form of corrosion occurring at the pipe long seam and results from different corrosion resistance characteristics being present in the seam when compared to the pipe body. This form of corrosion can produce metal loss cross-sections (CS) that are very challenging to resolve with current non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods routinely used in-the-ditch for typical metal loss evaluations. Since the shapes of natural SSWC are known (in many cases) to not conform with the conditions prescribed by laser profilometry manufacturers as valid for their published performance specifications, an investigation into the actual NDE performance of various techniques is required to fill the industry gap. In addition, SSWC has been known to fail at burst pressures significantly lower than would be predicted by commonly used corrosion-based assessment models which are indicative of a plastic collapse failure mode. This observation implies that SSWC can fail in a crack-like manner, and as a result, NDE techniques that are commonly used for crack characterization should be considered as potentially viable NDE technologies when searching for the most accurate NDE technique for validating inline inspection (ILI)-based SSWC calls in the ditch.

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