Hard Spots

Hard spots, which can lead to cracks and unplanned releases, pose a threat to pipeline integrity in any industry, but in gas transmission, their presence can cause critical problems. Brittle hard spots can worsen with pressure cycles, leading to failure if left undetected over time. Ultra-High Resolution (UHR) ILI analysis from ENTEGRA^® detects, identifies and characterizes hard spots to help you identify priority repairs.

What are Hard Spots?

Hard spots are most often found in pipe of a certain vintage, and also result from processes including localized quenching, cold working and welding. Hard spots can appear in many forms—some harder than others—which can make them especially challenging to detect and understand.

In a single run, ENTEGRA’s UHR MFL technology provides more accurate hard spot POD, POI and sizing (POS) of hard spots, while assigning them a hardness value. In contrast, other modern integrity systems require multiple tools to achieve similar results, often without hardness values.

Our analysis enables precision classification of features—including discriminating less threatening expander marks from more concerning quenched hard spots. Our systematic approach pairs the robust data gathered by our advanced UHR ILI tools with human-experience based data insight to help you make optimal operational decisions.

It is crucial to have the right technology, and the right team, on your side when approaching these potentially consequential anomalies.