The ultimate quality assessment, inspired by dolphins and bats

Regardless of material (HDPE 100, RC, PP) and type of fusion (Butt Fusion, Electro Fusion, Infrared) this service will enable you the certainty you deserve, when closing a trench.

You surely already felt this little thrill upon start-up of a new pipeline, wondering if it was going to meet the expected lifetime.

Construction workers are tidying up their tools, the engine driver sits on the excavator – waiting to close the trench, and your phone keeps ringing – "are you done? Can we re-open the road?"

And yet, you doubt:

• What if a tiny worm was already lying in the fruit you are about to commission?
• What are the odds that it leads to a leak?
• What would be the consequences? How much would it cost? (Would you be held responsible?)

Most of the people would cover for this risk with hydrostatic pressure tests only.

Still, studies show that 1 out of 300 welds leak every year on utility networks. Over a service life of 50 years, that's an expected weld failure rate of 16%.

How is this possible? Simple: assessing the fate of a weld with a pressure test equals to judge a movie by its poster.

It provides you with first impression, not long-term information.

Some would solve this, by adding destructive testing in the game.

That might sound as a good Idea, as tensile rupture tests – for instance – allow finding indications and measuring the remaining weld bound. It is thus possible to assess that the tested weld won't be leaking in the future… It's just a pity it's the one you just cut!

As you are still demurring, you consider commissioning your pipeline as it is. After all, how many welds are there? Was it 10, there would be a 17% chance that no weld ever leaks over the 50-years lifetime expectancy.

Was it 20, the chances would drop to 3%.

But what would be the consequences of a leak?

On a water transport line, a leak leads to leakS, as studies show that on average, 19 new incidents arise across the distribution network from the first one.

On gas lines, you would have to evacuate the entire area, shut down the electrical network for the time of the reparation, mobilize emergency services, interrupt peripheral services (transport) and indemnify all these people once you solved the issue.

What would be the costs? We will come to that later.

For now, you are still standing next to this trench, and your phone keeps ringing. You feel a mix of fear and anger. Why does all of this rely on you? Is there a way to support you?

How can you be sure that the welds on your pipeline will stand the expected lifetime?

This is where the GF "Fit for Service" quality assessment will bring you tremendous value.

This service provides you with the best of 25 years material research, 5 years process development and… nature observation.

Let's see what we learned from dolphins and bats

Both animals have in common, that they operate in low visibility environments. To compensate, millennia of evolution have equipped them with ultrasonic emitters and receivers allowing to detect, interpret and translate echoes, to see obstacles, preys or threats, which are invisible to the eyes.

As you stand next to your trench, that's what you want – to see what's inside the weld, regardless of fusion type (Butt Fusion, Electro Fusion…) or pipe material (HDPE 100, RC, PP…).

But even the best picture – or movie – in the world won't tell you if the weld is good or not!

How can you decide to commission and close the trench if you still lack the most important information?

If you still read this article, you definitely are the kind of people, which deserves our dedication.

In fact, four years long, one of our best engineers committed to find the Holy Grail, linking indications in welds and long-term fate of the weld strength. He spent days almost without seeing the sun light, reconstructing any field cases you may encounter, then measuring the big-picture consequences infinitesimal changes could generate.

And he found it: the GF weld assessment algorithm. The Holy Grail of weld assessment.

The way we bring this to life is extremely simple. Our field inspectors visit your construction site, looking for any indication in your welds, down to the millimeter, using various ultrasonic techniques (TOFD, PAUT) and advanced field equipment.

If existing, they measure, locate and save these indications in a field report. The report then feeds the assessment algorithm, resulting in a clear "Pass" or "Fail" statement.

Here are the key elements of our offering:

• The revolutionary technique which enabled dozens of asset managers to close their trenches without any second thoughts (and never open them again)
• A non-destructive procedure which correlates so accurately that it eliminates about any kind of capital risk
• A disturbance-free inspection coupled with a light-fast report generation, so that you will almost forget, you added a new quality procedure to your construction sites
• The Holy Grail of weld assessment, coupled with DTS 16943 certified inspectors, to bring the state-of-the-art polish your field works deserve
• The absolute certainty, you will never become "the guy that costed 1 million, when he allowed to commission a pipeline he never should have"

Yes that's right, you just read the answer to the question we previously left open:

Studies show, that the average leakage on a gas line costs a total of 1 million dollars, when summing up direct and indirect costs.

If that is the kind of risk you are NOT willing to take, contact us now and take advantage from the few inspection slots that are left open in our 2019 agenda!

And of course, as we stand for our results: should any of the welds we assessed with a "Pass" finally fail within 10 years upon inspection, please instantly claim our weld warranty: we would cover for the replacement costs up to 10'000 $ per weld!

See what some of our happy customers tell about our service:

"The result of the check comes quickly and the method is cost effective"

Norrvatten, Sweden.

"The tightness of welding joints in plastic pipelines can be studied by Georg Fischer NDT ultrasound imaging. Yesterday, for the first time in Finland, the method was successfully used for butt welding at the first transfer sewer construction site"

Tampere Region Central Cleaning Company, Finland

Would you like to discover more, come and visit my conference in SAPPMA, South Africa: