GRTgaz & MESUREX RICE collaboration: designing tomorrow's energy infrastructures

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Despite the maturity of polyethylene (PE) electro-welding technology, some defects still escape detection by quality testing. Recent developments in in-situ non-destructive testing (NDT) have made it possible to detect some of these defects after welding, but too late.

It is therefore necessary to set up additional procedures to ensure the quality of electro-weldable fittings as far upstream as possible, and thermal energy dispersion conditions for a good weld.

To guarantee the quality of the weld, it is necessary to monitor the evolution of temperature fields within the two components in contact, throughout the electro-welding cycle. For map temperature at the interface of an electro-welded assembly, the GRTgaz's Research and Innovation Center for Energy (RICE) has developed - with Mesurex - a specific concept:

> one template pipe, polyethylene pipe, a non-weldable polymer with thermal parameters similar to those of PE, and instrumented with 179 temperature sensors. The optimized arrangement of the sensors enables real-time thermal mapping of the interface throughout the welding cycle. All 179 thermocouples are then connected to a Mesurex datalogger.

Based on the temperature field, a « inter-diffusion parameter »is calculated at each location and compared with reference values attached to different PE grades. This makes it possible to assess weld quality in advance, in terms of design and welding conditions. This technical solution can be implemented in the laboratory during the qualification or batch release phases, or during production monitoring. It can also be used as an expert tool for geometric and electrical dimensioning of EF fittings during the design phase.

To accompany this RICE research project towards new energy infrastructures, Mesurex instrumented the customer's part and supplied 179 single-stranded Ø0.1mm type K FTT thermocouples, as well as a 200-channel data acquisition unit, with data recording, processing and display on a PC..