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VERNE®, subsea pipeline and structural integrity assessment tool

VERNE® is designed to be fitted to a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) and combines two high-end complementary technologies: Long Range Ultrasonic Testing (LRUT) to gain a long range scanning ability in both direction from inspection point and Ultrasonic Normal Probe Array (UNPA) to achieve superior topographical information in defect characterization.

The purpose of LRUT is screening of pipelines or tubular structures in order to establish the presence or absence of defects. If LRUT proves that there are defects present at a given location, then the ROV will move the inspection unit to that specific location for detailed characterisation and sizing of the defect via UNPA.

The compact light-weight NDT measurement tool is a modular system, combining a Clamp, a Hydraulic system and a Canister with electronics. With easy connection to the ROV by an ethernet cable and a standard fish-tail handle mounted on top of the VERNE® Clamp that fits to the ROV manipulator arm, and the VERNE® system is ready for use.

VERNE®, through rapid, automated, accurate, and cost-effective NDT, will be instrumental in addressing the urgent need for extending offshore asset lifetimes and postponing their costly decommissioning while eliminating the risk of catastrophic failures.

VERNE® INNOVATION: The project VERNE® originated as an European
Commission FP6 project primarly for LRUT inspection of Risers (2006-2008). The following SubCTest FP7 project aimed to use Alternating Current Field Measurement (ACFM) and Long Range Ultrasonic Testing (LRUT) sensors to inspect underwater pipelines and tubular structures. This project was finalized in a laboratory tank of the effectiveness of both types of sensors.

Subsequently, the project was offered a grant from the European Commission to validate the technology at Technology Readiness TRL7 and the follow-on project was entitled SubCTestDEMO. This project resulted in a prototype validated at TRL7 in a subsea environment using a work class ROV to test a subsea pipeline.

Following this successful outcome, in 2017, the two remaining SMEs Dacon AS and I&T Nardoni Instititute SRL were awarded a Horizon 2020 development project by the European Commission. The mandate of this project was to commercialize an NDT measurement instrument capable of screening tubular structures for loss of wall thickness in a subsea environment.

Based upon an extensive test program of both laboratory pool and open water tests, and in cooperation with an independent ROV manufacturer the VERNE® system has proven to be robust and reliable. Through close cooperation with TWI Ltd the VERNE® system has been validated to TRL9.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 – research and Innovation programme under the grant agreement No.778998

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OTD 2019 exhibition

Dear all,

Thank you so much for meeting us at the OTD 2019 and we are looking forward to submit more information about VERNE.

Next time we will attend to the AIPND National Conference 2019 in Milano, 23.-25. October.

Team VERNE

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OMC 2019 exhibition

Dear all,

Thank you so much for meeting us at the OMC 2019 and we are looking forward to submit more information about VERNE.

Next time we will attend to the OTD 2019 in Stavanger, Norway. 16.-17. October.

Team VERNE

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Oi America 2019 exhibition

Dear Oi America 2019 visitors,

Thank you so much for meeting us at the Oi America 2019 and for your time demonstrating the VERNE Clamp. We are looking forward to submit more information about VERNE.

Next time we will attend to the OMC 2019 exhibition in Ravenna, 27.-29.March.

Team VERNE

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VERNE® project

In 2017 Dacon AS and I&T Nardoni Institute SRL were awarded a Horizon 2020 technology develop­ment project by the European Commission (EASME). The mandate of this project is to commercialise a NDT instrument, VERNE®, capable of scanning/ screening tubular steel structures for wall thickness in a subsea en­vironment.

VERNE is an independent module that is designed to be fitted to a wide range of underwater Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and combines two high-end complementary technologies: Long Range Ultrasonic Testing (LRUT) to gain a long range scanning ability (100m radius around device) and Ultrasonic Normal Probe Array (UNPA) to achieve superior topical accuracy in defect characterisation. VERNE will be instrumental in addressing the urgent need for extending offshore asset lifetime and postponing their costly decommissioning while eliminating the risk of catastrophic failures through rapid, automated, accurate, and cost-effective NDT.

VERNE’s innovation: Plant Integrity (a former TWI subsidiary and sold thecommercial manufacture and supply of the Teletest inspection system to Eddyfi in 2018) has developed a solution able to detect flaws up to 100 metres either side of the inspection tool, aptly named long-range ultrasonic testing or LRUT. This means it can accurately detect wall thickness loss on both internal and external surfaces over a 200m range from inspection point. In the context of a successfully completed FP7 project, Dacon and Nardoni have developed – together with TWI – a marinised version of the LRUT equipment and an Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducer (EMAT) system that complements LRUT. As a more effective alternative to EMATs, VERNE will compliment the LRUT with an Ultrasonic Normal Probe Array (UNPA), integrated with the LRUT transducers inside one collar that is clamped around the pipe. The UNPA will take pipe-wall thickness measurements pre-LRUT that provides important information for the LRUT calibration and map corrosion in the pipe-wall under the collar position at which it is placed post-LRUT. The integrated LRUT and UNPA systems will provide a single modular solution that can be easily modified to attach itself to any ROV, allowing VERNE™ to be an important accessory for existing inspection ROVs; widening the market for the product.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 – research and Innovation programme under the grant agreement No.778998