Corrosion Control and Metallurgy

Services

Cathodic Protection Design

As corrosion specialists, ENTRUST engineers can be relied on for cathodic protection design. We are committed to providing designs that will protect your valuable assets, achieve or exceed their design life, reduce interference with third-party assets, and meet all federal and state regulations. We can also help with test station configurations and design, electrical isolation, and station facilities. We have extensive experience with multiple industries including oil, gas, water, wastewater, and electrical utilities. All designs are performed in accordance with NACE, AWWA, and other guidelines as appropriate.

AC Interference and Stray Current Analysis

With an ever-more crowded world, AC interference situations are increasing in number and intensity. From new construction to existing assets, ENTRUST can accurately analyze the situation at hand. Our team of experts are careful to examine all possible threats and risks before recommending a course of action. We are one of the few firms to perform in-house modeling, with specially trained staff to match any scenario.

DC Interference and Stray Current Analysis

DC interference and stray current can result in vexing situations for the operator. ENTRUST’s corrosion group helps our clients to not only identify where the interference is coming from but help diagnose the situation at hand. Whether its static, dynamic, or a combination of the two, we are prepared to help. Our team has experience with transit, water, petroleum, and electrical power systems. We are uniquely positioned to provide expert recommendations on how to best mitigate the interference to protect your asset.

Oversight & Commissioning

The most critical stage of any asset’s life is construction. ENTRUST provides third-party inspection or oversight services to ensure that construction crews are installing the system as designed. We’re also there to provide sound engineering solutions to any situation that may arise. After construction, our team provides commissioning services to ensure proper installation and performance of the corrosion prevention systems. Other services include post-construction coating surveys, native surveys, rectifier tuning, isolation testing, and baseline reads.

Troubleshooting

When a client has problems with their cathodic protection system, and they’ve sought solutions that have not yielded answers, EN can help. We provide experienced staff with a high degree of technical capabilities to help troubleshoot the situation. With our expertise, we can diagnose the situation at hand and provide custom-tailored remedies. This may require specific field equipment, specialized surveys, coordination with third parties, or the use of software modeling.

Internal Corrosion

By its nature, internal corrosion is not always the easiest situation to monitor or address. ENTRUST helps operators perform routine assessments or address unforeseen situations. Our cross-functional teams from Integrity and Metallurgy assist our Corrosion group in providing the best solutions and recommendations for any issue. Be it coupon testing, liquid sampling, in-line inspections, or even depth of cover surveys, we are here to help.

Wellhead Piping Analysis

ENTRUST’s corrosion experts can help storage fields assess the cathodic protection of their wells or gathering system with field surveys such as ElogI, Cathodic Protection Profile (CPP), interference, or isolation testing. These can be done as stand-alone surveys or performed with other down hole surveys and activities in support of Storage Integrity Management Plans (SIMP). Whether for a single well or the entire field, ENTRUST’s expert team helps owners and operators ensure the asset’s integrity and maintain its working life.

Renewable Energy

For renewable energy, specifically solar and wind (both onshore and offshore), we perform assessments to ensure structures will meet their design life. This assessment considers the environmental conditions, structural design, and local soil conditions. In some instances, coatings and cathodic protection systems may be designed to achieve the desired operational life. We also provide interference studies from these fields onto third party assets, studies on the reverse (third party assets onto the field), and studies on third-party crossings. For permit level activities, we can assist by performing lifecycle calculations and corrosion rate analysis.

Surveys and Inspections

ENTRUST has a qualified and experienced team to perform the field surveys you made need. These include ACVG, DCVG, CIS, ACCA, depth of cover, direct assessments, interference surveys, HDD coating evaluations, native and interrupted surveys, soil resistivity, or even custom troubleshooting. We can assist in code compliance readings including annual surveys, rectifier readings, critical bond assessments, post-construction coating assessments, and atmospheric inspections. Corrosion specialists are also part of a multi-disciplinary team at ENTRUST that performs an external corrosion direct assessment (ECDA) and internal corrosion direct assessment (ICDA): an entire program including a pre-assessment, coating and/or corrosion indirect surveys, direct assessment, data analyses and presentations, and reporting.

Failure Analysis

Pipeline components fail due to unanticipated loading conditions or reduction of material strength from mechanical damage, corrosion, or other environmental factors. Determining the root cause of failure requires understanding of the material properties, microstructure, manufacturing processes, operating conditions and original function of the component. ENTRUST Solutions Group failure analysts are degreed metallurgical and mechanical engineers with decades of pipeline industry experience in determining the cause of failures. Through metallurgical investigations using optical and scanning electron microscopy, and stress analysis using finite element analysis, ENTRUST can determine the cause and suggest corrective actions to guard against similar failures in the future.

Welding Procedure Development and Qualification

ENTRUST Solutions Group provides welding procedure development and qualification to support pipeline installation, maintenance, and repair. Our metallurgical team has assisted pipeline companies in developing new construction and in-service Welding Procedure Specifications (WPSs), Procedure Qualification Reports (PQRs), and welder qualifications. Our services include field qualification and classroom training for WPSs, welder qualification and inspection to ensure safe welds in compliance with regulatory requirements and practices.

Fitness-for-Service/Engineering Critical Assessment (ECA)

A fitness-for-service evaluation determines the capability of an engineering component to continue functioning with a known defect – metal loss, corrosion, crack-like flaws, laminations, etc. When crack-like defects are involved and fracture mechanics methods are employed, the fitness-for-service evaluation is commonly called an engineering critical assessment (ECA). In the petrochemical, refinery and pipeline industries, the standard API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 Fitness-for-Service is widely used and addresses repair or replace decisions for many commonly occurring defect types. ENTRUST Solutions Group has performed many API 579 fitness-for-service evaluations and ECAs on pipelines and pressure vessels with corrosion, mechanical damage, and cracks. These evaluations provided repair/replace decisions and inspection scheduling intervals for components determined suitable for continued operation.

Material Selection & Verification

Procurement of pipeline and facility components to meet design requirements depends upon accurate descriptions in bills-of-material and, upon receipt, verification of proper material to meet the order. Recently enacted federal pipeline regulations require that all components have traceable, verifiable, and complete (TVC) records to be maintained for the life of the pipeline. ENTRUST’s material specialists regularly review the material test reports (MTRs) of purchased engineered components to ensure conformance to industrial standard (ASTM, ASME, API) norms. Integration through ENTRUST data management systems can ensure secure and readily accessible material documentation for efficient operation of industrial facilities.

Pipe Mill Audits and Qualifications

At ENTRUST, our metallurgy group often supports clients to audit pipe mills before adding them as an approved supplier. Within this service, our audit process includes visiting the pipe mill to witness rolling pipe, checking instrumentation, ensuring qualifications are up-to-date, and observing quality processes. We typically either perform this work prior to the client working with a particular pipe mill or when they’ve already purchased pipe for a specific project. In addition to the audit process, our team can also support clients in oversight during the first days of production to ensure the process runs smoothly.

Pipe and Fitting Specifications

ENTRUST’s metallurgical group serve on ASME and API standards committees to participate in the development of pipeline component standards. We have a thorough understanding of industry and regulatory standards and their applications in pipeline design, construction, and operation. ENTRUST’s specialists have produced pipe, fitting and valve specifications for pipeline and industrial facility clients who require more stringent requirements for their operating environments. The safe installation and construction of pipe and fittings benefits from front-end knowledge of metallurgy, material selection, welding procedure development, and best installation practices.