Regular inspections are vital for water infrastructure assets – but standard testing techniques often require this essential infrastructure to be taken offline.
Across Australia, water and wastewater assets are often decades old. Many are nearing the end of their service life and owners and operators are seeking ways to ascertain their structural integrity and remaining service life (RSL). The need to pay close attention to inspection, ongoing maintenance and replacement planning is pivotal to ensuring the continued safety of an asset for both staff and the community, and the return on investment (ROI) of the asset to the owner.
External forces such as growing populations and extreme weather events are adding further strain on essential water and wastewater infrastructure.
Asset owners, managers and engineers must balance planning for future growth with the need to keep infrastructure functioning and maximise its lifespan. They must also plan for minimal service interruptions due to inspections, maintenance, or equipment replacement.
Providing superior corrosion resistance at lower cost than stainless steel, glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) composites are already widely used in potable water and wastewater systems for pipes, storage tanks, scrubbers, ducting, covers and other equipment.
RPC Technologies is one of the most experienced manufacturers of GRP assets in Australia and Southeast Asia, and it also has the exclusive licence to a world-leading condition assessment technology, UltraAnalytix®.
Setting the standard
Most asset management programs require periodic inspection and evaluation of the equipment’s RSL. However, while there are established objective methods for determining RSL of equipment made from steel, there are no consensus standards that apply to inspecting GRP.
With ducting and piping, traditional techniques that rely on visual inspection – often requiring the asset to taken offline – are impractical, expensive, time-consuming and often provide limited insight. As a result, inspection delays occur and subsequently a failure may happen without warning. RPC’s condition assessment using the UltraAnalytix® NDT system is a proven, non-intrusive and non-destructive evaluation method that provides objective data to evaluate the current condition and RSL of GRP equipment – without taking the asset offline. As well as pipes and tanks, composites are used in reverse osmosis (RO) pressure vessels for desalination facilities that supply potable water.
The technology is still used today meaning there are potentially tens of thousands of RO units worldwide that may be nearing the end of their service life. However, while design and construction codes cover how RO vessels must be manufactured, they provide no guidance for determining ongoing fitness‑for‑service.
Collaborative research between RPC and UTComp has demonstrated that UltraAnalytix® technology can provide a fast, reliable and cost-effective method for determining the fitness-for-service of RO vessels.
Regular condition assessment and inspection using the UltraAnalytix® system can save the water sector significant costs by reducing losses of valuable assets through leaks and other failures, improving safety and reliability, and increasing operational uptime and lowering capital replacement costs.
UltraAnalytix® non-destructive testing is a fast, accurate, safe and cost-effective way for asset owners to assess the RSL of their GRP assets while avoiding unnecessary downtime and replacement costs.
For more information, visit rpctechnologies.com
