Interesting way to test. Overpressure, stand back and see what blows. Yep, thars tha weak spot raht near Weedpatch.
You can do X-rays and ultrasound until you are blue in the face, but in the end the real pressure is the only test that is conclusive.
Imagine that instead of testing the pipe this way they'd send a robot into the pipe. The robot would have returned fuzzy pictures and engineers would then tell their bosses "Well, we think this spot here and that spot there are kinda weak..." One option is to spend $100K on digging and repairs of a pipe that may be good enough for a few more years. Another option is to declare it safe and do nothing. Can you imagine what the management would do?
But now the pipe is all blown up and there is no debate. That's why it is safer to test.
I read in an engineering publication that the water test is what the state regulators want, not x-rays or ultrasound. It’s going to take them a long time to test all their line.
That's the exact way that the local gas company tests houses when they re-connect gas.
In the field case, as well as home cases, air is used as the test medium.
How would you do it differently? and why?
/johnny
If the pipe passes that test, meaning the pitting or cutting isn't too bad, then the pipe is pressure tested.
Testing to the pressure that it will be used is useless, you have to overpressure to make sure it holds. It didn't.