Internal coating of carbon steel pipelines is well known and widely used to prevent internal corrosion, CO2 corrosion, stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and microbiological-induced corrosion (MIC). The effectiveness of coatings is dependent on the coating material and the quality of the coating application throughout the pipeline. One of the most critical challenges associated with constructing an effectively internally coated pipeline is ensuring that the internal field joints1 are coated with good quality assurance, which in turn is largely dependent upon the quality of the girth weld2 profile.

Remotely operated visual cameras are generally used to assess the coatability of the weld joints. The camera provides a 2-D top-down view of the weld area which aids the field personnel to identify possible weld anomalies or other features that require attention prior to field joint coating.

Laser Scanning is a technique that provides an accurate real-time 3-D imaging of the field joint area which is evaluated using an algorithm and thus a quantifiable and repeatable coatability analysis of the internal field joint area. This paper discusses the process and advantages of the laser scanning and how it can help improve construction schedule while raising the level of quality assurance for the girth weld coating.