With HBK’s help, extra strain gauges were installed at the verification points. To ensure accurate measurement data, the measuring points on the pipe were cleaned, sanded down and polished before the strain gauges were fitted. In total, 11 strain gauges were placed on the pipe using quick-drying glue and were connected to the QuantumX amplifier. Once all the strain gauges were in place, the pipe was pressurized up to 690 bar in stages using N2.
The client also wanted to leak-test a component on the pipe, so therefore gas (rather than liquid) was used in the testing. HBK’s catmanEasy software was used to adjust the necessary settings on the amplifier and to log data from the strain gauges and other sensors during testing. The measurements could be directly compared with the client’s calculations, saving them a lot of subsequent redesign and calculation work.