Water
Buried Trunk Main Inspection
The UK water distrbution system is reliant on large diameter trunk mains, some of which are up to 175 years old. The conditon of this Victorian infrastructure is largely unknown, and for the most part has never been inspected. Some of these pipes are particularly susceptible to corrosion, and an average 50 million litres of clean water are lost in trunk main leaks every single day. Currently, maintainance is based around a reactive approach to incidents, and there is no established non-destructive solution for routine trunk main inspection.​
FM Stake
​Full Matrix are developing a keyhole inspection technology to perform in-situ, non-destructive testing on buried water mains. The system will operate through a narrow channel cut into the earth, through which a probe is inserted to perform ultrasound measurements at the surface of the pipe. In this challenging environment, EMAT sensors offer a distinct advantage, as they may operate on corroded and uneven surfaces, even without direct surface contact.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
The data from each inspection will classify the type of pipe and evaluate its condition, to estimate the lifetime of the trunk main. Building records of this information is vitally important, as it will allow future scheduled maintainance to be targeted more effectively, resulting in much less disruption. Non-destructive exploration will also reduce the time, cost and disruption caused by excavating large sections of active trunk mains and removing samples for testing.