Process Plant NDT Simulator: the Oil and Gas Site Workplace
The oil and gas site is the process-plant workplace in Atlantis Practical NDT: weld, corrosion, tube and screening practice in a plant setting. It is where a trainee moves from bench specimens to the kind of assets an inspection contractor meets on site, such as pipe, fittings, welds, exchanger and boiler tubes and long pipe runs, with visual inspection from a drone over the plant.
What the plant stages
- Thickness and weld work by ultrasonics, with the same two-reference calibration and coverage rules as the bench.
- Corrosion work by phased array and weld work by TOFD.
- IRIS on exchanger and boiler tubes: the trainee centres the probe in the tube and scans.
- Guided-wave screening (long-range ultrasonic testing, LRUT): fit the collar and set the test range.
- Positive material identification by XRF on alloy references and unidentified samples.
- Visual inspection from a drone, with coverage earned from the frames captured.
Guided-wave pipe screening
The 18 guided-wave jobs start with fitting a collar to the pipe and setting the test range. The simulator computes the range, the dead zone and the attenuation along the pipe, which are the three things that decide what a guided-wave test can and cannot say: how far it reaches in each direction, what it cannot see close to the collar, and how quickly the signal fades with distance. Guided wave is a screening technique; it tells you where to look, and a follow-up method such as ultrasonic thickness measurement tells you what is there.
Alloy checks by XRF
The 8 positive material identification jobs analyse alloy references and unidentified samples by X-ray fluorescence. The simulator reports the measured elements and reports light elements as not measured, which is the honest limit of handheld XRF and the point most often misunderstood about it. The reference samples are teaching samples, not certified reference materials.
The plant problems behind the jobs
Process plant inspection is driven by what operation does to equipment: internal and external corrosion thinning pipe and vessel walls, corrosion under insulation, erosion at bends and fittings, cracking at welds, tube wall loss in exchangers and boilers, and the wrong alloy installed where a specified one was needed. Thickness surveys, corrosion mapping, tube inspection, guided-wave screening and PMI each answer one of those questions. The simulator lets a trainee practise the technique for each before standing in front of the real equipment with a permit, a scaffold and a time limit.
Practice that does not wait for plant access
On real plant, practice has to fit around production, permits and access, which is why technicians often reach a job with fewer repetitions than anyone would choose. The simulator removes that constraint: a thickness survey, a guided-wave set-up or an XRF check can be repeated in minutes, at any hour, and offline packs let a technician practise during a rotation, while travelling or on site before a shift. Real plant time is then spent on what only real plant can teach.
What the plant jobs reference
The jobs follow the twelve-step training procedure, with syllabus references and pinned revisions. In-service inspection intervals, corrosion rates and acceptance on real plant belong to the owner's inspection programme and its inspectors; the training report states that code acceptance is not evaluated. For the real work, see inspection services.
What a virtual plant cannot reproduce
Heat, noise, permits, scaffolding, insulation that has to be removed, coatings, deposits and the time pressure of a turnaround are absent from a screen, and so is the feel of scanning hot, curved, pitted pipe. The models are analytical teaching approximations, not validated engineering tools. The plant in the simulator is preparation for site work, not a substitute for supervised site experience.
Frequently asked questions
Can I practise guided-wave screening?
Yes. The guided-wave jobs have you fit a collar and set the test range, and the simulator computes the range, dead zone and attenuation along the pipe.
Does the XRF job measure every element?
No. Light elements are reported as not measured, as with real handheld XRF, and the reference samples are not certified reference materials.
Can technicians practise without a connection on site?
Yes. Practical NDT installs as a progressive web application, offline packs of environments and equipment can be downloaded, and progress is saved locally.
Next steps
Practical NDT is a training simulation, not a validated engineering tool. It runs in a standard browser, works offline once downloaded, extends to standalone headsets and is integrated with the Atlantis LMS and ERP, so learners reach it from the client portal with one sign-in. Practice in it does not replace the practical examination or the experience hours your written practice requires.
Speak to an ASNT NDT Level III
Discuss your inspection requirements with Atlantis NDT. Include the asset, method, location and documents you need reviewed.