Pipeline curvature and displacement refer to the unintended movement or alteration of pipelines from their original positioning, often due to external forces such as soil erosion, seismic activity, landslides, or anthropogenic activities. These geo-hazards pose significant risks to the integrity and safety of pipeline systems, potentially leading to leaks, ruptures, and environmental contamination.

Inline inspection is widely used as an NDE inspection technique for pipelines. However, detecting displacements may also involve other various techniques and technologies to monitor and assess the structural integrity of pipelines without needing to access the interior, like visual inspections, radar, laser scanning, remote sensing or engineering geodesy. Using strain gauges is another method as well but may require access to the pipeline for retrofitting.

On the other hand, external pipeline inspection methods have been developed to support pipeline operators with their integrity management programs. Here, current magnetometry inspection (CMI) techniques can be employed to detect pipeline features, in particular pipeline curvatures and displacements, which are critical for ensuring the safety and integrity of pipelines. This approach may not replace inline inspection. However, the current magnetometry inspection (CMI) technique requires only a relatively low number of resources but provides information more quickly and allows recording of frequent data sets in dynamic environments.

This paper shows how current magnetometry inspection (CMI) techniques can be a complement or, sometimes, even an alternative to detect minor displacements before they become significant issues, to record changes in pipeline elevation due to ground movement or to track movements over time by providing data without adding significant resources.