3D Scanning for Flange Flatness

Leaking flanges are incredibly common, but often the root cause is not understood.

One method of determining the root cause is to measure the flange flatness / profile.

Traditionally, dial indicators have been used to measure points radially around the flange face, and then that data is transposed into a spreadsheet. Essentially, the tabulated data serves as a very low resolution mesh.

With 3D scanning, you can quickly and accurately gather millions of data points to see the true flange profile. This allows you to inspect and analyze the flange profile in high definition.

A sample 3d scan of flange face is shown below. The image shows high and low spots from a best fit plane on the flange. The red areas are high from the best fit plane, and the blue areas are low. You can see that this flange example is warped.

The data from a 3D scanned flange can then be used to determine the machining depth needed for a repair, it can be used for specifying new gaskets, identify issues with bolt stress causing warpage, finite element analysis, thermal analysis, and many other things.

To learn more about if 3D scanning flange faces is for you, please contact us and we will be happy to help.