Storage Tank Floor and Wall Defect In-Situ Inspection With Ultrasonic Guided Wave Technique

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhanjun Feng ◽  
Weibin Wang ◽  
Wenqiang Tong ◽  
Keyi Yuan ◽  
Zandong Han ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Storage Tank ◽  
Guided Waves ◽  
Ultrasonic Signal ◽  
Guided Wave ◽  
Tank Wall ◽  
Transmission Tomography ◽  
Wall Defect ◽  
Oil Storage ◽  
Ultrasonic Guided Wave

Large storage tanks for oil storage are widely used in petrochemical industry. Corrosion in the tank floor and wall is a serious threat for environmental and economic safety. Owing to their unique potential for long-range, in-plane propagation through plates, Ultrasonic Guided Waves (UGW) offer an obvious solution in the development of an on-board structural health-monitoring (SHM) system, providing assessment of structural integrity for storage tank floor and wall defect in-situ inspection. This paper presents this application by focusing on their propagation through the plate structure. Even very small mechanical discontinuity or geometry change of plate structure, e.g. corrosion defect on tank floor, will influence the propagation characteristic of the guided waves. These effects are measured as mode changes, frequency shifts or filtering, reflection and diffraction of new ultrasonic modes or overall distortion of the original ultrasonic signals. By capturing and analyzing these changes we can deduct the corrosion defect of the tank floor and wall which causes the ultrasonic signal change and interactions. The T/R transducers are required to be attached on the outer edge of the tank floor and outer surface of the tank wall. The technique is developed based on the Lamb wave transmission tomography. Starting from the dispersion curve and choosing the appropriate wave mode, the propagation of the guided waves in the tank floor and wall has been carried out through numerical simulation and the experiment has been conducted for verification using the full-size oil storage tank. The low frequency guided waves can propagate longer distance in planar and tubular structures. The later has been already used in pipeline inspection. The complexity of the application of ultrasonic guided wave in tank floor inspection lies in the object containing multiple lap joint welds along the large diameter of the tank (up to 100 m) and the complicated reconstruction of the two-dimensional defect distribution information. The main scope of the investigation was the application of the ultrasonic transmission tomography for localization of non-uniformities of inside tank floor, taking into account ultrasonic signal losses due to the loading with oil on the top and ground support at the bottom for the tank floor, and the loading with oil inside for the vertical tank wall.

Ultrasonic unilateral double-position excitation lamb wave defect detection and quantification method for ground electrode of transmission tower

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Kuan Ye ◽  
Kai Zhou ◽  
Ren Zhigang ◽  
Ruizhe Zhang ◽  
Chunsheng Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Guided Waves ◽  
Power Transmission ◽  
Geometric Model ◽  
Guided Wave ◽  
Quantization Error ◽  
Dispersion Function ◽  
Stable Operation ◽  
Transmission Tower ◽  
Ultrasonic Guided Wave ◽  
Transmission Towers

The power transmission tower’s ground electrode defect will affect its normal current dispersion function and threaten the power system’s safe and stable operation and even personal safety. Aiming at the problem that the buried grounding grid is difficult to be detected, this paper proposes a method for identifying the ground electrode defects of transmission towers based on single-side multi-point excited ultrasonic guided waves. The geometric model, ultrasonic excitation model, and physical model are established, and the feasibility of ultrasonic guided wave detection is verified through the simulation and experiment. In actual inspection, it is equally important to determine the specific location of the defect. Therefore, a multi-point excitation method is proposed to determine the defect’s actual position by combining the ultrasonic guided wave signals at different excitation positions. Besides, the precise quantification of flat steel grounding electrode defects is achieved through the feature extraction-neural network method. Field test results show that, compared with the commercial double-sided excitation transducer, the single-sided excitation transducer proposed in this paper has a lower defect quantization error in defect quantification. The average quantization error is reduced by approximately 76%.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Guided Wave Inspection of Small-Diameter Elbowed Steel Tubes with a Novel Squirrel-Cage Magnetostrictive Sensor

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Yao Liu ◽  
Xiucheng Liu ◽  
Chehua Yang ◽  
Wenxin Guo ◽  
Bin Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Finite Element ◽  
Guided Waves ◽  
Mode Conversion ◽  
Small Diameter ◽  
Longitudinal Mode ◽  
Guided Wave ◽  
Wall Defect ◽  
Squirrel Cage ◽  
Simulation Results ◽  
Magnetostrictive Sensor

In the study, ultrasonic longitudinal mode guided waves were employed to detect defects in elbowed tubes (without welds) with a diameter of 10 mm. Finite element simulation results highlighted that the emitted L(0,1) mode guided waves experienced strong reflection and mode conversion at the elbow region to generate F(1,1) mode, followed by slow and weak F(2,1) mode. The guided wave reflected from the elbow with a through-wall defect was manifested as two overlapped wave packets, which were good indicators of a defective elbow. To conduct L(0,1) mode guided waves inspection on the small-diameter elbowed tubes, a novel tailored squirrel-cage magnetostrictive sensor was employed in the experiment. The new sensor employed the configuration of segmental iron-cobalt strips and small-size permanent magnet arrays. The entire sensor is composed of two identical C-shaped sensor elements and can be recycled and installed conveniently. Experimental results obtained from healthy and defective tubes were consistent with the conclusions obtained from finite element simulations. An artificial through-wall defect at the elbow and a notch defect at the straight part of the tube could be simultaneously detected by L(0,1) mode guided waves through comparing experimental signals with simulation results.

scholarly journals Rail Diagnostics Based on Ultrasonic Guided Waves: An Overview

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1071
Author(s):  
Davide Bombarda ◽  
Giorgio Matteo Vitetta ◽  
Giovanni Ferrante
Keyword(s):  
Guided Waves ◽  
Structural Integrity ◽  
Diagnostic Procedures ◽  
Guided Wave ◽  
Rolling Stock ◽  
Technical Literature ◽  
Track Maintenance ◽  
Rail Network ◽  
Ultrasonic Guided Wave ◽  
Maintenance And Inspection

Rail tracks undergo massive stresses that can affect their structural integrity and produce rail breakage. The last phenomenon represents a serious concern for railway management authorities, since it may cause derailments and, consequently, losses of rolling stock material and lives. Therefore, the activities of track maintenance and inspection are of paramount importance. In recent years, the use of various technologies for monitoring rails and the detection of their defects has been investigated; however, despite the important progresses in this field, substantial research efforts are still required to achieve higher scanning speeds and improve the reliability of diagnostic procedures. It is expected that, in the near future, an important role in track maintenance and inspection will be played by the ultrasonic guided wave technology. In this manuscript, its use in rail track monitoring is investigated in detail; moreover, both of the main strategies investigated in the technical literature are taken into consideration. The first strategy consists of the installation of the monitoring instrumentation on board a moving test vehicle that scans the track below while running. The second strategy, instead, is based on distributing the instrumentation throughout the entire rail network, so that continuous monitoring in quasi-real-time can be obtained. In our analysis of the proposed solutions, the prototypes and the employed methods are described.

scholarly journals Development of Ultrasonic Guided Wave Transducer for Monitoring of High Temperature Pipelines

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (24) ◽  
pp. 5443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anurag Dhutti ◽  
Saiful Asmin Tumin ◽  
Wamadeva Balachandran ◽  
Jamil Kanfoud ◽  
Tat-Hean Gan
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Guided Waves ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Element Model ◽  
Wave Mode ◽  
Guided Wave ◽  
Electromechanical Impedance ◽  
Active Sensor ◽  
Ultrasonic Guided Wave ◽  
Modes Of Vibration

High-temperature (HT) ultrasonic transducers are of increasing interest for structural health monitoring (SHM) of structures operating in harsh environments. This article focuses on the development of an HT piezoelectric wafer active sensor (HT-PWAS) for SHM of HT pipelines using ultrasonic guided waves. The PWAS was fabricated using Y-cut gallium phosphate (GaPO4) to produce a torsional guided wave mode on pipes operating at temperatures up to 600 °C. A number of confidence-building tests on the PWAS were carried out. HT electromechanical impedance (EMI) spectroscopy was performed to characterise piezoelectric properties at elevated temperatures and over long periods of time (>1000 h). Laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) was used to verify the modes of vibration. A finite element model of GaPO4 PWAS was developed to model the electromechanical behaviour of the PWAS and the effect of increasing temperatures, and it was validated using EMI and LDV experimental data. This study demonstrates the application of GaPO4 for guided-wave SHM of pipelines and presents a model that can be used to evaluate different transducer designs for HT applications.

scholarly journals Warped Wigner-Hough Transform for Defect Reflection Enhancement in Ultrasonic Guided Wave Monitoring

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca De Marchi ◽  
Emanuele Baravelli ◽  
Giampaolo Cera ◽  
Nicolò Speciale ◽  
Alessandro Marzani
Keyword(s):  
Hough Transform ◽  
Guided Waves ◽  
Lamb Waves ◽  
Guided Wave ◽  
Nonlinear Signal Processing ◽  
Localization Accuracy ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Ultrasonic Guided Wave ◽  
Inspection Systems ◽  
Nonlinear Signal

To improve the defect detectability of Lamb wave inspection systems, the application of nonlinear signal processing was investigated. The approach is based on a Warped Frequency Transform (WFT) to compensate the dispersive behavior of ultrasonic guided waves, followed by a Wigner-Ville time-frequency analysis and the Hough Transform to further improve localization accuracy. As a result, an automatic detection procedure to locate defect-induced reflections was demonstrated and successfully tested by analyzing numerically simulated Lamb waves propagating in an aluminum plate. The proposed method is suitable for defect detection and can be easily implemented for real-world structural health monitoring applications.

Development of On-Line Health Monitoring System for Pipes in Nuclear Power Plants

2006 ◽  
Vol 321-323 ◽  
pp. 441-444
Author(s):  
Heung Seop Eom ◽  
Sa Hoe Lim ◽  
Jae Hee Kim ◽  
Young H. Kim ◽  
Hak Joon Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Guided Waves ◽  
Guided Wave ◽  
Wave System ◽  
Ultrasonic Guided Wave ◽  
On Line ◽  
Series Of Experiments

This study was aimed at developing an effective method and a system for on-line health monitoring of pipes in nuclear power plants by using ultrasonic guided waves. For this purpose we developed a multi-channel ultrasonic guided wave system for a long-range inspection of pipes and a few techniques which can effectively find defects in pipes. To validate the developed system we performed a series of experiments and analyzed the results.

Analysis of Detection Quality for Ultrasonic Guided Wave With L(0,2) and T(0,1) in the Pressure Pipe

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu-Hong Liu ◽  
Ju Ding ◽  
Chen-huai Tang ◽  
Pan Song ◽  
Deng-chao Tang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Guided Waves ◽  
Longitudinal Mode ◽  
Guided Wave ◽  
Propagation Direction ◽  
Wave Propagation Direction ◽  
Detection Ability ◽  
Torsion Mode ◽  
Pressure Pipe ◽  
Ultrasonic Guided Wave ◽  
Detection Quality

Abstract Torsion mode and longitudinal mode are used primarily in ultrasonic guided wave inspection, especially L (0, 2) mode and T (0, 1) mode. There are some differences between them, like excitation method, mode of particle vibration, inspection ability and impact factor. So, it is very important to select the appropriate mode between L (0,2) and T(0,1). In this paper, the detection ability of two guided wave modes are compared and analyzed with regard to four aspects in the pipe: fluid, liquid level, defects, the angle between defect and wave propagation direction. The experimental results show that L (0,2) mode is more suitable for defect detection in pressure pipe than T (0,1) mode, but L (0,2) mode is more sensitive to fluid in a pipe. This paper provides a basis for selecting the mode of guided waves in ultrasonic detection.

Noncontact/Remote Material Characterization Using Ultrasonic Guided Wave Methods

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaoyun Ma ◽  
Lingyu Yu
Keyword(s):  
Guided Waves ◽  
Broad Band ◽  
Laser Doppler Vibrometer ◽  
Pulsed Laser ◽  
Guided Wave ◽  
Target Plate ◽  
Ultrasonic Guided Wave ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Aluminum Plates ◽  
Wave Methods

Abstract Noncontact and remote NDE systems and methods are highly desired in a broad range of engineering applications such as material property characterization. This paper aims to develop such a noncontact/remote NDE system based on laser ultrasonic guided waves and establish its fundamental capability for material thickness evaluation. The noncontact system employs pulsed laser (PL) for guided wave actuation and scanning laser Doppler vibrometer (SLDV) for guided wave wavefield sensing. A cylindrical planoconvex lens is adopted to focus the pulsed laser beam to a line source in order to excite broad band signals in the target plate. Aluminum plates with different thicknesses are evaluated through SLDV line scans and 2D time-space wavefields are acquired. Frequency-wavenumber (f-k) spectra are obtained through 2D Fourier transform, and the A0 dispersion curve for each plate is extracted. Through Comparing the extracted A0 curve with the theoretical A0 dispersion curves, the thicknesses of the tested plates are identified. Reflective tape effect on the plates are also studied: the reflective tape attached for SLDV enhancement affects the guided waves in the target plate significantly when the plate is relatively thin.

Ultrasonic Guided Wave Testing of Finned Tubing

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen M. Malinowski ◽  
Matthew S. Lindsey ◽  
Jason K. Van Velsor
Keyword(s):  
Wave Propagation ◽  
Guided Waves ◽  
Tube Wall ◽  
Guided Wave ◽  
Ultrasonic Guided Waves ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Inspection Method ◽  
Ultrasonic Guided Wave ◽  
Guided Wave Propagation ◽  
Wave Modes

In the past few decades, ultrasonic guided waves have been utilized more frequently Non-Destructive Testing (NDT); most notably, in the qualitative screening of buried piping. However, only a fraction of their potential applications in NDT have been fully realized. This is due, in part, to their complex nature, as well as the high level of expertise required to understand and utilize their propagation characteristics. The mode/frequency combinations that can be generated in a particular structure depend on geometry and material properties and are represented by the so-called dispersion curves. Although extensive research has been done in ultrasonic guided wave propagation in various geometries and materials, the treatment of ultrasonic guided wave propagation in periodic structures has received little attention. In this paper, academic aspects of ultrasonic guided wave propagation in structures with periodicity in the wave vector direction are investigated, with the practical purpose of developing an ultrasonic guided wave based inspection technique for finned tubing. Theoretical, numerical, and experimental methods are employed. The results of this investigation show excellent agreement between theory, numerical modeling, and experimentation; all of which indicate that ultrasonic guided waves will propagate coherently in finned tube only if the proper wave modes and frequencies are selected. It is shown that the frequencies at which propagating wave modes exist can be predicted theoretically and numerically, and depend strongly on the fin geometry. Furthermore, the results show that these propagating wave modes are capable of screening for and identifying the axial location of damage in the tube wall, as well as separation of the fins from the tube wall. The conclusion drawn from these results is that Guided Wave Testing (GWT) is a viable inspection method for screening finned tubing.

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