Damage Detection in Lab-Scaled Underwater PVC Pipes Using Cylindrical Lamb Waves

This study presents a nondestructive test for underwater PVC pipes. To use guided ultrasonic waves, specially denoted by cylindrical Lamb waves, a test setup was made in a water tank using the pitch and catch mode and specimens were made to give artificial cutouts located in the circumferential direction of the pipes. Total three states of damaged levels were considered to see how the guided waves interact with the defects. For the experimental adjustments, three different pipe diameters (60, 90, 114 mm) were tested, and two factors - incident angle (10 and $40^{\circ}$) and distance (50 and 200 mm) - were tried. From the results, regardless of the diameters and two experimental factors, it is shown that the degrees of defects were recognized through amplitude and arrived time of the very first part of the received cylindrical Lamb waves. Between amplitude and arrived time, it is found that the amplitude gives more sensitive results.