• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.761-776
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• 2018

Guided wave testing is a reliable and safe method for pipeline inspection. In general, guided wave testing employs a circumferential array of piezoelectric transducers to clamp on the pipe circumference. The sensitivity of the operation depends on many factors, including transducer distribution across the circumferential array. This paper presents the sensitivity analysis of transducer array for the circumferential characteristics of guided waves in a pipe using finite element modelling and experimental studies. Various cases are investigated for the outputs of guided waves in the numerical simulations, including the number of transducers per array, transducer excitation variability and variations in transducer spacing. The effect of the dimensions of simulated notches in the pipe is also investigated for different arrangements of the transducer array. The results from the finite element numerical simulations are then compared with the related experimental results. Results show that the numerical outputs agree well with the experimental data, and the guided wave mode T(0,1) presents high sensitivity to the notch size in the circumferential direction, but low sensitivity to the notch size in the axial direction.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.100-105
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• 2014

It has been previously reported that in principle sludge and blockages can be detected and even characterized by using guided ultrasonic torsional waves, based on an idealized model in which the sludge layer was simplified in terms of geometry and material properties. The work revealed that the presence of a layer inside a pipe scatters the guided wave propagating in the pipe and both the reflection and transmission of the guided wave can be used to effectively detect and characterize the layer. This paper proceeds the work by taking into account more realistic sludge characteristics, including irregular circumferential profiles of the sludge layer and imperfect bonding state between the sludge and the pipe. The influence of these issues is investigated to identify the critical factors that influence the detection and characterization capability of the two measurements.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.307-314
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• 2004

A circumferential guided wave method was developed to detect the axial crack on the bent feeder pipe. Dispersion curves of circumferential guided waves were calculated as a function of curvature of the pipe. In the case of thin plate, i.e. infinite curvature, as the frequency increases, the $S_0$ and $A_0$ mode coincide and eventually become Rayleigh wave mode. In the case of pipe, however, as the curvature increases, the lowest modes do not coincide even in the high frequencies. Based on the analysis, a rocking technique using angle beam transducer was applied to detect an axial defect in the bent region of PHWR feeder pipe. Based on the analysis of experimenal data for artificial notches, the vibration modes of each signal were identified. It was found that the notches with the depth of )0% of wall thickness can be detected with the method.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.271-277
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• 2011

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.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.461-472
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• 2012

This study proposes an optics-based active sensing system for continuous monitoring of underground pipelines in nuclear power plants (NPPs). The proposed system generates and measures guided waves using a single laser source and optical cables. First, a tunable laser is used as a common power source for guided wave generation and sensing. This source laser beam is transmitted through an optical fiber, and the fiber is split into two. One of them is used to actuate macro fiber composite (MFC) transducers for guided wave generation, and the other optical fiber is used with fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors to measure guided wave responses. The MFC transducers placed along a circumferential direction of a pipe at one end generate longitudinal and flexural modes, and the corresponding responses are measured using FBG sensors instrumented in the same configuration at the other end. The generated guided waves interact with a defect, and this interaction causes changes in response signals. Then, a damage-sensitive feature is extracted from the response signals using the axi-symmetry nature of the measured pitch-catch signals. The feasibility of the proposed system has been examined through a laboratory experiment.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.114-121
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• 2009

Ultrasonic guided waves have been widely utilized for long range inspection of structures. Especially, development of array guided waves techniques and its application for long range gas pipe lines(length of from hundreds meters to few km) were getting increased. In this study, focusing algorithm for array guided waves was developed in order to improve long range inspectability and accuracy of the array guided waves techniques for long range inspection of gas pipes, and performance of the developed techniques was verified by experiments using the developed array guided wave system. As a result, S/N ratio of array guided wave signals obtained with the focusing algorithm was increased higher than that of signals without focusing algorithm.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.570-578
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• 2009

Excitation and propagation of guided waves are very complex problems in pipes due to their dispersive nature. Pipes are commonly used in the oil, chemical or nuclear industry and hence must be inspected regularly to ensure continued safe operation. The normal mode expansion(NME) method is given for the amplitude with which any propagating waveguide mode is generated in the pipes by applied surface tractions. Numerical results are calculated based on the NME method using different sources, i.e., non-axisymmetric partial loading and quasi-axisymmetric loading sources. The sum of amplitude coefficients for 0~nineth order of the harmonic modes are calculated based on the NME method and the dispersion curves in pipes. The superimposed total field which is namely the angular profile, varies with propagating distance and circumferential angle. This angular profile of guided waves provides information for setting the transducer position to find defects in pipes.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2000

This study shows the defect detection and sizing capability of ultrasonic guided waves in the nondestructive inspection of heat exchanger and steam generator tubing. Phase and group velocity dispersion curves for the longitudinal and flexural modes of a sample Inconel tube were presented for the theoretical analysis. EDM(Electric Discharge Machining) wears in tubing under a tube support plate and circumferential laser notches in tubing were detected by an axisymmetric and a non-axisymmetric transducer set up, respectively. EDM wears were detected with L(0, 2), L(0, 3) and L(0, 4) modes and among them L(0, 4) mode was found to be the most sensitive. It was also found that the flexural modes around L(0, 1) mode could be used for the detection and sizing of laser notches in the tubing.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.108-113
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• 2005

One of the recent safety issues in the pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) is the cracking of the feeder pipe. Because of the limited accessibility to the cracked region and a high dose of radiation exposure, it is difficult to inspect all the pipes with the conventional ultrasonic method. In order to solve this problem, a long-range guided wave technique has been developed. A computer program to calculate the dispersion curves in the pipe was developed and the dispersion curves for the feeder pipes in PHWR plants were determined. Several longitudinal and/or flexural modes were selected from the review of the dispersion curves and an actual experiment has been carried out with the specific alignment of the piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers. They were confirmed as L(0,1)) and/or flexural modes(F(m,2)) by the short time Fourier transformation(STFT) and were sensitive to the circumferential cracks, but not to the axial cracks in the pipe. An electromagnetic acoustic transducers(EMAT) was designed and fabricated for the generation and reception of the torsional guided wave. The axial cracks were detected by a torsional mode(T(0,1)) generated by the EMAT.

• Journal of KSNVE
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.449-455
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• 1997

A theoretical study is presented for the prediction of the scattering of obliquely incident plane acoustic wave by transversely isotropic cylindrical shells immersed in water. In dorder to illustrate the vailidity of the theory backscattering form functions are compared with the existing results for degenerated problems: the catterings by isotropic shell and transversely isotropic solid cylinder. The unidirectional fiber reinforced boron-aluminum composites are selected as a model of transversely isotropic materials having potential applications in practice. From the resonant scattering analysis of the partial backscattering form functions, the dispersion curves for fluid-borne Stoneley wave, guided wave along the shell, and the lowest three Lamb type waves can be found. The Lamb type dispersions are compared with those of the flat plate. The variation of anisotropy significantly affects the properties of circumferential waves. From these results, it can be possible to identify parametrically the material properties of anisotropic cylindrical targets.