Guided wave attenuation in coated pipes buried in sand

Long-range guided wave testing (GWT) is routinely used for the monitoring and detection of corrosion defects in above ground pipelines in various industries. The GWT test range in buried, coated pipelines is greatly reduced compared to aboveground pipelines due to energy leakage into the embedding soil. In this study, we aim to increase test ranges for buried pipelines. The effect of pipe coatings on the T(0,1) and L(0,2) guided wave attenuation is investigated using a full-scale experimental apparatus and model predictions. Tests are performed on a fusion-bonded epoxy (FBE)-coated 8” pipe, buried in loose and compacted sand over a frequency range of 10-35 kHz. The application of a low impedance coating is shown to effectively decouple the influence of the sand on the ultrasound leakage from the buried pipe. We demonstrate ultrasonic isolation of a buried pipe by coating the pipe with a Polyethylene (PE)-foam layer that has a smaller impedance than both pipe and sand and the ability to withstand the overburden load from the sand. The measured attenuation in the buried PE-foam-FBE-coated pipe is substantially reduced, in the range of 0.3-1.2 dBm−1 for loose and compacted sand conditions, compared to buried FBE-coated pipe without the PE-foam, where the measured attenuation is in the range of 1.7-4.7 dBm−1. The acoustic properties of the PE-foam are measured independently using ultrasonic interferometry technique and used in model predictions of guided wave propagation in a buried coated pipe. Good agreement is found between the attenuation measurements and model predictions. The attenuation exhibits periodic peaks in the frequency domain corresponding to the through-thickness resonance frequencies of the coating layer. The large reduction in guided wave attenuation for PE-coated pipes would lead to greatly increased GWT test ranges, so such coatings would be attractive for new pipeline installations.