Long Range Ultrasonic Guided Wave Technique for Inspection of Pipes

Conventional non-destructive techniques for inspection of weld in pipelines require significant test time and high cost. In this paper, a study in the application of ultrasonic guided waves to long range inspection of the pipeline is presented. The characteristics and setup of a long range guided wave inspection system and experimental results in pipes of various diameters are introduced. The experimental results in mock-up pipes with cluster type defects show that the limit of detectable wall thickness reduction with this guided wave system is 2~3% in the pipe cross section area and the wall thickness reduction of 5% in cross section area can be detected when actual detection level is used. Therefore, the applicability of the ultrasonic guided wave technique to long range pipeline inspection for wall thickness reduction is verified.