An Automated Ultrasonic Technique to Map Residual Thickness of Heavily Corroded Petrochemical Storage Tank Bottom Plates

摘要

There are millions of above ground petrochemical storage tanks in US, requiring routine inspections of tank bottom plates for corrosion, preferably without emptying the contents and storing them in other containers during inspection. In this paper we describe an automated ultrasonic technique for mapping the plate thickness of storage tank bottoms using Fourier domain tracking of spectral peaks; which minimizes the problems encountered with existing methods. This method can determine the remaining thickness of heavily corroded metal plates accurately even in the presence of some sediment.