Volumetric loss quantification using ultrasonic inductively coupled transducers

摘要

The pulse-echo method is widely used for plate and pipe thickness measurement. However, the pulse echo method does not work well for detecting localized volumetric loss in thick-wall tubes, as created by erosion damage, when the morphology of volumetric loss is irregular and can reflect ultrasonic pulses away from the transducer, making it difficult to detect an echo. In this paper, we propose a novel method using an inductively coupled transducer to generate longitudinal waves propagating in a thick-wall aluminum tube for the volumetric loss quantification. In the experiment, longitudinal waves exhibit diffraction effects during the propagation which can be explained by the Huygens-Fresnel principle. The diffractive waves are also shown to be significantly delayed by the machined volumetric loss on the inside surface of the thick-wall aluminum tube. It is also shown that the inductively coupled transducers can generate and receive similar ultrasonic waves to those from wired transducers, and the inductively coupled transducers perform as well as the wired transducers in the volumetric loss quantification when other conditions are the same.