SCALE AND CORROSION MONITORING SYSTEM USING ULTRASONIC GUIDED WAVES

摘要

A nondestructive method of monitoring scale buildup in a section of pipe includes: transmitting, from a first transducer at a first location of the pipe, axisymmetric torsional ultrasonic guided waves (UGWs) to propagate along the pipe, the torsional UGWs spanning a frequency band comprising multiple higher order modes; receiving, by a second transducer at a second location of the pipe, the propagated torsional UGWs; and determining a thickness of the scale buildup in the pipe between the first location and the second locations using the received torsional UGWs. The determining step comprises: measuring attributes from the received torsional UGWs, the attributes being first arrival times or mode cutoff frequencies; comparing the measured attributes to sets of computed said attributes, each set representing a different scale buildup thickness; and selecting the compared set of computed attributes that is closest to the measured attributes.