Investigation on empowering one direction emission of guided waves to avoid undesired reflections from other pipe attachments

Abstract

An in-service pipe always contains elbows and joints at the ends of the pipe. Since the emitted guided waves from a transducer array is bi-directional, any attachments located at both ends of the pipe will cause reflections. For building pipes that are partially covered by wall, the transducer array must be installed near one end of the pipe. If there is elbow or joint connected to that end of the pipe, high reflections generated from the elbow or joint are inevitable. Such reflections may interfere the detection of reflections caused by true defect exists along the pipe body. Hence, to minimize such undesired interference, one must employs some smart devices or algorithms so that it can reduce the emission of guided wave from one direction but enhance the emission from the other direction. To achieve such purpose, two identical transducer arrays must be installed on the same pipe but with a smartly and specially calculated distance apart from the mounting locations of these two arrays. The distance is to ensure there is a proper time delay for emitting the second array after the emission of the first array. The designed processes are listed as follow. Firstly, two identical transducer arrays that could emit L(0,1) guided waves were mounted on a pipe with a specific distance apart from their mounting locations. The distance was determined after calculating the necessary time delay. Secondly, the guided waves generated from the two arrays are combined together to create the desired superimposing effect. With the help of simulation and finite element analysis, such single direction guided wave was successfully generated and tested. By accurately adjusted the time delay, results showed that it is possible to minimize the emitted guided waves in one direction and then empower the guided waves in another direction. Hence, the reflections generated from elbows and joints at one end of the pipe has been minimized, whilst, the emission of guided wave in the other direction has been increased so that the sensitivity of detecting defects along the pipe can be enhanced.