Design Issues and Challenges of Long-Range Ultrasonic Testing (LRUT) for Pipeline Inspection

Abstract

Pipelines play a major role in transporting substances, especially oil and gas. However, maintaining the steady health of the massive, long structure of pipelines is very challenging. Long-range ultrasonic testing (LRUT) is an evolving research area in signal processing due to the advantages offered for structural health monitoring, especially for pipeline inspection. As a non-destructive test (NDT), LRUT promises capabilities of fast screening, evaluation of large structures and detection of various types of defect. In this research area, despite many successes, many issues and challenges remain. This paper presents an overview of LRUT’s working concept and wave mode and previous implementations of LRUT to enhance the process especially in terms of defect detection are tabulated and elaborated. Issues and challenges, particularly in terms of wave dispersion and attenuation, are discussed.