Guided wave inspection has the advantage of providing full volumetric coverage of tens of meters of pipe from a single test location. However, guided wave behavior is complex and there are many factors to consider such as the numerous possible vibrational modes and multiple reflections. The guided wave inspection technique is potentially valuable for pipelines that cannot be inspected with internal “pigs.” However, in situations such as this, there are often bends in the pipe and the presence of the bend is known to distort the received signals. In order to address this issue, a study has been carried out that uses a combination of finite element analysis and experimentation to understand the behavior of guided waves in pipe bends. In addition to this, an analytical modeling methodology is put forward that uses basic information from finite element models of pipe bends to create a computationally fast solution to a potentially infinite number of scenarios. The analytical model can be used to both predict the effects of pipe bends on a range of signals and undo the distortion caused by pipe bends. Examples of this are given and compared to finite element results for flaws beyond pipe bends.
REFERENCES
1.
D.
Gazis
, “Three-dimensional investigation of the propagation of waves in hollow circular cylinders. I. Analytical foundation
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
31
(5
), 568
–573
(1959
);D.
Gazis
, “Three-dimensional investigation of the propagation of waves in hollow circular cylinders. II. Numerical results
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
31
(5
), 574
–578
(1959
).2.
M.
Silk
and K.
Bainton
, “The propagation in metal tubing of ultrasonic wave modes equivalent to lamb waves
,” Ultrasonics
17
, 11
–19
(1979
).3.
R. B.
Thompson
, G. A.
Alers
, and M. A.
Tennison
, “Applications of direct electromagnetic lamb wave generation to gas pipeline inspection
,” IEEE Ultrasonics Symp.
91
–94
(1972
).4.
J. L.
Rose
, D.
Jiao
, and J.
Spanner
, Jr., “Ultrasonic guided wave NDE for piping
,” Mater. Eval.
54
, 1310
–1313
(1996
).5.
H.
Kwun
and K. A.
Bartels
, “Experimental observation of elastic-wave dispersion in bounded solids of various configurations
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
99
, 962
–968
(1996
).6.
J. J.
Ditri
and J. L.
Rose
, “Excitation of guided elastic wave modes in hollow cylinders by applied surface tractions
,” J. Appl. Phys.
72
, 2589
–2597
(1992
).7.
P. J.
Mudge
, “Field application of the Teletest® long-range ultrasonic testing equipment
,” Insight
43
(2
), 74
–77
(2001
).8.
D. N.
Alleyne
, B.
Pavlakovic
, M. J. S.
Lowe
, and P.
Cawley
, “Rapid, long range inspection of chemical plant pipework using guided waves
,” Insight
43
(2
), 93
–96
(2001
).9.
J.
Rose
, “A baseline and vision of ultrasonic guided wave inspection potential
,” J. Pressure Vessel Technol.
124
, 273
–282
(2002
).10.
L. Rayleigh
, “The problem of the whispering gallery
,” Philos. Mag.
20
, 1001
–1004
(1910
).11.
12.
G.
Liu
and J.
Qu
, “Transient wave propagation in a circular annulus
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
104
, 1210
–1220
(1998
).13.
P.
Wilcox
, “Lamb wave inspection of large structures using permanently attached transducers
,” Ph.D. dissertation, Imperial College London
(1998
).14.
J.
Harris
, “Rayleigh wave propagation in curved waveguides
,” Wave Motion
36
, 425
–441
(2002
).15.
D.
Gridin
, R.
Craster
, J.
Fong
, and M. J. S.
Lowe
, “The high frequency asympotic analysis of gudied waves in a circular elastic annulus
,” Wave Motion
38
, 67
–90
(2003
).16.
A.
Demma
, P.
Cawley
, M.
Lowe
, and B.
Pavlakovic
, “The effect of bends on the propagation of guided waves in pipes
,” J. Pressure Vessel Technol.
127
, 328
–335
(2005
).17.
S.
Félix
and V.
Pagneux
, “Multimodal analysis of acoustic propagation in three-dimensional bends
,” Wave Motion
36
, 157
–168
(2002
).18.
R.
Kirby
, “Modeling sound propagation in acoustic waveguides using a hybrid numerical method
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
124
(4
), 1930
–1940
(2008
).19.
A.
Leung
and N.
Kwok
, “Free vibration analysis of a toroidal shell
,” Thin-Walled Struct.
18
, 317
–332
(1994
).20.
M.
Redekop
, “Dynamic response of curved pipes
,” Int. J. Pressure Vessels Piping
70
, 167
–172
(1997
).21.
D.
Huang
, M.
Redekop
, and B.
Xu
, “Natural frequencies and mode shapes of curved pipes
,” Comput. Struct.
18
, 465
–473
(1997
).22.
C.
Aristegui
, P.
Cawley
, and M.
Lowe
, “Reflection and mode conversion of guided waves at bends in pipes
,” Rev. Prog. Quant. Nondestr. Eval.
19
, 209
–216
(2000
).23.
M. D.
Beard
, “Guided wave inspection of embedded cylindrical structures
,” Ph.D. dissertation, Imperial College London
(2002
).24.
L.
Salley
and J.
Pan
, “A study of the modal characteristics of curved pipes
,” Appl. Acoust.
63
, 189
–202
(2002
).25.
R.
Wang
, “Vibration of straight-curved-straight hollow shafts
,” J. Sound Vib.
234
, 369
–386
(2000
).26.
K. E.
Rudd
, K. R.
Leonard
, J. P.
Bingham
, and M. K.
Hinders
, “Simulation of guided waves in complex piping geometries using the elastodynamic finite integration technique
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
121
(3
), 1449
–1458
(2007
).27.
L.
Gavric
, “Computation of propagative waves in free rail using finite element technique
,” J. Sound Vib.
185
, 531
–543
(1995
).28.
H.
Nishino
, K.
Yoshida
, H.
Cho
, and M.
Takemoto
, “Propagation phenomena of wideband guided waves in a bended pipe
,” Ultrasonics
44
, 1139
–1143
(2006
).29.
J. L.
Rose
and X.
Zhao
, “Flexural model tuning for pipe elbow testing
,” Mater. Eval.
59
(5
), 621
–624
(2001
).30.
J. L.
Rose
, L.
Zhang
, M. J.
Avioli
, and P. J.
Mudge
, “A natural focusing low frequency guided wave experiment for the detection of defects beyond elbows
,” J. Pressure Vessel Technol.
127
, 310
–316
(2005
).31.
T.
Hayashi
, K.
Kawashima
, Z.
Sun
, and J. L.
Rose
, “Guided wave propagation mechanics across a pipe elbow
,” J. Pressure Vessel Technol.
127
, 322
–327
(2005
).32.
S.
Furuhashi
, K.
Sorimachi
, and T.
Sugiura
, “Change in mode configurations and propagation velocity of guided waves through an elbow section of a pipe
,” IEEE Int. Ultrasonics Symp. Proc.
2211
–2214
(2010
).33.
W. J.
Zhou
and M. N.
Ichchou
, “Wave propagation in mechanical waveguide with curved members using wave finite element solution
,” Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Eng.
199
, 2099
–2109
(2010
).34.
R.
Sanderson
and P. P.
Catton
, “An analytical model for guided wave array design for structures of any cross section
,” IEEE Trans. Ultrason. Ferroelectr. Freq. Control
58
(5
), 1016
–1026
(2011
).35.
P. P.
Catton
, Long Range Ultrasonic Guided Waves for the Quantitative Inspection of Pipelines, Brunel University Thesis (2009
).36.
B.
Pavlakovic
, M.
Lowe
, D.
Alleyne
and P.
Cawley
, “Disperse: a general purpose program for creating dispersion curves
,” Rev. Progr. Quant. Nondestruc. Eval.
16
, 185
–192
(1997
).© 2013 Acoustical Society of America.
2013
Acoustical Society of America
You do not currently have access to this content.