Structural health monitoring is becoming an increasingly important field as the amount of infrastructure across the globe increases and as older structures deteriorate. A significant portion of this infrastructure is represented by oil and gas pipelines. Such pipelines are exposed to harsh conditions like corrosion and abrasive wear. Ultrasonic bulk wave measurements of critical zones in steel pipe implemented by conventional means have proven to be time-consuming and dangerous to personnel. Some pipes carrying high pressure have been known to rupture upon inspection, injuring or killing inspection personnel. Permanently placed ultrasonic transducers mounted in an array around a critical zone on a pipeline can be used to monitor wall thinning and other damage types safely and quickly via ultrasonic tomographic reconstruction of the pipeline structure. There are many conceivable uses for which such a sensor would prove advantageous. A few of these uses includes locations that are difficult to access such as underground pipelines or areas of high congestion, regions requiring high sensitivity, geometrical discontinuities like diameter reductions and pipe bends, and pipelines carrying high pressures which are dangerous to test using conventional methods. Also, this sensor can potentially be integrated with wireless capabilities and become even more safe and convenient to use, as personnel near the sensor to perform inspections will not be necessary.


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    Title :

    Guided wave thickness measurement tomography for structural health monitoring in critical zones of pipelines


    Additional title:

    Dickenmessung mittels Tomographie mit geführten Wellen zur Zustandsüberwachung kritischer Bereiche von Pipelines


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    2008


    Size :

    6 Seiten, 3 Bilder, 1 Tabelle, 6 Quellen


    Remarks:

    (nicht paginiert)


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Storage medium


    Language :

    English