Review of Current Guided Wave Ultrasonic Testing (GWUT) Limitations and Future Directions

Abstract

Damage is an inevitable occurrence in metallic structures and when unchecked could result in a catastrophic breakdown of structural assets. Non-destructive evaluation (NDE) is adopted in industries for assessment and health inspection of structural assets. Prominent among the NDE techniques is guided wave ultrasonic testing (GWUT). This method is cost-effective and possesses an enormous capability for long-range inspection of corroded structures, detection of sundries of crack and other metallic damage structures at low frequency and energy attenuation. However, the parametric features of the GWUT are affected by structural and environmental operating conditions and result in masking damage signal. Most studies focused on identifying individual damage under varying conditions while combined damage phenomena can coexist in structure and hasten its deterioration. Hence, it is an impending task to study the effect of combined damage on a structure under varying conditions and correlate it with GWUT parametric features. In this respect, this work reviewed the literature on UGWs, damage inspection, severity, temperature influence on the guided wave and parametric characteristics of the inspecting wave. The review is limited to the piezoelectric transduction unit. It was keenly observed that no significant work had been done to correlate the parametric feature of GWUT with combined damage effect under varying conditions. It is therefore proposed to investigate this impending task.

Smart two-tank water quality and level detection system via IoT

“…Ultrasonic transducers used for inspection are straight beam, angle beam, dual element, delay line, and immersion [ 19 ]. However, an inspection of a structure can either be active sensing or passive sensing [ 20 , 21 ]. The standard configurations of transducers used in ultrasonic inspection analysis are Pitch–Catch, Pulse-Echo, and Through-Transmission [ 22 , 23 ], as shown in Figure 1 .…”

Pipeline In-Line Inspection Method, Instrumentation and Data Management

“…With the rapid development of information technology, UT is gradually moving from traditional detection to automatic non-destructive quantitative evaluation and structural health life prediction [ 46 ]. Guided wave UT (GWUT) [ 47 ] is one of the latest methods for bridging NDT and SHM, and can be used for pipeline monitoring to achieve an extensive structure area inspection from a test point [ 48 ]. Cawley et al [ 49 ] researched the guided wave propagation on the pipe wall and looks for the reflection of the defect [ 50 , 51 ].…”

“…It has the characteristics of long-distance detection and no need to scan point by point on the detection surface [ 53 ]. When transferring this technology from laboratory to application field, challenges [ 48 ] such as pipeline filling, coating other structures with complex geometry were solved step by step. Moreover, the physical characteristics of bending mode and symmetrical mode have been understood and the corresponding guided wave detection system was built [ 54 , 55 ].…”

Acoustic Forward Model for Guided Wave Propagation and Scattering in a Pipe Bend

“…The array consists of a fixed number of transducers that can send out the required signals and receive the reflections from the potential defects. As a result, GWs are suitable for constant monitoring, damage detection, developing proper maintenance cycles, and predicting the remaining life and service of pipelines, including bends [15][16][17][18][19]. However, GW propagation in a pipe elbow is more complicated than in a straight pipe due to the curvature of the bend, and it has been studied by a number of authors.…”