Development of an EMAT in-Line Inspection System for Detection, Discrimination, and Grading of Stress Corrosion Cracking in Pipelines Progress Report (open access)

Development of an EMAT in-Line Inspection System for Detection, Discrimination, and Grading of Stress Corrosion Cracking in Pipelines Progress Report

This report describes progress, experiments, and results for a project to develop a pipeline inline inspection tool that uses electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) to detect and grade stress corrosion cracking (SCC). There is a brief introduction that gives background material about EMATs and relevant previous Tuboscope work toward a tool. This work left various choices about the modes and transducers for this project. The experimental section then describes the lab systems, improvements to these systems, and setups and techniques to narrow the choices. Improvements, which involved transducer matching networks, better magnetic biasing, and lower noise electronics, led to improved signal to noise (SNR) levels. The setups permitted transducer characterizations and interaction measurements in plates with man-made cracks, pipeline sections with SCC, and a full pipe with SCC. The latter were done with a moveable and compact EMAT setup, called a lab mouse, which is detailed. Next, the results section justifies the mode and transducer choices. These were for magnetostrictive EMATs and the use of EMAT launched modes: SH0 (at 2.1 MHz-mm) and SV1 (at 3.9 MHz-mm). This section then gives details of measurements on these modes. The measurements consisted of signal to noise ratio, insertion loss, magnetic biasing sensitivities crack …
Date: July 1, 2003
Creator: Aron, Jeff; Jon Gore, Roger Dalton; Eaton, Stuart; Bowles, Adrian; Thomas, Owen & Jarman, Tim
System: The UNT Digital Library
Development of an EMAT in-Line Inspection System for Detection, Discrimination, and Grading of Stress Corrosion Cracking in Pipelines Progress Report (open access)

Development of an EMAT in-Line Inspection System for Detection, Discrimination, and Grading of Stress Corrosion Cracking in Pipelines Progress Report

This report describes prototypes, measurements, and results for a project to develop a prototype pipeline in-line inspection (ILI) tool that uses electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) to detect and grade stress corrosion cracking (SCC). The introduction briefly provides motivation and describes SCC, gives some background on EMATs and guided ultrasonic waves, and reviews promising results of a previous project using EMATs for SCC. The experimental section then describes lab measurement techniques and equipment, the lab mouse and prototypes for a mule, and scan measurements made on SCC. The mouse was a moveable and compact EMAT setup. The prototypes were even more compact circuits intended to be pulled or used in an ILI tool. The purpose of the measurements was to determine the best modes, transduction, and processing to use, to characterize the transducers, and to prove EMATs and mule components could produce useful results. Next, the results section summarizes the measurements and describes the mouse scans, processing, prototype circuit operating parameters, and performance for SH0 scans. Results are given in terms of specifications--like SNR, power, insertion loss--and parametric curves--such as signal amplitude versus magnetic bias or standoff, reflection or transmission coefficients versus crack depth. Initially, lab results indicated magnetostrictive transducers using …
Date: February 1, 2005
Creator: Aron, Jeff; Jia, Jeff; Vance, Bruce; Chang, Wen; Pohler, Raymond; Gore, Jon et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library