A low-frequency, omni-directional A0 Lamb wave ElectroMagnetic Acoustic Transducer (EMAT) is developed for applications in guided wave tomography, operating at 50 kHz on a 10 mm thick steel plate. The key objective is to excite an acceptably pure A0 wave mode in relation to the S0 mode, which can also be present at this operating point and is desired to be suppressed by approximately 30 dB. For that, a parametric Finite Element (FE) model of the design concept is implemented in a commercially available FE software, where the bias magnetic field is calculated initially, then combined with the eddy current caused by the induction coil to produce a force. A numerical optimization process employing a genetic algorithm is set up and the EMAT design is optimized to yield an improved A0 mode selectivity. The parameters subjected to optimization are the magnet diameter and the magnet lift-off, which control the direction of the exciting force in the skin depth layer and therefore the mode selectivity. Although there are three possible electromagnetic acoustic interaction mechanisms, the optimisation considers only the Lorentz force, as its performance surface contains a clear optimum and from the optimised design a physical prototype is built. The FE model is validated against measurements on an aluminium plate for the Lorentz force excitation mechanism and on a steel plate for both the Lorentz and magnetisation force. For the steel plate, it is found that only considering the Lorentz force leads to a significant overestimation of the mode selectivity, as the S0 amplitude is underestimated by the Lorentz force, but the A0 amplitude remains mainly uninfluenced. Further, it has been found that additionally including the magnetisation force into the optimisation leads to a better mode selectivity, however, the optimisation drives the optimum to a minimum magnet diameter and therefore reduces the EMAT sensitivity. In a numerical study robustness is shown for fairly large variations of the magnet lift-off and the magnetic permeability. Based on the findings, a two-step model-based design approach is proposed whereby only the Lorentz force is used in the first step for the optimisation and then in a second step, a realistic estimate of the mode selectivity of the optimised design can be obtained by additionally considering the magnetisation force.
The pipe wall loss caused by corrosion can be quantified across an area by transmitting guided Lamb waves through the region and measuring the resulting signals. Typically the dispersive relationship for these waves, which means that wave velocity is a known function of thickness, is exploited which enables the wall thickness to be determined from a velocity reconstruction. The accuracy and quality of this reconstruction is commonly limited by the angle of view available from the transducer arrays.These arrays are often attached as a pair of ring arrays either side of the inspected region, and due to the cylindrical nature of the pipe, waves are able to travel in an inifinite number of helical paths between any two transducers. The first arrivals can be separated relatively easily by time gating, but by using just these components the angle of view is severely restricted. To improve the viewing angle, it is necessary to separate the wavepackets. This paper provides an outline of a separation approach: initially the waves are backpropagated to their source to align the different signals, then a filtering technique is applied to select the desired components. The technique is applied to experimental data and demonstrated to robustly separate the signals. Index Termstomography, guided wave, Lamb wave, signal separation, helical paths Manuscript received XXXXXXX X, XXXX.All authors are with the
Corrosion damage in inaccessible regions presents a significant challenge to the petrochemical industry, and determining the remaining wall thickness is important to establish the remaining service life. Guided wave tomography is one solution to this and involves transmitting Lamb waves through the area of interest and subsequently using the received signals to reconstruct a thickness map of the remaining wall thickness. This avoids the need to access all points on the surface, making the technique well suited to inspection for areas with restricted access. The influence of these areas onto the ability to detect and size surface conditions, such as corrosion damage, using guided wave tomography is assessed. For that, a guided wave tomography system is employed, which is based on low frequency A0 Lamb waves that are excited and detected with two arrays of electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs). Two different defect depths are considered with different contrasts relative to the nominal wall thickness, both of which are smoothly varying and welldefined. The influence of areas with restricted surface access, support locations, pipe clamps and STOPAQ(R) coatings, are experimentally tested, and their influence assessed through comparison to a baseline reconstruction without the respective restriction in place, demonstrating only a small influence on the detected value of the remaining wall thickness.
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