In-line nondestructive inspection of mechanical dents on pipelines with guided Shear Horizontal wave Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducers

Circumferential guided ultrasonic Shear Horizontal (SH) wave Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducer (EMAT) pairs mounted on a mobile fixture in a through-transmission mode were used for detection and characterization of mechanical dents on the outer surface of a pipe wall from inside the pipe. The dents were created on a 12 in. diameter standard seamless steel pipe by hydraulically pressing steel balls of various sizes into the pipe wall. n ₁ mode SH wave was directed through and along the wall of the pipe. Multiple measurements were obtained both from the dents and from the no-flaw region of the pipe using the EMAT pair. Dent features were extracted with a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) technique and classified into "cup" and "saucer" types using Discriminant Analysis (DA). The overall approach is able to detect and classify dents of depth 25% through wall or deeper, which should meet the needs of the pipeline safety inspection community (U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Special Program Administration). Preliminary dent depth estimation potential is also shown via an amplitude correlation approach.