Mechanical integrity of cylindrical structures ranged from piping to storage and pressure vessels needs to be maintained at a high level to ensure safety and reliability. Current inspection techniques are insensitive to common defects or unable to inspect bends and insulated parts in cylindrical structures. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of an ultrasonic guided wave method as global inspection technique to locate and detect crack-like and wall thinning defects in cylindrical structures. Several tests were conducted on 1000 (length)x 230 (diameter) x 7.3 (thickness) mm steel cylindrical structures with real and simulated defects. Results from the guided wave inspection technique demonstrate good detectability of defects in longitudinal and circumferential direction of the cylinders.
Keywords: corrosion detection, Lamb waves, nondestructive testing, ultrasonics