Longitudinal Guided Wave Inspection of Small-Diameter Elbowed Steel Tubes with a Novel Squirrel-Cage Magnetostrictive Sensor

In the study, ultrasonic longitudinal mode guided waves were employed to detect defects in elbowed tubes (without welds) with a diameter of 10 mm. Finite element simulation results highlighted that the emitted L(0,1) mode guided waves experienced strong reflection and mode conversion at the elbow region to generate F(1,1) mode, followed by slow and weak F(2,1) mode. The guided wave reflected from the elbow with a through-wall defect was manifested as two overlapped wave packets, which were good indicators of a defective elbow. To conduct L(0,1) mode guided waves inspection on the small-diameter elbowed tubes, a novel tailored squirrel-cage magnetostrictive sensor was employed in the experiment. The new sensor employed the configuration of segmental iron-cobalt strips and small-size permanent magnet arrays. The entire sensor is composed of two identical C-shaped sensor elements and can be recycled and installed conveniently. Experimental results obtained from healthy and defective tubes were consistent with the conclusions obtained from finite element simulations. An artificial through-wall defect at the elbow and a notch defect at the straight part of the tube could be simultaneously detected by L(0,1) mode guided waves through comparing experimental signals with simulation results.

Magnetostrictive Sensor for Blockage Detection in Pipes Subjected to High Temperatures

The use of solar thermal power plants is considered a cost-effective alternative to produce renewable energy. Unlike other energy installations, in this type of plants the transfer and storage of energy has been solved by using molten salts. These salts run between two tanks through the steam generation system that feeds the turbine. Although the use of salts as a heat transfer fluid is considered an adequate solution, they are not without problems. One of them is the formation of blockages in the pipes due to a partial solidification of the salt, which leads to the shutdown of the installation, with the consequent economic losses. Fast location of these blockages in a minimally intrusive way is the objective pursued in this work. The method to achieve this is based on the use of a new magnetostrictive sensor that simplifies previous designs.

Effect of Tensile Force on Magnetostrictive Sensors for Generating and Receiving Longitudinal Mode Guided Waves in Steel Wires

When the longitudinal mode guided waves based on magnetostrictive effect were employed to inspect the bridge cables, we found that there was a large difference in the signal’s amplitude of the same specification cable under different tensile force. This difference would affect the test results and the identification of defects. It is necessary to study the effect of tensile force on the signal for the reliability of detection. Firstly, the effective field theory is employed to take the force as an additional bias magnetic field. Then, the effect of the tensile force on generating and receiving longitudinal mode guided waves based on magnetostrictive effect is obtained by the relationship between the bias magnetic field and the magnetostrictive coupling coefficient. Finally, the experiment of the magnetostrictive sensor is carried out on a Φ5 mm steel wire under different force. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical results. The results show that the existence of the tensile force would change the operation point for generating and receiving the longitudinal mode guided waves based on magnetostrictive effect, which associated with the coupling coefficient. In order to obtain the optimal conversion efficiency for the force state wire and cable, the applied bias magnetic field should be set smaller than the bias magnetic field for the force-free state.