Non-destructive testing of pipes
First Claim
1. A method for the non-destructive condition assessment of a pipe carrying a fluid, comprising:
- detecting an acoustic disturbance propagating past two longitudinally separated points on said pipe;
determining an actual value representative of the propagation velocity of said acoustic disturbance;
computing a corresponding predicted value for the propagation velocity as a function of at least one wall thickness parameter of said pipe by using a theoretical model for the propagation of acoustic waves in said pipe that assumes said pipe has a finite wall thickness with a predetermined circumferential thickness profile; and
computing said wall thickness parameter by matching said actual value with said predicted value.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
To perform a non-destructive condition assessment of a pipe carrying a fluid, an actual value representative of the propagation velocity of an acoustic disturbance propagating between two longitudinally separated points on the pipe is determined. A corresponding predicted value for the propagation velocity is computed as a function of at least one wall thickness parameter of the pipe by using a theoretical model for the propagation of acoustic waves in the pipe that assumes said pipe has a finite wall thickness with a predetermined circumferential thickness profile. The wall thickness parameter is then computed by matching the actual value with the predicted value, for example, by substituting the actual value in a formula predicting the theoretical value.
-
Citations
31 Claims
-
1. A method for the non-destructive condition assessment of a pipe carrying a fluid, comprising:
-
detecting an acoustic disturbance propagating past two longitudinally separated points on said pipe;
determining an actual value representative of the propagation velocity of said acoustic disturbance;
computing a corresponding predicted value for the propagation velocity as a function of at least one wall thickness parameter of said pipe by using a theoretical model for the propagation of acoustic waves in said pipe that assumes said pipe has a finite wall thickness with a predetermined circumferential thickness profile; and
computing said wall thickness parameter by matching said actual value with said predicted value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. An apparatus for the non-destructive condition assessment of a pipe carrying a fluid, comprising:
-
a) first and second sensors for detecting an acoustic disturbance propagating past two longitudinally separated points on said pipe; and
b) a processor receiving inputs from said first and second sensors and programmed to;
(i) determine an actual value representative of the propagation velocity of said acoustic disturbance;
(ii) compute a corresponding predicted value for the propagation velocity as a function of at least one wall thickness parameter of said pipe by using a theoretical model for the propagation of acoustic waves in said pipe that assumes said pipe has a finite wall thickness with a predetermined circumferential thickness profile; and
(iii) compute said wall thickness parameter by matching said actual value with said predicted value. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. A storage medium storing coded instructions for instructing a computer to:
-
accept signals from sensors responsive to an acoustic disturbance propagating along a pipe;
compute an actual value representative of the propagation velocity of said acoustic disturbance by dividing the difference between the distances of said sensors from corresponding acoustic source by the time delay between said acoustic disturbances;
compute a corresponding predicted value for the propagation velocity as a function of at least one wall thickness parameter of said pipe by using a theoretical model for the propagation of acoustic waves in said pipe that assumes said pipe has a finite wall thickness with a predetermined circumferential thickness profile; and
compute said wall thickness parameter by matching said actual value with said predicted value. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
-
-
31. A method of verifying the length of pipe between a pair of points, comprising:
-
detecting acoustic disturbances from at least two sources of acoustic disturbance at each of said points;
computing the propagation velocities of each of said disturbances detected at said points; and
comparing the measured propagation velocities of acoustic disturbances.
-
Specification