Non-destructive evaluation of spiral-welded

pipes using flexural guided waves

Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 1706, 160005 (2016); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4940622
Published Online: 10 February 2016

Xiaowei Zhang, Zhifeng Tang, Fuzai Lü, and Xiaohong Pan

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AIP Conference Proceedings 1706, 160005 (2016); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4940622 1706, 160005

© 2016 AIP Publishing LLC.

 Non-destructive Evaluation of Spiral-welded Pipes Using
Flexural Guided Waves
Xiaowei Zhang1, a) Zhifeng Tang2, b) Fuzai Lü1, and Xiaohong Pan1
1
Institute of Modern Manufacture Engineering, Zhejiang University, China
2
Institute of Advanced Digital Technologies and Instrumentation, Zhejiang University, China
a)
Corresponding author: zxw1010@zju.edu.cn
b)
tangzhifeng@zju.edu.cn

Abstract. Millions of miles of pipes are being used in both civil and industrial fields. Spiral-welded pipes, which are widely
applied in fields such as drainage, architecture as well as oil and gas storage and transportation, are difficult to inspect due
to their complex geometry. Guided waves have shown a great potential in Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) and
Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) for such cases. Flexural guided waves that propagate at a helix angle relative to the
axial direction of pipe, are the most appropriate modes for inspecting spiral-welded pipes. The classical Normal Mode
Expansion method (NME) is adopted to disseminate the forced response and perturbation analysis of a steel pipe with
respect to a time delay circular loading. A time delay circular array transducer (TDCAT) is proposed for the purpose of
exciting pure flexural mode in pipes. Pure flexural mode can be excited when the time delay parameter is specifically
designed. The theoretical prediction is verified by finite element numerical evaluation and spiral-welded pipe inspection
experiment.

INTRODUCTION
Millions of miles of pipes are being used in both civil and industrial fields. Spiral-welded pipes, which are widely
applied in fields such as drainage, architecture as well as oil and gas storage and transportation, are difficult to inspect
due to their complex geometry. Ultrasonic guided waves has already been demonstrated by various research work to
have great potential and a good prospect in on-line Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) and long-term Structural Health
Monitoring (SHM) of pipelines of various industries [1, 2], due to its various corresponding advantages such as single-
point excitation, long detection range, high inspection efficiency and 100% cross-section coverage. However, the
detection sensitivity for defects in spiral-welded pipes is poor when using axisymmetric guided waves. Flexural guided
waves, which propagate at a helix angle relative to the axial direction of pipes, on the other hand, are the most
appropriate modes for inspecting spiral-welded pipes.
The flexural guided waves in pipes have been known for decades, excitation of flexural guided waves has also been
considered in the literature. Gazis [3, 4] had shown that there exists an infinite number of normal modes, including
axisymmetric modes and non-axisymmetric modes, in an elastic hollow cylinder, each with its own characteristics
such as phase velocity, group velocity and wave structure profile. He obtained the general solution of harmonic waves
propagating in an infinite long hollow cylinder, which has been very beneficial for long range guided wave inspection
on widely distributed pipelines. The forced response problem in a hollow cylinder problem was first studied by Ditri
et al. [5] with Normal Mode Expansion Method (NME), to obtain the amplitude factors of different guided wave
modes. Li et al. [6], Shin et al. [7] studied the excitation and propagation of non-axisymmetric longitudinal waves by
using NME, with different sources such as angle beam partial loading, normal beam and comb transducers considered.
The angular profile was calculated by taking into account the amplitude factors of every excited mode. Sun et al. [8]
studied flexural torsional wave mechanics and focusing by using NME. The Four-Dimensional Tuning Process was
implemented to control angular profiles for energy focusing. Y. Liu et al. [9] presented a plate ray perspective for
elastic wave propagation in hollow circular cylinders. A helical inter-digital transducer (HIDT) was designed for the

42nd Annual Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation

AIP Conf. Proc. 1706, 160005-1–160005-9; doi: 10.1063/1.4940622
© 2016 AIP Publishing LLC 978-0-7354-1353-5/$30.00

160005-1
excitation of a single dominant flexural mode. However, most of current methods for exciting flexural modes suffer
from two disadvantages. First, a single pure flexural mode cannot be excited and multiple modes will bring difficulties
to interpret the received signal. Second, the excited flexural waves cannot cover the entire surface of a pipe. Therefore,
excitation of pure flexural modes that cover the entire surface of a pipe is a crucial element for a complete scan of the
spiral-welded pipes with flexural guided waves.
In this article, the theory of guided wave in hollow cylinders is briefly introduced. The classical NME is adopted to
analyze the guided wave mode control in hollow cylinders. Forced response of a hollow cylinder with respect time
delay circular array loading are detailed analyzed. A time delay circular array transducer (TDCAT) is propose for the
purpose of exciting flexural modes in pipes. The theoretically predicted trends are verified by finite element numerical
simulations. A spiral-welded pipe inspection experiment indicate that a defect with 2% cross section loss (CSL) is
detected by using flexural guided wave.

GUIDED WAVES IN HOLLOW CYLINDERS

Theory
Guided waves in hollow cylinders may travel in circumferential or axial direction [1]. Guided waves propagating
in axial direction in hollow cylinders are considered in this article. The guided waves propagating in the axial direction
involve torsional waves T(N, m) and longitudinal waves L(N, m), where the integer N denotes the circumferential
order and m represents the group order of a mode. The torsional waves have dominant particle motion in the ș
direction, and the longitudinal waves have dominant particle motion in r and/or z direction. Guided waves propagating
in the axial direction of hollow cylinders contain axisymmetric modes (N=0) and non-D[LV\PPHWULFPRGHV1DOVR
known as flexural modes).
r

FIGURE 1. Stress free hollow cylinder in a cylindrical coordinate system.

The wave behavior in a hollow cylinder can be described by solving the governing equations with appropriate
boundary conditions. For an elastic isotropic traction-free hollow cylinder (Fig. 1), the Navier’s governing wave
equation can be written as [1]:
&
& & w 2u
P’ 2 u  (O  P )’’ ˜ u U 2
wt . (1)
V rr V rT V rz 0, on r Ri and r Ro
There exists an infinite number of guided wave modes in a hollow cylinder, each with its own characteristics such
as phase velocity, group velocity and wave structure profile. The dispersion relation for a hollow cylinder can be
solved with Global Matrix Method (GMM) [10] or Semi-analytical Finite Element Method (SAFEM) [11-13]. Fig.2
shows the phase velocity dispersion curves for guided waves in a pipe with geometry and material parameters given
in Table 1.

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 10

Phase velocity(km/s)
6

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000

Frequency(kHz)

FIGURE 2. Phase velocity dispersion curves for L(N,m) and T(N,m) modes in a steel pipe.
TABLE 1. The dimension and material properties of a steel pipe.

Dimension Material properties

Outer diameter Thickness Density Young’s modulus Poisson’s ratio
3)
OD(mm) h(mm) ȡ.JP E(GPa) ȣ
529 7 7800 210 0.28

Normal Mode Expansion Method

There exists an infinite number of propagating modes in a hollow cylinder. The Normal Mode Expansion method
(NME) analyze the generated wave fields in a hollow cylinder in the form of an infinite number of normal modes. The
velocity field due to a normal mode with circumferential order N in mth family can be written [3]
vmN  r , T  exp i Zt  kmN z N
Rmr G
 r  4rN  NT  er   ^
G
RmNT  r  4TN  NT  eT  , (2)

N
Rmz
G
` 
 r  4 zN  NT  ez exp i Zt  kmN z 
ZKHUHȦDQGNDUHWKHDQJXODUIUHTXHQF\DQGZDYHQXPEHU)XQFWLRQV5UDQGĬ1șGHQRWHWKHUDGLFDODQGDQJXODU
distribution of the component of the stress produced by the normal mode with circumferential order N in mth family,
respectively.
The stress amplitude of the wave mode T(N, m) or L(N, m) in the positive propagation direction [5]:

exp -ikmN z 
³c exp  ikm [  ¨© v³ w D vm ˜ T ˜ n1 ds  v³ w D vm ˜ T ˜ n2 ds ¸¹ d[ ,
z
§ G G ·
ANm  z  NN
N N* N*
(3)
4 Pmm 1 2

G G
where T ˜ n1 and T ˜ n2 are the loading conditions on inner and outer boundary of the cylinder.

160005-3
 EXCITATION OF FLEXURAL GUIDED WAVES

Source Influence
Circumferential loading on the outer boundary of the cylinder are considered in this study, which can be written as
G
T ˜ n1 0, (4)
G
G °­ p1 T  p2  z  eT , z d L, T d D , r b
T ˜ n2 ® . (5)
°̄0, z ! L, T ! D , r b

Substituting Eqs. (4) and (5) into Eq. (3) gives

RmNT  b  e ikm z
N

ANm  z  4JN , p1 T  ˜ p2  z  , eikm z , z t L

N

NN
, (6)
4 Pmm

p2  z  , e
N

4J , p1 T 
ik m z
where N
and are respectively the circumferential and axial amplitude factors, which are
defined as the following
E  2S
4JN , p1 T  HT b³ 4 zN  NT  p1 T  dT , (7)
E

f
p2  z  , eikm z
N

³f p2  z e
ikmN z
Hz dz . (8)

Time Delay Circular Array Loading

2IJ

3IJ IJ

4IJ 0

5IJ 7IJ
6IJ

FIGURE 3. Schematic of elastic hollow cylinders under circular array loading.

Consider the time delay circular array loading case, as is shown in Fig. 9, where Ș equally sized ( 2 L u 2D )
transducer elements are equally spaced along the circumferential direction of a cylinder, with time delays
Td  [  1W , [ 1, 2,...,K are applied to each element of the transducer array. The loading distribution functions
p1 T  and p2  z  can be written
­ P1 exp  iZ  [  1W  , T  G
°0, T  G ,
°
p 1 T  ® , (9)
° K
­  2[  1 S  2[  1 S ½
°G * g[ , g[ { ®T : K
D  T 
K
D¾
¯ [ 1 ¯ ¿

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 ­ P2 , z d L
p2  z  ® . (10)
¯0, otherwise
Using Eqs. (13) and (14), the source functions are obtained
K
­
bP
° 1 K  2D  exp  iZ [  1W , N
¦ 0
° [ 1
4J , p1 T 
N
® , (11)
° sin  N D  K § N  2[  1 S · K
° 2bP1 cos¨ ¦ ¸ exp  iZ [  1W , N t 1
¦
¯ N [ 1 © K ¹[ 1

2 P2 sin(kmN L)
p2  z  , exp ikmN z   kmN
. (12)

Substituting Eqs. (11) and (12) into Eq. (3), the amplitude of normal mode with circumferential order N in mth
family of an elastic hollow cylinder under time delay circular array loading is obtained. A sample calculation of
amplitude factor is carried out and shown in Fig. 4 for T(N,1) modes generated by a time delay circular array loading
with different time delays at 64kHz in an elastic pipe with the parameters given in Table 1. Fig.4 indicate that pure
flexural guided wave mode can be excited by time delay circular array loading with the time delay parameters specially
designed.
1 1

0.8 =16 0.8 =16

=0 s =0.977 s
Normalized Amplitude

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 1

0.8 =16 0.8 =16

=1.95 s =2.93 s
Normalized Amplitude

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Circumferential Order N Circumferential Order N

FIGURE 4. Amplitude factors for T(N,1) modes by TDCATs at 64kHz in an elastic pipe with different array parameters. The
diagrams indicate that one pure flexural mode can be effectively excited by a TDCAT if the parameters are specially designed.

NUMERICAL EVALUATION AND VERIFICATION

In this section, summarized finite element numerical evaluation [14] demonstrate the guided wave mode control in
elastic hollow cylinders. A steel pipe, with parameters given in Table 1, is considered in this study with corresponding
phase velocity dispersion curves shown in Fig. 2.

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 The numerical simulation involves the excitation of T(3,1) mode at f=64kHz in a steel pipe with parameters given
in Table 1. The time delay Td for ȟth element of the circular array is Td [  1 2.9297 P s, [ 1, 2,...,16 . 10-cycle
tone burst surface tractions in the circumferential direction are applied with different time delays to the 16 segments
at one end of the pipe. A numerical model is established and calculated, Fig. 5 shows the snapshot of the propagation
of the excited guided waves, Fig 6 shows the unwrapped view of the propagating waves.

FIGURE 5. Snapshot of the propagating waves generated by a 64kHz 16-element TDCAT in a steel pipe. The time delay Td for
ȟth element of the circular array is Td [  1 2.9297 P s, [ 1, 2,...,16 .

The circumferential displacements( uT ) of all the array elements are recorded, the received signals form a 2-
dimensional time-circumference data matrix, a Fourier Transform[15] is performed on the data matrix in the
circumferential direction and the circumferential order the excited wave modes are extracted, as is shown in Fig.7(a).
It is observed that mode with circumferential order N=3 is effectively actuated. Fig. 7(b) shows the normalized angular
profile for the circumferential displacements. It is observed that the generated waves have three pairs of peaks and
valleys distributed in the circumferential direction. Fig. 15 indicates that pure T(3,1) guided wave mode has been
effectively excited in the steel pipe.

FIGURE 6. Unwrapped view of the propagating waves generated by a 64kHz TDCAT in a steel pipe. The time delay Td for ȟth
element of the circular array is Td [  1 2.9297 P s, [ 1, 2,...,16 .

160005-6
 90 1
120 60
0.8
0.6
150 30
0.4
0.2

180 0

210 330

240 300
270

(a) (b)
FIGURE 7. Figure (a) shows the circumferential order of the propagating waves generated by a 64kHz 16-element TDCAT in a
steel pipe. Mode with circumferential order N=3 is effectively excited. Figure (b) shows the normalized angular profile for the
circumferential displacements of the propagating waves. It is observed that T(3,1) mode has three pairs of peaks and valleys
distributed around the circumferential direction.

EXPERIMENT VALIDATION
An experiment is conducted to verify the proposed method. A spiral-welded pipe with material and geometry
parameters given in Table 1 is considered in this study. The forming angle of the spiral-welded pipe is about 70 degree,
therefore a torsional flexural mode T(11,1) at center frequency f=64kHz is selected to inspect the spiral-welded pipe.
A magnetostrictive guided wave detecting instrument and a magnetostrictive torsional wave circular array transducer
are used in the experiment. The time delay for each transducer element is calculated and the instrument configuration
is manipulated through the control software. A signal is collected for a defect-free pipe and the RF signal and its
envelope are shown in Fig.8. It is observed that reflection waves from the weld joints are clearly separated from each
other, the signal to noise ratio (SNR) is much better than the inspection result of axisymmetric mode T(0,1).
2.5

Weld joint 2

1.5
Amplitude(V)

0
Weld joint
1

-1

0.5

-2

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Distance(m) Distance(m)

FIGURE 8. Inspection result for defect-free spiral-welded pipe. The reflection signals from weld joints are clearly separated, the
SNR is much better than the result of axisymmetric mode T(0,1).

An artificial defect with 2% CSL is introduced to test the defect detection ability of the proposed TDCAT, as is
shown in Fig.9. Another test is conducted and the collected signal and its envelope are shown in Fig.10. It is observed
that the artificial defect is effectively detected, the SNR of the defect signal is about 11.8dB. The experiment result
indicates that the proposed method is valid for non-destructive evaluation of spiral-welded pipes, and that flexural
guided waves are the most appropriate modes for inspecting spiral-welded pipes.

160005-7
 Defect with 2% CSL

Reciever

Spiral-welded pipe

FIGURE 9. Experiment setup, an artificial defect with 2% CSL is introduced.

2.5

1
Defect
1.5
Amplitude(V)

0 Weld joint
1

-1
Defect
Weld joint 0.5

-2

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Distance(m) Distance(m)

FIGURE 10. Inspection result of the spiral-welded pipe with 2% CSL artificial defect. The defect is effectively detected, the
SNR of the defect signal is about 11.8dB.

CONCLUSION
Flexural guided waves, which propagate at a helix angle relative to the axial direction of a hollow cylinder, are
meant to be the most appropriate modes for non-destructive evaluation of spiral-welded pipes. The article has adopted
and developed the Normal Mode Expansion Method to analyze the excitation flexural guided waves in hollow
cylinders. The forced responses of steel pipes with respect to time delay circular array loading are analyzed. A time
delay circular array transducer (TDCAT) is proposed for the purpose of actuating flexural wave in pipes. Finite
element evaluation involving excitation of flexural torsional mode T(3,1) has validated the proposed method. A spiral-
welded pipe inspection experiment indicate that a defect with 2% cross section loss (CSL) is effectively detected by
using flexural guided wave.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61271084 and No. 51275454)
and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

160005-8
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