An Echo Analysis Method for the Ultrasonic Measurement of Micrometric Wall-Thickness Loss Inside Pipes

Pipelines are subject to wall-thickness loss due to corrosion along time. Ultrasonic pulse-echo techniques are widely used for thickness measurement achieving a high resolution. However, the precision of measurement is highly dependent on temperature and on the ultrasonic system. This work presents an echo analysis method based on an appropriate temporal window and threshold to evaluate a pipe wall-thickness using ultrasonic transducers. The results are experimentally evaluated using an array of ultrasonic transducers (5 MHz, 10 mm diameter) operating in pulse-echo mode with a water coupling layer.