An apparatus for guided wave testing of a test object comprises a linear array of receiver electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs), and at least one linear array of transmitter EMATs disposed substantially parallel to the linear array of receiver EMATs and configured to launch guided waves in said test object in a direction substantially perpendicular to the at least one linear array of transmitter EMATs. Either (i) transmitter coils of the at least one linear array of transmitter EMATs have a common winding direction, receiver coils of adjacent receiver EMATs have alternating winding directions, and receiver coils of at least two adjacent receiver EMATs are connected in series, or (ii) transmitter coils of the transmitter EMATs have alternating winding directions, receiver coils of adjacent receiver EMATs have a common winding direction, and receiver coils of at least two adjacent receiver EMATs are connected in series.

An element configured to be mounted at an end of a pipe suited to circulation of a fluid to extend the pipe. The element includes a hollow profiled body including a peripheral surface and a protective covering at least partially covering the peripheral surface. The element further includes a sensor of guided waves type, control electronics for the guided wave sensor, and an electric cable configured to connect the control electronics to corresponding electronics of the pipe. The electric cable and the guided wave sensor are fixed to the peripheral surface of the body under at least part of the protective covering.

A magnetostrictive transducer assembly for generating a longitudinal elastic guided wave of a selected frequency and mode and for guiding the wave into an open end of a heat exchanger tube for testing the tube. The transducer assembly comprises a current-carrying coil of wire, a magnetostrictive material wrapped around the coil of wire, a mechanism for pressing the magnetostrictive material against an inner surface of the tube, and one or more biasing magnets placed in the vicinity of the current-carrying coil of wire and the magnetostrictive material.

An electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) system for inspecting a part includes an EMAT sensor and a power supply for supplying an output power to the EMAT sensor. The power supply includes a DC/DC converter to boost an input DC voltage into a boosted DC voltage, a DC/AC inverter having Silicon Carbide (SiC) Mosfet power switches to invert the boosted DC voltage into an AC square voltage, and an output filter to filter the AC square voltage into an AC sinusoidal voltage. The AC sinusoidal voltage is the output power from the power supply to the EMAT sensor.

A method of detecting and characterizing a defect in an object is described. The method comprises implementing comb-like pattern transducers upon the object to be tested, where each comb-like pattern transducer comprises array of source elements is periodically placed, selectively activating at least a group of source elements of the first comb-like pattern transducer to generate one or more guided waves. The method further comprises transmitting the one or more guided waves from the first end of the object, receiving at least a portion of the one or more guided waves at the second comb-like pattern transducer, and receiving a remaining portion of the one or more guided waves at the first comb-like pattern transducer, analyzing the one or more received guided waves to determine a cut-off frequency, calculating a remnant thickness value based on the cut-off frequency, and detecting and characterizing the defect in the object based on the remnant thickness value.

A method and system of detecting, localizing, and characterizing a defect at one or more spatial points of interest on a structure. The method may include collecting first data in a first state using one or more transducers on the structure, collecting second data in a second state subsequent to the first state, computing a scattered impulse response based on the collected first data and the collected second data, comparing the scattered impulse response with an estimated scattered impulse response corresponding to the case when damage is present at one or more spatial points of interest on the structure, and combining the generated comparison results to detect, localize, and characterize a defect at the one or more spatial points of interest on the structure.

An ultrasonic inspection method that includes arranging an ultrasonic transmission element and an ultrasonic reception element symmetrically in relation to a straight line in a diameter direction orthogonal to the cylinder axis of a cylindrical inspection object, the inspection object being interposed between the ultrasonic transmission element and the ultrasonic reception element; transmitting ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic transmission element at a plurality of positions in the diameter direction; receiving by the ultrasonic reception element the ultrasonic waves transmitted from the ultrasonic transmission element and transmitted through the inspection object by propagating through the inside of the inspection object; and inspecting the inspection object on the basis of a reception signal of the ultrasonic waves received by the ultrasonic reception element.

An inspection system includes a magnetostrictive scanner probe, a ferromagnetic strip, at least one magnet, and a processor. The magnetostrictive scanner probe includes a probe body for supporting at least one flexible sensor coil and a position encoder. The ferromagnetic strip is configured to be coupled to a structure, and the at least one magnet is configured to apply a biasing magnetization to the ferromagnetic strip. The processor is configured to cause a time-varying current to be generated in the at least one flexible sensor coil to induce a time-varying magnetization in said ferromagnetic strip perpendicular to said biasing magnetization to generate shear horizontal-type guided wave energy into said structure, and process reflected shear horizontal-type guided wave energy received by the at least one flexible sensor coil as the probe is moved relative to said structure to generate at least one two-dimensional image of a region of said structure.

Methods for detection, monitoring, and determination of location of changes in rigid structures with arbitrarily complex geometries are described. Implementations include locating acoustic transducers that generate and receive acoustic signals at multiple locations along a surface of the rigid structure, wherein longitudinal spacing between the transducer locations define measurement zones. Acoustic signals with chosen amplitude-time-frequency characteristics excite multiple vibration modes in the structure within each zone. Small mechanical changes in the inspection zones lead to scattering and attenuation of broadband acoustic signals, which are detectable as changes in received signal characteristics as part of a through-transmission technique. Additional use of short, narrowband pulse acoustic signals as part of a pulse-echo technique allows determination of the relative location of the mechanical change within each zone based on the differential delay profiles.

A method for adjusting array of omnidirectional EMATs includes: uniformly arranging N EMATs in a detection region of a metal plate; calculating positions of scattering points according to amplitudes and travel times of guided wave scattering signals, and forming a first defect profile curve by performing three smooth spline interpolations on coordinate data of positions of scattering points; calculating curvatures of points on the first defect profile curve by solving a first and second derivatives of a function of the first defect profile curve; determining an array adjustment region by comparing the curvature with a preset threshold, adjusting the array and calculating a second defect profile curve; and performing data fusion on the first and second defect profile curves to form a defect profile image of the metal plate.