[1B5] Strategies for guided acoustic wave underwater inspection of plastic pipes using mobile robots
C Zhu, J Zhang, A Croxford and B Drinkwater
University of Bristol, UK
Continuous non-destructive monitoring of large-scale plastic pipelines with filled water is extremely challenging with traditional manual inspections. The detection challenges arise from the selection of ultrasonic sensors, methodology employed for detection using a single sensor and the integration of detection for an entire pipe. In this paper, the authors explore potential detection strategies that a collection of inspection robots could adopt to address this challenge. They envision the continuous inspection of a plastic pipe performed by multiple robots or a single robot that combines measurements from multiple locations. The robots use guided ultrasonic waves to interrogate a localised region for defects such as cracking or corrosion. The receiver operating characteristic defines a detection zone in which a defect can be detected if it is present. The detection performances from a pulse-echo mode and a pitch-catch mode are compared. In experimental validation examples on three plastic pipes made of different materials and containing multiple defects, it is shown that the proposed methodology can be used to efficiently detect plastic pipes.
