Time reversal method for pipe inspection with guided wave

The temporal-spatial focusing effect of the time reversal method on the guided wave inspection in pipes is investigated. A steel pipe model with outer diameter of 70 mm and wall thickness of 3.5 mm is numerically built to analyse the reflection coefficient of L(0,2) mode when the time reversal method is applied in the model. According to the calculated results, it is shown that a synthetic time reversal array method is effective to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of a guided wave inspection system. As an intercepting window is widened, more energy can be included in a re-emitted signal, which leads to a large reflection coefficient of L(0,2) mode. It is also shown that when a time reversed signal is reapplied in the pipe model, by analysing the motion of the time reversed wave propagating along the pipe model, a defect can be identified. Therefore, it is demonstrated that the time reversal method can be used to locate the circumferential position of a defect in a pipe. Finally, through an experiment corresponding with the pipe model, the experimental result shows that the above-mentioned method can be valid in the inspection of a pipe.