Bottom Plate Damage Localization Method for Storage Tanks Based on Bottom Plate-Wall Plate Synergy

Area of Science:

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Non-Destructive Testing (NDT)
• Structural Health Monitoring (SHM)

Background:

• Ultrasonic guided waves are utilized for in-service defect detection in storage tank bottom plates.
• Conventional single-array methods struggle with boundary scattering noise from side connection welds.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate a collaborative bottom plate-wall plate detection methodology.
• To overcome limitations posed by weld scattering noise in conventional NDT approaches.

Main Methods:

• Deployment of sensor arrays on both bottom and wall plates for multidimensional signal acquisition.
• Excitation of the bottom plate array and dual-array reception from both bottom and wall plates.
• Development of a correlation coefficient-based matching algorithm to differentiate damage echoes from scattering noise.

Main Results:

• Guided wave signals processed via data matching preserved damage echoes while attenuating boundary scattering.
• Correlation matching on signals from corresponding array elements followed by Total Focusing Imaging (TFI) effectively suppressed artifacts.
• The collaborative method demonstrated superior detection accuracy with a maximum relative localization error of 5.4%.

Conclusions:

• The proposed collaborative bottom plate-wall plate detection methodology significantly enhances defect detection.
• The correlation matching algorithm effectively distinguishes damage signals from weld scattering noise.
• This approach offers improved accuracy and artifact reduction for storage tank integrity assessment.