Defect detection of a pipe using a guided wave generated by an efficient transduction with a reflector

Experimental investigations of sensitivities for defect detection in pipes by guided waves were described. An efficient method of transduction with a reflector was used and its sensitivity was evaluated in comparison to that of conventional transduction without a reflector. An efficient transduction could be realized by placing the reflector at an appropriate axial position, which was briefly described in the paper. The experiments were carried out using a 60.5-mm-outer-diameter and 4-mm-thick aluminum pipe and a piezoelectric ringshaped sensor system. It was confirmed that the sensitivity in the case with the reflector was more than twofold that in the case without the reflector. The detection limits and sensitivities in a noisy environment were compared between the transductions with and without the reflector. © 2009 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.