A Study on the Development of the Stainless Steel Tube Bundle Structure Detecting System Using Ultrasonic Guided Wave

Abstract

In this study, an ultrasonic guided wave system that can be used to detect broken tubes in stainless steel tube bundle structures (e.g., heat exchangers) with fairly narrow spacing between the tubes was designed. The interval between the tubes was 1.5 mm, and the thickness of the strip with a transducer that can be inspected by passing between the tubes was designed to be 1 mm. The damaged specimen was filled with water, and it was confirmed that the signal amplitude was smaller than that of the normal specimen filled with air. The ultrasonic properties of stainless steel were analyzed using the developed system, and it is expected that this will contribute to breakage inspection for tube bundles with narrow spacing.