Wall Thinning Assessment for Ferromagnetic Plate with Pulsed Eddy Current Testing Using Analytical Solution Decoupling Method

Abstract

The wall-thinning measurement of ferromagnetic plates covered with insulations and claddings is a main challenge in petrochemical and power generation industries. Pulsed eddy current testing (PECT) is considered as a promising method. However, the accuracy is limited due to the interference factors such as lift-off and cladding. In this study, by decoupling analytic solution, a feature only sensitive to plate thickness is proposed. Based on the electromagnetic waves reflection and transmission theory, cladding-induced interference is firstly decoupled from the analytical model. Moreover, by using the first integral mean value theorem, interferences of insulation and the lift-off are decoupled, too. Hence, the method is proposed by calculating Euclidean distances between the normalized detection signal and normalized reference signal as the feature to assess wall thinning. Its effectiveness under various conditions is examined and results show that the proposed feature is only sensitive to the ferromagnetic plate thickness. Finally, the experiment is carried on to verify this method practicable.