INVESTIGATIONS OF MECHANICAL GUIDED WAVES PROPAGATION IN PIPES REPAIRED LOCALLY BY COMPOSITE PATCHES
Mechanical guided waves are frequently used to non destructively test and/or monitor large structures, such pipes. These pipes, which are used to transport fluids, are vulnerable to structure defects, such as corrosion and crack. For mainly economic concerns (save time and cost) the areas where defects had occurred are sometimes repaired. The material used for reparation is often composites, which cause a hug attenuation of guided waves. This attenuation can limit drastically the distance of inspection (i. e. the distance between the transducer and the smallest detectable defect) The current work aims to investigate numerically, through finite element method, the influence of composite reparations on guided waves propagation. Various parameters such as the shape of the reparation and the operating frequency are studied. The final purpose of this work is to propose some recommendations on guided waves setup to ensure an efficient use of this nondestructive testing technique.