Data-enabled quantitative corrosion monitoring using ultrasound

Abstract

Corrosion is the most pervasive degradation mechanism of engineering infrastructure. It has caused numerous disastrous events that resulted in devastating societal, environmental and financial consequences. There exist numerous standard techniques for corrosion monitoring. Among these techniques, ultrasonic testing stands out as a non-intrusive and straightforward approach. Component wall-thickness loss rate (WTLR) is an intrinsic parameter of corrosion processes. Accurate and rapid determination of WTLRs from continuous ultrasonic wall-thickness loss (WTL) measurements is a critical aspect of effective corrosion control. In this paper, a statistics-based method that enables automatic detection of changes in WTLR will be introduced. The detection method further extends the application of ultrasonic corrosion monitoring to more sophisticated corrosion processes that involve multiple rates. Statistical analysis of ultrasonic WTL measurements that were acquired by a state-of-the-art laboratory setup shows that changes in WTLR of 0.1–0.2 mm/year can be determined within 1–2 h.