Automated NDT System for Tubes and Tanks

This automated system detects structural defects of filament wound tubes by their local inhomogeneous deformation under internal pressure load.

The pipes are rotated in 90° steps around their axis to monitor four circumferential segments. Two SE4 sensors with 2 x 4000 px are applied per segment along the tube’s axis. For a tube length of 1 m @ 8000 px, this leads to 0.125 mm/px spatial pixel resolution for all 8 image segments. After inserting the pipes, the ends are automatically sealed and internal pressure is used as the loading method. Since this corresponds to the usual operating load of the tubes, the measured deformation distribution visualizes mainly the relevant structural defects in contrast to other loading methods such as thermal loading.