Abstract
Eddy Current Testing (ECT) has been the most used technique for damages detection in heat exchanger equipment. This inspection aims to detect defects in the tubular bundle and to assess the integrity of a shell and tube. However, in several situations the reliability of the inspection has not been satisfactory due to the complexity of signal interpretation. The analysis of the EC signals inside the tubesheet is complex, due to the influence of the crevice region (CR) and transition region (TR), being important to develop methodologies, which allow to separate the spurious signals coming from those regions and from the real defects. Another difficulty is the evaluation of the detection limits of the probe, which depends on defects geometry and probe location. In order to simulate real inspections this study used the finite element software OPERA Cobham, in which virtual solids were constructed simulating a tube removed from operation with real cracks in the crevice and TR. Results showed that the methodology developed is quite promising. An accurate diagnosis was obtained in the differentiation between the geometric signals and the crack signals, allowing to predict probes detectability limits according to the size, orientation and vicinity of the defects.
How to Cite:
Côrte, J. S., Rebello, J. M., Arenas, M. P. & Pereira, G. R., (2019) “Cracks detection in heat exchanger tubes by eddy current testing using computational simulation”, Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation .
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