作为重要的高温高压承载部件，厚壁管道广泛应用在电力行业的主蒸汽、再热蒸汽热段管道等，是电厂金属监督检验的重中之重。厚壁管道母材的初始缺陷,在役过程中产生的损伤、缺陷及裂纹等直接影响厚壁管道整体结构的运行安全和使用寿命。本项目立足发展厚壁管道超声导波传播的相关理论，研究新型阵列传感器的检测机理,突破传感器设计与制造工艺的关键技术，提出基于新型传感技术的导波检测新方法，以实现厚壁管道缺陷的高效检测。研究重点为：1)激励源作用下厚壁管道中超声导波形成机理；超声导波检测参数的优化匹配模型建立；厚壁管道中超声导波传播特性及与缺陷的相互作用。2)宽带表面波传感器检测机理、窄声束导波阵列传感器及其旁瓣抑制机理、多功能一体化柔性导波传感器的集成与制造技术。3)厚壁管道缺陷表面波/超声导波表征方法；缺陷检测全场扫描路径规划；导波检测信号处理与缺陷特征识别。最终形成具有自主知识产权的厚壁管道缺陷检测成套技术。

As the major components bearing high temperature and pressure, the thick-wall pipe is commonly used in the main steam pipeline and the reheat steam heat section of the pipeline in the electric power industry. The thick-wall pipe health inspection is the top priority of the metal quality supervision in the power plants, because the included initial defects in base metal of the thick-wall pipe and the damage or cracks induced in the service stage directly affect the operation safety and result in a reduction in the service life of the structures. This project focuses on developing the corresponding propagation theory of the ultrasonic guided wave (UGW) in the thick-wall pipe, exploring the detection mechanism of the new-style array transducer and the breakthrough on the key technologies for the transducer design and manufacture. Therefore, the proposed guided wave inspection method based on novel transducers can be applied for the defect detection in the thick-wall pipe with high efficiency. The project will mainly emphasize on the following aspects: 1) to investigate the generation mechanism of ultrasonic guided waves considering the effect of the excitation sources, to establish the parameter optimization model for ultrasonic guided waves inspection method, and to research the propagation characteristics of ultrasonic guided waves in the thick-wall pipe and the interaction of ultrasonic guided waves with the defects.2) to research the inspection mechanism of the broad-band surface acoustic wave (SAW) transducer, the narrow-beam guided wave arrayed transducer with multi-element and its sidelobe suppression mechanism, and the fabrication of flexible hybrid transducer with multifunction. 3)to characterize the defect in the thick-wall pipe using the SAW or UGW, to plan the scanning path for defect detecion in global field, and to develop signal processing method for defects identification. As a result, a number of core technologies with the independent intellectual property rights are developed for inspecting the defects in the thick-wall pipe.