New feature for evaluation of subsurface defects via multi-frequency alternating current field signature method

A multi-frequency alternating current field signature method (MACFSM) that combines multi-frequency excitation and zero phase is proposed to detect subsurface defects in metal pipes. In a numerical analysis, multi-frequency exciting currents are applied to a metal pipe (wall thickness T = 10mm) which contains different depth defects, and then zero phase is extracted from phase spectrum to assess defect depth. The investigation shows that in comparison with derivative extremum, the monotonic relationship between zero phase and defect depth can enable accurate determinations of defect depths. A general solution for calculating defect depth using zero phase is given in MACFSM. Pulse excitation field signature method is proposed for future research of quantitative nondestructive evaluation (QNDE) in the end of this paper.