Ultrasonic Transducer Array Performance for Improved Cleaning of Pipelines in Marine and Freshwater Applications

Fouling accumulation in pipelines is a well-known problem in industry across various applications. The build-up of fouling within a pipe can reach a detrimental state, leading to pipe blockages that, in turn, result in pipe bursts. As pipelines transport fluid up to hundreds of meters, a method to prevent and remove fouling at long distances is required to support an engineering structure without the requirement of halts for maintenance to be carried out. Underwater pipelines are currently deployed which must ensure that pipelines carrying crude oil do not reach a detrimental state which leads to pipe leaks or pipe bursts, resulting in a discharge of oil into the surrounding water. This work discusses an optimized ultrasonic cleaning transducer array which undergoes marinization. The marinized transducers are characterized for impedance and wave propagation across a fouled 6.2 m long, Schedule 40, 6-inch diameter carbon steel pipe. This study has shown that the addition of marinized material dampens the vibrational output from the High-Power Ultrasonic Transducer (HPUT) configuration. This reduction in vibration is most significant when the structure is filled with water, resulting in a marinized HPUT configuration dropping by up to 85% and a non-marinized HPUT configuration dropping by up to 80%.