Discriminative Method for Crack Detection Signals in Balanced-Field Electromagnetic Technique Based on Amplitude-Phase Composite Figure

The balanced-field electromagnetic technique is an effective in-line inspection method for pipeline cracks. To address the problem that the interference signal generated by the tilt jitter of the sensor during the detection process affects the judgment of cracks, this paper proposes a method to differentiate the crack detection signal from the sensor jitter signal by using an amplitude-phase composite figure. The generation principle of the detection signal was analyzed by using the mutual inductance model, and the amplitude-phase composite figure was constructed by using the components of the detection signal after quadrature demodulation. The feasibility of using the phase as a signal discrimination feature was illustrated by finite element simulations, and the characteristics of the amplitude-phase composite figure were determined. The validity of the proposed method was verified experimentally. The results show that the crack detection signal and the signal generated by the sensor jitter are of the same frequency with similar waveforms and significantly different phases. The phase base value of the crack detection signal ranges from 35° to 55°, and the phase base value of the jitter signal is −4°. In terms of the characteristics of the amplitude-phase composite figure, the crack detection signal distribution is symmetrical about the origin in the first and third quadrants, and the axial crack is closer to the Y-axis than the circumferential crack; the jitter signal is distributed in the second and fourth quadrants and has a very small angle to the X-axis. In addition, the proposed method effectively weakens the observation of the phase noise region in the detection signal of the balanced-field electromagnetic technique.