Measuring wall thickness loss for a structure

A method for measuring wall thickness in a region of interest included in a structure, comprising:

• transmitting, by a plurality of transducers, a plurality of ultrasonic waves through the region of interest and convert the ultrasonic waves to propagated electrical signals that encode a three-dimensional representation of a wall thickness loss distribution of the region of interest;
• virtually replicating data generated by virtual representations of the propagated electrical signals excited by a plurality of virtual transducers in addition to data associated with the propagated electrical signals excited by the plurality of transducers to generate a two-dimensional model for analysis of the wall thickness loss distribution;
• and
• generating a wall thickness loss distribution map from the two-dimensional model, wherein the wall thickness loss distribution map provides the wall thickness loss distribution for the region of interest;
• and
• wherein the step of virtually replicating data comprises:
• generating the plurality of virtual transducers that are virtual replicas of each transducer;
• expanding the three-dimensional representation of the wall thickness loss distribution to include data generated by the plurality of virtual transduces;
• generating virtual representations of the propagated electrical signals based on data associated with the propagated electrical signals and the data generated by the virtual representations of the propagated electrical signals excited by the plurality of virtual transducers;
• providing additional detail to the three-dimensional representation of the wall thickness loss distribution of the region of interest based on the virtual representations;
• and
• converting the three-dimensional representation to a two-dimensional model for analysis of the wall thickness loss distribution.

A system for measuring wall thickness in a region of interest included in a structure, comprising:

• a plurality of transducers configured to transmit a plurality of ultrasonic waves through the region of interest and convert the ultrasonic waves to propagated electrical signals that encode a three-dimensional representation of a wall thickness loss distribution of the region of interest;
• a pre-processing system configured to:
• generate a plurality of virtual transducers that are virtual replicas of each transducer,
• expand the three-dimensional representation of the wall thickness loss distribution to include data generated by the plurality of virtual transducers,
• generate virtual representations of the propagated electrical signals based on information associated with the propagated electrical signals and the data generated by the plurality of virtual transducers,
• provide additional detail to the three-dimensional representation of the wall thickness loss distribution of the region of interest based on the virtual representations, and
• convert the three-dimensional representation to a two-dimensional model for analysis of the wall thickness distribution;
• and
• an inversion system configured to generate a wall thickness loss distribution map from the two-dimensional model, wherein the wall thickness loss distribution map provides the wall thickness loss distribution for the region of interest.

A method for measuring wall thickness in a region of interest included in a structure, comprising:

• transmitting, by a plurality of transducers, a plurality of ultrasonic waves through the region of interest and convert the ultrasonic waves to propagated electrical signals that encode a three-dimensional representation of a wall thickness loss distribution of the region of interest;
• generating a plurality of virtual transducers that are virtual replicas of each transducer;
• expanding the three-dimensional representation of the wall thickness loss distribution to include data generated by the plurality of transducers;
• generating virtual representations of the propagated electrical signals based on information associated with the propagated electrical signals and the data generated by the plurality of virtual transducers;
• providing additional detail to the three-dimensional representation of the wall thickness loss distribution of the region of interest based on the virtual representations;
• converting the three-dimensional representation to a two-dimensional model for analysis of the wall thickness distribution;
• and
• generating a wall thickness loss distribution map from the two-dimensional model, wherein the wall thickness loss distribution map provides the wall thickness loss distribution of the region of interest.