Method and system for non-intrusively inspecting a fluidic channel

A system for non-intrusively determining cross-sectional variation of a fluidic channel, the system comprising:

• a hammer configured to strike an external surface of a fluidic channel upon actuation;
• one or more sensors operable to sense reflections of the pressure pulse and measure a pressure profile;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium including at least one processor and storing instructions executable by the at least one processor to:
• actuate the hammer to create a pressure pulse;
• obtain, from the one or more sensors, the measured pressure profile based on the sensed reflections of the pressure pulse;
• generate a forward model of cross-sectional variation of the fluidic channel based on a baseline simulation;
• determine based on the forward model an amount of the cross-sectional variation versus distance from one or more sensors;
• generate, using the forward model, a simulated pressure profile;
• determine, using the measured pressure profile and the simulated pressure profile, an error;
• update, when the error is outside a predetermined threshold, the forward model based on the error;
• and
• display an estimate of cross-sectional variation of the fluidic channel based on the forward model an estimate of cross-sectional variation of the fluidic channel based on the forward model where the estimate of cross-sectional variation is provided as a function of amount of estimated cross-sectional variation of the fluidic channel versus distance in the fluidic channel from the one or more sensors.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising at least one processor and storing instructions executable by the at least one processor to:

• actuate a hammer to strike an external surface of a fluidic channel upon actuation to creating a pressure pulse;
• obtain, from one or more sensors, a measured pressure profile based on sensed reflections of the pressure pulse;
• generate a forward model of cross-sectional variation of the fluidic channel based on a baseline simulation;
• determine based on the forward model an amount of the cross-sectional variation versus distance from one or more sensors;
• generate, using the forward model, a simulated pressure profile;
• determine, using the measured pressure profile and the simulated pressure profile, an error;
• update, when the error is outside a predetermined threshold, the forward model based on the error;
• and
• display an estimate of cross-sectional variation of the fluidic channel based on the forward model where the estimate of cross-sectional variation is provided as a function of amount of estimated cross-sectional variation of the fluidic channel versus distance in the fluidic channel from the one or more sensors.