Corrosion inspection and monitoring system

A computerized method for detection and monitoring of corrosion in a structure by direct measurement of material loss in the structure, comprising the steps of:

• a microcontroller programming a function generator to generate a high-frequency tone burst excitation signal;
• amplifying said high-frequency tone burst excitation signal at a power amplifier;
• transmitting said amplified high-frequency tone burst excitation signal to an actuator in contact with said structure and thereby imparting said amplified high-frequency tone burst excitation signal as a wave packet vibration into the structure;
• sensing said wave packet vibration propagation at a plurality of sensors mounted on said structure, and converting the wave packet vibration sensed at each of said plurality of sensors into feedback signals;
• digitizing the feedback signals at an analog-to-digital converter;
• extracting one of differential phase or differential magnitude information from the digitized feedback signals, said differential phase information quantifying a differential phase shift of said wave-packet as a result of propagation of said wave packet vibration through said structure, and said differential magnitude information quantifying a differential magnitude change of said wave-packet as a result of propagation of said wave packet vibration through said structure from the digitized feedback signals;
• storing said extracted phase differential or magnitude information over a prolonged period of time in computer memory;
• using a computer to calculate one of cumulative differential phase or cumulative differential magnitude information over said prolonged period of time from said stored phase differential or magnitude information, and
• using said computer to correlate said calculated cumulative differential phase or cumulative differential magnitude information with material loss caused by progressing corrosion damage in said structure.

A corrosion inspection and monitoring (CIM) system for detection and monitoring of corrosion in a structure by direct measurement of material loss in the structure, comprising:

• a microcontroller including memory;
• a function generator in communication with said microcontroller for generating an excitation signal;
• an amplifier connected to said function generator for amplifying the excitation signal;
• an actuator connected to said amplifier and in contact with said structure for imparting said excitation signal into said structure as a wave packet to generate a mechanical disturbance into the structure;
• at least one sensor mounted on said structure for sensing mechanical deformation in said structure due to said wave packet wave propagation, and for generating a feedback signal there from;
• and
• software stored in said microcontroller memory configured to execute instructions for initiating said function generator to generate said high-frequency tone burst excitation signal through said power amplifier and actuator imparting a wave packet vibration to said structure, to cause said analog-to-digital converter to digitize feedback signals obtained at each of said plurality of sensors as a result of propagation of said wave packet vibration through said structure, to extract differential magnitude information from the digitized feedback signals quantifying a differential magnitude of said wave-packet at one or more of said plurality of sensors as a result of propagation of said wave packet vibration through said structure, to repeat the foregoing steps over a prolonged period of time and in each instance storing said differential magnitude information, to calculate a cumulative differential magnitude over said prolonged period of time, and for correlating said cumulative differential magnitude over said prolonged period of time with material loss from progressing corrosion damage in said structure.