Detecção de incrustação em tubulações metálicas baseada em análise de vibrações mecânicas e acústicas.

Abstract

Faced with a persistent problem in the industry, which is the presence of fouling in the metallic pipes used for fluid transport, it is necessary to predict in advance the occurrence of this incrustation to avoid unnecessary expenses with the fluid flux and until rupture of the pipe. However, many techniques developed to determine the occurrence of scale are invasive, making it necessary to interrupt the production process to inspect the piping internally. Others, non-invasive, require a set of pipe parameters that are often not accessible, making it difficult to use the technique. With this focus, this thesis presents a new noninvasive technique in the detection of fouling using mechanical and acoustic vibration analysis through the mechanical vibration test based on the detection in pairs, allowing to identify the presence of the fouling without the need of pipe signature, and correlating this mechanical vibration with the sound signal emitted by the pipe excited by the acoustic test, both tests resulting from the use of hammer impact. It is possible to monitor the vibrational waves and followed by a simultaneous analysis of the correlation of the mechanical and sound data, determine the presence of unsaturated fouling of the pipe and avoiding false positives. To validate the proposed technique, a fouling detection system was built based on the proposed technique and tests were performed on applications with industrial fluid transport plants that simulate actual industrial installations.