Abstract
Regular deformation inspection of in-service natural gas pipelines can reduce accidents caused by pipeline failure. In this study, a novel contact-testing geometry inspection gauge is proposed, and its multi-jointed soft detection arm is the focus of our study. 3D printing technology and mold casting were used to fabricate a newly designed detection arm. A finite element method was used to analyze the process of the detection arm passing through the convex defect and optimize its joint number. Then, a series of comparison experiments were conducted with various convex defects to evaluate the superiority of the measuring performance of the multi-jointed soft detection arm. The experimental results show that compared to the no-jointed detection arm, the multi-jointed detection arm has a more accurate experimental value, especially for defects with closer heights (8 and 10 mm) and is relatively more stable in repeated experiments. This study provides options for the design of a flexible caliper pipeline inspection gauge for deformation inspection in pipelines.
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