Abstract
AbstractSteam generators (SGs) used in power plants have several hundreds of ferromagnetic SG tubes which are periodically inspected using non-destructive testing (NDT) methods. Pre-service and in-service inspections of these magnetic tubes are carried out using RFEC technique for plant safety and structural integrity. In this paper, a 3D numerical model was developed for SG tube inspection using remote field eddy current (RFEC) technique. The numerical model was used to estimate the electrical properties of the SG tube using RFEC signals gathered from a SG tube with machined defects. The influence of magnetic coupling between the surrounding SG tubes on defect detection was investigated for the estimated SG tube electrical properties. Simulations in the presence of six neighbouring SG tubes were carried out for centre to centre tube spacing of 32.2 mm with respect to the centre tube. Numerical simulations for the SG tube with machined defects indicated very good agreement with measurements for tube electrical conductivity σ of 2 MS/m and relative magnetic permeability \({\mu }_{r}\) of 30. Numerical simulations carried out to study the influence of magnetic coupling with the surrounding SG tubes indicated negligibly small perturbation in the simulated RFEC signal for a 2D groove defect in the centre tube and no false call in the centre tube for a 2D grove defect in the neighbouring tube.KeywordsEddy current testingFerromagnetic tubesMagnetic field couplingRemote field eddy currentSteam generator
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