Improved Precision in Measurements of Acoustic

Impedance Spectra
Intro & Motivation

Aims & Objectives

Pipes play a crucial role in the oil and gas industry, but are
also used to transport electricity, clean water or other
liquids and powders.

In a cylindrical pipe, the sound waves travel lengthwise in

a longitudinal manner as depicted in the below figure: the
source produces a sound and the rigid walls of the pipe
guide the waves and provide minimal loss of energy by
restricting the propagation to only one direction.

Aim: analyse the current methods of measuring the

acoustic impedance spectra used by the School of
EEE, discuss and understand the relationship
between the measurement results and equipment set
up.

A disastrous outcome can lead to significant economic and

resources losses, and many times the incident can go
undetected, because the pipes are located in inaccessible
places that make it hard for humans to perform a visual
inspection.

Source

Plane Waves

Understand the acoustics principles

Design a circuit which uses 2-3 microphones to

The Piper Alpha disaster - North Sea, UK (1988)

measure the input impedance at different points

The incident and reflected wave interfere, add to each

other and create resonances called standing wave.

Test that the microphone circuit works

Therefore, the reliability and safety of the pipeline

operation are of great concern. The acoustic impedance can
be used in a pipe to identify and measure blockages, cracks
and unknown objects.

Conditions at waveguide boundaries:

=

Couple the microphones with the horn

Evaluate and plot the measurements taken with

the microphones

Step Signal

Function Generator

23 Hz & 3% duty cycle

Microphone and preamplifier circuit used for

capturing the sound waves:

Oscilloscope

Trigger

The Circuit

The Experiment

Microphone response

Audio Amplifier

3D Model
Pipe to be inserted

Rigid Walls

Objectives:

The worst offshore oil disaster:

Signals

Sound Propagation

Pipe

Space for speaker

surround suspension
Equipment set-up: The loudspeaker is
tightly attached to the speaker mount and is
measured with two microphones attached to
the mount. The amplifier amplifies the
waves coming from the function generator.

Power
Supply (12 V)

The design also contains a fixed voltage

regulator (LDO), which maintains a constant
voltage level of 10V:

Results

Microphone B Response (No Gap)

1.1

0.9

Hand

Conclusions

Threaded inserts x4 Holes for microphones

Challenges
PCB Design

Voltage (mV)

0.7

In this project it was reviewed a common

acoustic system used for measuring the
acoustic impedance spectra which can detect
the internal state of industrial pipes

0.5

0.3

0.1

-0.1

-0.3

-0.5
0.086

0.088

Metal

Soldering surface mount components

Issues with the PCB
Circuit Testing

PCB: bottom layer with faulty connection

0.09

0.092

0.094

Time (ms)
Metal (Half covered)l

Open

0.096

Impulse

Hand

The time of the reflection caused by the speaker mount and

the time of the first reflection caused by the end of the pipe
are calculated as follow:

= =

. +

BEng Electronic Engineering

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
The University of Manchester

= .

= .

Overall, the objectives of the project were met:

the circuit was built and tested; the
microphones were mounted on the speaker
mount, which was successfully 3D printed.
Moreover, the acoustics principles were
researched and understood.
Personal Achievements:
Learnt how to create PCBs & run DRC
Learnt how to use 3D modelling software
Tested and fixed microphone circuits
Learnt about acoustics

Student: Emma-Iulia Luca

Email: emma-iulia.luca@student.manchester.ac.uk
Supervisor: Dr. Paul Wright
Email: P.Wright-2@manchester.ac.uk