The December 2018 ruptures of heat-transport pipes that caused dozens of injuries in Goyang and Ansan in Gyeonggi Province and in Mok-dong, Seoul remain a major winter safety issue, and many measures to prevent recurrence have been proposed.

However, due to the nature of buried pipelines, it is not easy to identify rupture risk factors such as aging or corrosion. Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) researchers developed a non-contact nondestructive testing technology that easily diagnoses pipe corrosion, and recently received the Outstanding Paper Presentation Award at the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing.

At the conference, JBNU PhD candidate Hyojeong Shin (Department of Flexible Printed Electronics; Los Alamos National Laboratory-Jeonbuk National University Engineering Institute-Korea; supervised by Professor Seongho Choi) presented a nondestructive testing technique that diagnoses corrosion and wall-thickness thinning of underground district heating pipelines using a non-contact method, receiving favorable reviews.

Conventional ultrasonic nondestructive testing requires a contact medium such as a couplant or gel, but the electromagnetic-acoustic ultrasonic sensor designed and developed by PhD candidate Hyojeong Shin can perform ultrasonic nondestructive testing in a non-contact manner. It is simple to use and also enables remote robot-based high-speed nondestructive testing.

This research was conducted using district heating pipe specimens provided by the Pipe Performance Test Center of the Korea District Heating Corporation, and future development into AI-based nondestructive diagnostic technology using remote robots is anticipated.

PhD candidate Hyojeong Shin commented, 'I was able to achieve good results thanks to the help of members of the Nondestructive Evaluation Laboratory,' and added, 'I will devote myself to further advanced research and development to contribute to the advancement of nondestructive testing technology in Korea.'

Meanwhile, the Nondestructive Evaluation Laboratory (NDE Lab) of the Los Alamos National Laboratory-Jeonbuk National University Engineering Institute-Korea conducts research on structural integrity assessment of nuclear power plant structures, metal 3D-printed products, aircraft components, and carbon composite materials, as well as on AI & remote robot-based nondestructive evaluation. It is also training specialized research personnel in carbon composite materials through the operation of a 'Carbon Composite Nondestructive Testing Learning Factory' with support from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's 'Carbon Composite Industry Specialized Workforce Training Project'.