Radiotherapy is a potential curative option for liver cancer; however, respiratory motion creates uncertainty in treatment delivery. Advances in imaging and registration techniques can provide information regarding changes in respiratory motion. Currently image registration is challenged by computation and manual intervention. A Navigator Channel (NC) technique was developed to overcome these limitations. A population motion model was generated to predict patient-specific motion, while a point motion detection technique was developed to calculate the patient-specific liver edge motion from images. An adaptation technique uses the relative difference between the population and patient calculated liver edge motion to determine the patient's liver volume motion. The NC technique was tested on patient 4D-CT images for initial validation to determine the accuracy. Accuracy was less than 0.10 mm in liver edge detection and approximately 0.25 cm in predicting patient-specific motion. This technique can be used to ensure accurate treatment delivery for liver radiotherapy.

Radiotherapy is a potential curative option for liver cancer; however, respiratory motion creates uncertainty in treatment delivery. Advances in imaging and registration techniques can provide information regarding changes in respiratory motion. Currently image registration is challenged by computation and manual intervention. A Navigator Channel (NC) technique was developed to overcome these limitations. A population motion model was generated to predict patient-specific motion, while a point motion detection technique was developed to calculate the patient-specific liver edge motion from images. An adaptation technique uses the relative difference between the population and patient calculated liver edge motion to determine the patient's liver volume motion. The NC technique was tested on patient 4D-CT images for initial validation to determine the accuracy. Accuracy was less than 0.10 mm in liver edge detection and approximately 0.25 cm in predicting patient-specific motion. This technique can be used to ensure accurate treatment delivery for liver radiotherapy.

Abstract This thesis studies the practical appraisal for pipeline inspection using the guided wave T(0,1) mode. The characteristic of reflected signals from the features of pipeline for various coated materials and fluid-filled pipes are also evaluated. The attenuation and the traveling distance of the guided wave are then calculated from the above-mentioned data for pipeline inspection in petro-chemical industries. In the experimental setup, the torsional mode is excited at one axial location using an array of transducers distributed around the circumference of the 6-inch test pipe. The reflected signals from various features, such as flanges, welds, supports, bends, defects and patches are analyzed at first at specific frequencies in the experiments. The effect of various coated material such as bitumen, PE and insulated material are also evaluated for the propagating torsional mode T(0,1) in the pipe. The results show that the attenuation of reflected signal is heavy for the bitumen-coated case because its viscosity is much higher than the other cases. Furthermore, the effect of pipe contents for defect detection using T(0,1) mode is investigated in this thesis. Various pipe contents, such as water, diesel oil, lubricant and fuel oil are deposit into the test pipe, respectively, to evaluate the influence to T(0,1). For the attenuation evaluation of reflected signal from flange in pipe, the reflected signal from an air-content pipe is measured for reference to compare with the measurements of other pipe contents in the experiments. The results show that the low viscosity liquid deposit in the pipe, such as water, diesel oil and lubricant, has no effect on the torsional mode; while the high viscous of the fuel oil deposit in the pipe attenuates the reflected signal heavily. It became evident that the torsional mode T(0,1) is most suitable for use in fluid-filled pipeline inspection.

Tremendous interest to the study of guided waves in pipe inspection in the oil, chemical, and power generating industries has peaked during the last decade. Since the advantages are inspecting long lengths of pipe quickly and without removing insulation. Recent researches in defects inspection are determined by reflection coefficients from the cracks. However, the purpose of this thesis is to excite at a single probe position and to receive the signals of guided waves with the form of loops. For the variations of wave profiles of guided wave, this thesis aimed at the largest energy distribution of wave profiles to proceed with the researches of mode conversion phenomena caused by defects. This thesis utilizes the partial loading source, and excites the non-axisymmetric and axisymmetric guided waves individually along the carbon steel pipes with circumferential defects and without defects to contrast and analyze. According to the change of wave profiles, we can find the variables that change wave profiles for different guided waves modes include propagating distance and frequency, and these cause that the circumferential energy distribution will change. For the non-axisymmetric guided waves in this thesis are non-dispersive, and its variations of phase velocity and group velocity are small, so the variations of wave profiles are also small. Moreover we study the mode conversion phenomena caused by defects from its position which the circumferential energy is largest. It also investigates new modes from mode conversion phenomena produced by defects more completely. Finally, we can predict the types and the number of new modes from mode conversion phenomena by phase velocity dispersion curve, and compare with the experiments well.

The detection of corrosion in pipes is of major importance to the oil and chemical industries. Current methods involving point-by-point inspection are available for the detection of general wall loss associated with corrosion, but unfortunately the current methods tend to be very slow, limited to single positions, thus make the inspection of the kilometers of pipeline typically found in industrial plants virtually impossible. Ultrasonic guided waves provide an attractive solution to this problem because they can be excited at one location on the pipe and will propagate many meters along the pipe, returning echoes indicating the presence of corrosion or other pipe features. Nevertheless such techniques still have many practical difficulties in application due to the complex characteristics of guided waves such as dispersion and mode conversion. This thesis studies guided waves influenced by the welded supports, a.k.a. pipe shoe. A research of the reflection of mode-converted guided waves from pipe shoes on pipes in the frequency range 18-32 kHz has been carried out. Measurements are made on a 6 inch bore diameter, 7.1mm wall thickness pipe. The axisymmetric symmetric T(0,1) mode is incident on the pipe shoes and the mode-converted guided waves are received in reflection. In parallel, a finite element model is used to simulate the experiments by using Ansys. Received signals are separated into single-mode with a mode extraction technique. This research reveals that when T(0,1) propagates through the pipe shoe, the energy of T(0,1) passes into the pipe shoe. The leakage phenomenon results in the complexity and misinterpretation of the echo.

Using ultrasonic guided waves improve a problem of time-consuming and laborious with conventional ultrasonic method involving point¡Vby-point inspection. In order to measure of hundreds meters of pipeline in oil and chemical industries, guided waves inspection technique is used and developed widely. For fast and long range inspection, a pulse-echo system is used to excite Lamb waves propagating along the pipe. The collection and analysis of the returning echoes indicate the present of corrosion. But if the pipe features, like bends or supports, are corrosive, the signal of corrosions is often covered with echoes of pipe features. Then it causes the inspection more difficult. In this study, the pipe feature which discussed is the welded support. The focus of the advanced analysis, Discrete Wavelet Transform, of the echoes reflected from the welded support on a 3 inch pipe by experimental and finite element method, so as to improve the ability of corrosion inspection on pipe features. To study the feasibility of the improvement in the effect of coherent noise for guided wave inspection by Wavelet analysis. Results show that original signals can not be differentiated by comparing with signals of normal support, general corrosive support, and support with notch. But after processing these three signals by Wavelet analysis, the situation of the 3 type supports from the signals can be differentiated. The simulated results of two different models and five exciting frequencies show the similar trend to the experimental results after Wavelet transform processing. It is success on separating the signals of normal support and corrosive support with Wavelet Analysis, and this method of this study is useful to improve the effect of coherency noise for guided wave inspection.

Thesis--School of Advanced Airpower Studies, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., 1999-2000. / Title from title screen (viewed Oct. 28, 2003). "November 2001." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2002. / CD-ROM has title: CD-ROM companion for Master's thesis. Bibliography: leaves 124-130.

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