Baker Hughes, a global energy technology company, has achieved a 30% reduction in prototyping costs by integrating advanced ultrasonic simulations into its nondestructive testing (NDT) workflows. The company relies on ultrasonic pulse-echo and pitch-catch testing to evaluate gas quality during extraction, a critical step in ensuring compliance with product standards before refining.
To enhance the design of ultrasonic transducers, Baker Hughes partnered with COMSOL, a leader in multiphysics modeling and simulation software. By leveraging COMSOL Multiphysics®, the team was able to simulate the interaction between piezoelectric transducers, acoustic waves, fluid dynamics, and external electrical circuits with high accuracy.
Haiqi Wen, Lead Scientist at Baker Hughes, highlighted the impact:
“Overall, simulations have been saving us about 30% on prototyping costs. In the past, when we needed to order new transducers, we would usually order a batch of different transducers with different specs. But now that we have been using simulation software like COMSOL Multiphysics®, we just need to verify that there are a few good designs in the batch. Then, we just need to order those designs instead of ordering all of the new transducer designs and testing which one performs the best.”
The Baker Hughes team created both simplified axisymmetric 2D and detailed 3D transducer models, validating them against experimental testing. Simulations demonstrated strong agreement with real-world measurements, confirming the accuracy of wave propagation and pressure probe responses.
By incorporating simulation into its ultrasonic NDT process, Baker Hughes has not only reduced costs but also accelerated development timelines, ensuring efficient and reliable gas quality assessment in the oil and gas sector.
