improved split-spectrum processing, variational mode decomposition, signals processing, ultrasonic guided wave testing, Technology, Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General), TA1-2040, Biology (General), QH301-705.5, Physics, QC1-999, Chemistry, QD1-999

Pipeline systems are prone to defects due to the harsh service conditions, which may induce catastrophic failure if found not in time. Ultrasonic guided wave (UGW) testing provides a convenient option for pipeline detection, showing high-efficiency, non-contact, long-distance and large-scale capabilities. To address the problem that UGW signals suffer from poor signal resolution that is mainly related to the coherent noise caused by the dispersion, multi-mode and mode conversion, an advanced signal processing method called VWISSP, based on variational mode decomposition (VMD), wavelet transform (WT), and improved split spectrum processing (ISSP) was proposed, of which SSP was improved by replacing the Gaussian filter bank with cosine filters of constant frequency-to-bandwidth and frequency-to-filter spacing ratios. Compared with ISSP, VWISSP shows better higher accuracy and resolution processing effects to noisy multi-defect UGW signals, which is manifested through the improvement of both the signal-to-noise ratio gain and the defect-to-noise gain. Only feature signals (defects and pipe end) are retained, whereas noise signals are eliminated completely.