WorldWideScience

Sample records for ultrasonic nondestructive measurement

  1. Measurement of void swelling in thick non-uniformly irradiated 304 stainless steel blocks using nondestructive ultrasonic techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garner, F.A.; Okita, T.; Isobe, Y.; Etoh, J.; Sagisaka, M.; Matsunaga, T.; Freyer, P.D.; Huang, Y.; Wiezorek, J.M.K.; Porter, D.L.

    2015-01-01

    Void swelling is of potential importance in PWR austenitic internals, especially in components that will see higher doses during plant lives beyond 40 years. Proactive surveillance of void swelling is required to identify its emergence before swelling reaches levels that cause high levels of embrittlement and distortion. Non-destructive measurements of ultrasonic velocity can measure swelling at fractions of a percent. To demonstrate the feasibility of this technique for PWR application we have investigated five blocks of 304 stainless steel that were irradiated in the EBR-II fast reactor. These blocks were of hexagonal cross-section, with thickness of about 50 mm and lengths of about 218-245 mm. They were subjected to significant axial and radial gradients in gamma heating, temperature and dpa rate, producing complex internal distributions of swelling, reaching about 3.5% maximum at an off-center mid-core position. Swelling decreases both the density and the elastic moduli, thereby impacting the ultrasonic velocity. Concurrently, carbide precipitates form, producing increases in density and decreases in elastic moduli. Using blocks from both low and high dpa levels it was possible to separate the ultrasonic contributions of voids and carbides. Time-of-flight ultrasonic measurements were used to non-destructively measure the internal distribution of void swelling. These distributions were confirmed using non-destructive profilometry followed by destructive cutting to provide density change and electron microscopy data. It was demonstrated that the four measurement types produce remarkably consistent results. Therefore ultrasonic measurements offer great promise for in-situ surveillance of voids in PWR core internals. (authors)

  2. The Elastic Constants Measurement of Metal Alloy by Using Ultrasonic Nondestructive Method at Different Temperature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eryi Hu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The ultrasonic nondestructive method is introduced into the elastic constants measurement of metal material. The extraction principle of Poisson’s ratio, elastic modulus, and shear modulus is deduced from the ultrasonic propagating equations with two kinds of vibration model of the elastic medium named ultrasonic longitudinal wave and transverse wave, respectively. The ultrasonic propagating velocity is measured by using the digital correlation technique between the ultrasonic original signal and the echo signal from the bottom surface, and then the elastic constants of the metal material are calculated. The feasibility of the correlation algorithm is verified by a simulation procedure. Finally, in order to obtain the stability of the elastic properties of different metal materials in a variable engineering application environment, the elastic constants of two kinds of metal materials in different temperature environment are measured by the proposed ultrasonic method.

  3. Wavelet Analysis of Ultrasonic Echo Waveform and Application to Nondestructive Evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Ik Keun; Park, Un Su; Ahn, Hyung Keun; Kwun, Sook In; Byeon, Jai Won

    2000-01-01

    Recently, advanced signal analysis which is called 'time-frequency analysis' has been used widely in nondestructive evaluation applications. Wavelet transform(WT) and Wigner Distribution are the most advanced techniques for processing signals with time-varying spectra. Wavelet analysis method is an attractive technique for evaluation of material characterization nondestructively. Wavelet transform is applied to the time-frequency analysis of ultrasonic echo waveform obtained by an ultrasonic pulse-echo technique. In this study, the feasibility of noise suppression of ultrasonic flaw signal and frequency-dependent ultrasonic group velocity and attenuation coefficient using wavelet analysis of ultrasonic echo waveform have been verified experimentally. The Gabor function is adopted the analyzing wavelet. The wavelet analysis shows that the variations of ultrasonic group velocity and attenuation coefficient due to the change of material characterization can be evaluated at each frequency. Furthermore, to assure the enhancement of detectability and new sizing performance, both computer simulated results and experimental measurements using wavelet signal processing are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the noise suppression of ultrasonic flaw signal obtained from austenitic stainless steel weld including EDM notch

  4. Metal composite as backing for ultrasonic transducers dedicated to non-destructive measurements in hostile

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boubenia, R; Rosenkrantz, E; P, P; Ferrandis, J-Y; Despetis, F

    2016-01-01

    Our team is specialized in ultrasonic measurements in hostile environment especially under high temperatures. There is a need for acoustic transducers capable of continuous measurement at temperatures up to 700°C. To improve the performances of acoustic sensors we focus our works on the realisation and characterisation of transducer backings able to operate under very high temperature. Commercially, they are produced by the incorporation of tungsten powder in a plastic matrix, which limits the working temperature. The realisation of ultrasonic transducers for non-destructive measures at high temperatures requires adequate materials, manufacturing and assembly processes. To produce the backings, composites were made using very ductile metals such as tin and tungsten. These composites are manufactured by uniaxial hot pressing. First, we studied the influence of temperature and pressure on the densification of tin pellets. Then, several specimens made of tin/W were made and characterised by measuring the specific weight, speed and attenuation of sound. The acoustic measures were realised by ultrasonic spectroscopy. This test-bench was designed and tested on control samples of PMMA and on standard backings (epoxy / tungsten). (paper)

  5. Nondestructive control of materials by ultrasonic tests

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mercier, Noelle.

    1974-01-01

    A bibliographic study of nondestructive control methods of solids by ultrasonic tests, and of the ultrasonic emission of a transducer of finite dimension, is first presented. The principle of two of these methods is verified experimentally; they should permit the measurement of various physical parameters of solids, and the detection of local inhomogeneities. The first method calls upon the analysis of the ultrasonic signal (amplitude and phase), after it has crossed a constant thickness of a metallic specimen. This analysis reveals variations of attenuation and of ultrasonic propagation velocity within the specimen. A good spatial resolution is obtained by using 1mm-diameter probes. The second method leads, thanks to a test rig equipped with broad frequency band electrostatic transducers, to the knowledge of the attenuation law of the specimens as a function of frequency (present range: 5 to 15MHz); from this a classification of these specimens as regards their granulometry is deduced [fr

  6. Nondestructive evaluation ultrasonic methods for construction materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chilibon, I.; Zisu, T.; Raetchi, V.

    2002-01-01

    The paper presents some ultrasonic methods for evaluation of physical-mechanical properties of construction materials (bricks, concrete, BCA), such as: pulse method, examination methods, and direct measurement of the propagation velocity and impact-echo method. Utilizing these nondestructive evaluation ultrasonic methods it can be determined the main material parameters and material characteristics (elasticity coefficients, density, propagation velocity, ultrasound attenuation, etc.) of construction materials. These method are suitable for construction materials because the defectoscopy methods for metallic materials cannot be utilized, due to its rugged and non-homogeneous structures and grate attenuation coefficients of ultrasound propagation through materials. Also, the impact-echo method is a technique for flaw detection in concrete based on stress wave propagation. Studies have shown that the impact-echo method is effective for locating voids, honeycombing, delaminating, depth of surface opening cracks, and measuring member thickness

  7. Nondestructive Determination of Reinforcement Volume Fractions in Particulate Composites : Ultrasonic Method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeong, Hyun Jo

    1998-01-01

    A nondestructive ultrasonic technique is presented for estimating the reinforcement volume fractions of particulate composites. The proposed technique employs a theoretical model which accounts for composite microstructures, together with a measurement of ultrasonic velocity to determine the reinforcement volume fractions. The approach is used for a wide range of SiC particulate reinforced Al matrix (SiC p /AI) composites. The method is considered to be reliable in determining the reinforcement volume fractions. The technique could be adopted in a production unit for the quality assessment of the metal matrix particulate composite extrusions

  8. Ultrasonic C-scan Technique for Nondestructive Evaluation of Spot Weld Quality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Ik Gun

    1994-01-01

    This paper discusses the feasibility of ultrasonic C-scan technique for nondestructive evaluation of spot weld quality. Ultrasonic evaluation for spot weld quality was performed by immersion method with the mechanical and the electronic scanning of point-focussed ultrasonic beam(25 MHz). For the sake of the approach to the quantitative measurement of nugget diameter and the discrimination of the corona bond from nugget, preliminary infinitesimal gap experiment by newton ring is tried in order to set up the optimum ultrasonic test condition. Ultrasonic image data obtained were confirmed and compared by optical microscope and SAM(Scanning Acoustic Microscope) observation of the spot-weld cross section. The results show that the nugget diameter can be measured with the accuracy of 1.0mm, and voids included in nugget can be detected to 10μm extent with simplicity and accuracy. Finally, it was found that it is necessary to make a profound study of definite discrimination of corona bond from nugget and the approach of quantitative evaluation of nugget diameter by utilizing the various image processing techniques

  9. A Monte Carlo approach applied to ultrasonic non-destructive testing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mosca, I.; Bilgili, F.; Meier, T.; Sigloch, K.

    2012-04-01

    Non-destructive testing based on ultrasound allows us to detect, characterize and size discrete flaws in geotechnical and architectural structures and materials. This information is needed to determine whether such flaws can be tolerated in future service. In typical ultrasonic experiments, only the first-arriving P-wave is interpreted, and the remainder of the recorded waveform is neglected. Our work aims at understanding surface waves, which are strong signals in the later wave train, with the ultimate goal of full waveform tomography. At present, even the structural estimation of layered media is still challenging because material properties of the samples can vary widely, and good initial models for inversion do not often exist. The aim of the present study is to combine non-destructive testing with a theoretical data analysis and hence to contribute to conservation strategies of archaeological and architectural structures. We analyze ultrasonic waveforms measured at the surface of a variety of samples, and define the behaviour of surface waves in structures of increasing complexity. The tremendous potential of ultrasonic surface waves becomes an advantage only if numerical forward modelling tools are available to describe the waveforms accurately. We compute synthetic full seismograms as well as group and phase velocities for the data. We invert them for the elastic properties of the sample via a global search of the parameter space, using the Neighbourhood Algorithm. Such a Monte Carlo approach allows us to perform a complete uncertainty and resolution analysis, but the computational cost is high and increases quickly with the number of model parameters. Therefore it is practical only for defining the seismic properties of media with a limited number of degrees of freedom, such as layered structures. We have applied this approach to both synthetic layered structures and real samples. The former contributed to benchmark the propagation of ultrasonic surface

  10. Mathematical modelling of ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Larissa Ju Fradkin

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available High-frequency asymptotics have been used at our Centre to develop codes for modelling pulse propagation and scattering in the near-field of the ultrasonic transducers used in NDE (Non-Destructive Evaluation, particularly of walls of nuclear reactors. The codes are hundreds of times faster than the direct numerical codes but no less accurate.

  11. Interactive ultrasonic field simulations for complex non-destructive testing configurations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chouh, Hamza

    2016-01-01

    In order to fulfill increasing reliability and safety requirements, non-destructive testing techniques are constantly evolving and so does their complexity. Consequently, simulation is an essential part of their design. We developed a tool for the simulation of the ultrasonic field radiated by any planar probes into non-destructive testing configurations involving meshed geometries without prominent edges, isotropic and anisotropic, homogeneous and heterogeneous materials, and wave trajectories that can include reflections and transmissions. We approximate the ultrasonic wave fronts by using polynomial interpolators that are local to ultrasonic ray pencils. They are obtained using a surface research algorithm based on pencil tracing and successive subdivisions. Their interpolators enable the computation of the necessary quantities for the impulse responses on each point of a sampling of the transducer surface that fulfills the Shannon criterion. By doing so, we can compute a global impulse response which, when convolved with the excitation signal of the transducer, results in the ultrasonic field. The usage of task parallelism and of SIMD instructions on the most computationally expensive steps yields an important performance boost. Finally, we developed a tool for progressive visualization of field images. It benefits from an image reconstruction technique and schedules field computations in order to accelerate convergence towards the final image. (author) [fr

  12. Characterization of Heat Treated Titanium-Based Implants by Nondestructive Eddy Current and Ultrasonic Tests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mutlu, Ilven; Ekinci, Sinasi; Oktay, Enver

    2014-06-01

    This study presents nondestructive characterization of microstructure and mechanical properties of heat treated Ti, Ti-Cu, and Ti-6Al-4V titanium-based alloys and 17-4 PH stainless steel alloy for biomedical implant applications. Ti, Ti-Cu, and 17-4 PH stainless steel based implants were produced by powder metallurgy. Ti-6Al-4V alloy was investigated as bulk wrought specimens. Effects of sintering temperature, aging, and grain size on mechanical properties were investigated by nondestructive and destructive tests comparatively. Ultrasonic velocity in specimens was measured by using pulse-echo and transmission methods. Electrical conductivity of specimens was determined by eddy current tests. Determination of Young's modulus and strength is important in biomedical implants. Young's modulus of specimens was calculated by using ultrasonic velocities. Calculated Young's modulus values were compared and correlated with experimental values.

  13. Nondestructive characterization of metal-matrix-composites by ultrasonic technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Joon Hyun

    1992-01-01

    Nondestructive characterizations using ultrasonic technique were conducted systematically on Al 2 O 3 short fiber reinforced pure Al and AC8A aluminium metal-matrix composites. In order to determine the elastic moduli of metal-matrix composites(MMCs), Al 2 O 3 /AC8A composites with volume fraction of Al 2 O 3 short fiber varying up to 30% were fabricated by squeeze casting technique. Pure Al and AC8A reinforced with Al 2 O 3 short fiber were also fabricated by changing the fabrication parameters such as the applied pressure, the volume fraction of fiber. The Influences of texture change associated with change of fabrication parameters were investigated using the sophisticated LFB acoustic microscope with the frequency of 225 MHz. Ultrasonic velocities of longitudinal, shear and Rayleigh waves of the composites were measured by pulse-echo method and line-focus-beam(LBF) acoustic microscope. Ultrasonic velocities of the longitudinal, the shear and Rayleigh waves were found to correlate primarily with the volume fraction of Al 2 O 3 . The elastic constants of composites including Young's Modulus, Shear Modulus, Bulk Modulus and Poisson's ratio were determined on the basis of the longitudinal and the shear wave velocities measured by an ultrasonic pulse-echo method. The Young's Modulus of the composites obtained by ultrasonic technique were slightly lower than those measured by 4-point-bend test and also showed relatively good agreements with the calculated results derived from the equal stress condition. The applicability of LFB acoustic microscope on material characterization of the MMCs was discussed on the basis of the relationships between Rayleigh wave velocity as a function of rotated angle of specimen and fabrication parameters of the MMCs.

  14. Measurement of a 3D Ultrasonic Wavefield Using Pulsed Laser Holographic Microscopy for Ultrasonic Nondestructive Evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xing Wang

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available In ultrasonic array imaging, 3D ultrasonic wavefields are normally recorded by an ultrasonic piezo array transducer. Its performance is limited by the configuration and size of the array transducer. In this paper, a method based on digital holographic interferometry is proposed to record the 3D ultrasonic wavefields instead of the array transducer, and the measurement system consisting of a pulsed laser, ultrasonic excitation, and synchronization and control circuit is designed. A consecutive sequence of holograms of ultrasonic wavefields are recorded by the system. The interferograms are calculated from the recorded holograms at different time sequence. The amplitudes and phases of the transient ultrasonic wavefields are recovered from the interferograms by phase unwrapping. The consecutive sequence of transient ultrasonic wavefields are stacked together to generate 3D ultrasonic wavefields. Simulation and experiments are carried out to verify the proposed technique, and preliminary results are presented.

  15. A study on the nondestructive evaluation of carbon/carbon disk using ultrasonics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Im, Kwang Hee; Yang, In Young; Jeong, Hyun Jo

    1998-01-01

    It is useful to perform nondestructive evaluation (NDE) to assess material properties and part homogeneity for carbon/carbon (C/C) composites because the manufacturing of C/C brake disks requires complicated and costly processes. In this work several ultrasonic techniques were applied to attributable to the manufacturing process. In a carbon/carbon brake disk manufactured by a combination of pitch impregnation and CVI(Vapor infiltration method), the spatial variation of ultrasonic velocity was measured and found to be consistent with the nonuniform densification behavior in the manufacturing process. Low frequency(5 MHz) through-transmission scans based on both amplitude and time-of-flight of the ultrasonic pulse were used for mapping out the material property inhomogeneity. These results were compared with those obtained by dry-coupling ultrasonics. A good correlation was found between ultrasonic velocity and material density on a set of small blocks cut out of the disk. Pulse-echo C-scans at higher frequency (25 MHz) were used to image near-sulfate material property anomalies associated with certain steps in the manufacturing process, such as the placement of spacers between disks during the final CVI.

  16. Non-destructive evaluation of concrete using ultrasonic pulse velocity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lawson, I.

    2008-06-01

    Ultrasonic pulse velocity is one of the most popular non-destructive techniques used in the assessment of concrete properties. This thesis investigates the relationship between using ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and the conventional compressive strength tests to determine concrete uniformity. The specimens used in the studies were made of concrete with a paste content of 18% and the constituents of the specimens varied in different water-cement ratios (w/c). The UPV measurement and compressive strength tests were carried out at the concrete age of 2, 7, 15 and 28 days. The UPV and the compressive strength of concrete increase with age, but the growth rate varies with mixture proportion. A relationship curve is drawn between UPV and compressive strength for concrete having different w/c from 0.35 to 0.7. Tests were also performed using Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity Method (UPVM) in detecting discontinuity and determining its depth during the early age of concrete. The test results indicate that the UPVM can be used to assess the in-situ properties of concrete or for quality control on site. The accuracy of the UPVM in detecting discontinuities ranges from 55.75 to 98.70% for ages 3 to 28 (full strength) respectively. (au)

  17. Non-destructive Engineering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ko, Jin Hyeon; Ryu, Taek In; Ko, Jun Bin; Hwang, Yong Hwa

    2006-08-01

    This book gives descriptions of non-destructive engineering on outline of non-destructive test, weld defects, radiographic inspection radiography, ultrasonic inspection, magnetic particle testing, liquid penetrant testing, eddy current inspection method, strain measurement, acoustic emission inspection method, other non-destructive testing like leakage inspection method, and non-destructive mechanics for fault analysis such as Griffiths creaking theory, and stress analysis of creaking.

  18. Real-time measurement of relative sensor position changes using ultrasonic signal evaluation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yastrebova, O.; Bulavinov, A.; Kroening, M. [Fraunhofer Institute Nondestructive Testing IZFP, Saarbruecken (Germany)

    2008-07-01

    Ultrasonic testing is considered to be one of the most commonly applied nondestructive testing techniques for flaw detection and material characterization. Traditional Nondestructive Testing (NDT) provides detection of material discontinuities that may cause failure within the designed lifetime of a part or component. In addition, Quantitative Nondestructive Testing (QNDT) provides means to obtain required information about type, size and location of deficiencies to the integrity of the inspected structure and further use under specific, given load conditions. The ''Acoustic Mouse'' technique has been developed as a tool for manual ultrasonic inspection to provide test results that can be evaluated quantitatively. The ultrasonic data are processed by real-time variation methods to extract position information from backscattered acoustic noise and geometric scatter signals in the inspection volume. The position and positional changes of the ''Acoustic Mouse'' sensor (transducer) are determined by the sequential analysis of ultrasonic data (highresolution sector-scans), which are acquired and reconstructed using the Sampling Phased Array technique. The results of first experiments conducted with linear scanning and intentional lift-offs demonstrate sufficient accuracy in position measurements. (orig.)

  19. Ultrasonic and advanced methods for nondestructive testing and material characterization

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Chen, C. H

    2007-01-01

    ... and physics among others. There are at least two dozen NDT methods in use. In fact any sensor that can examine the inside of material nondestructively is useful for NDT. However the ultrasonic methods are still most popular because of its capability, flexibility, and relative cost effectiveness. For this reason this book places a heavy emphasis...

  20. Feasibility on Ultrasonic Velocity using Contact and Non-Contact Nondestructive Techniques for Carbon/Carbon Composites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Im, K. H.; Chang, M.; Hsu, D. K.; Song, S. J.; Cho, H.; Park, J. W.; Kweon, Y. S.; Sim, J. K.; Yang, I. Y.

    2007-03-01

    Advanced materials are to be required to have specific functions associated with extremely environments. One of them is carbon/carbon(C/C) composite material, which has obvious advantages over conventional materials. The C/Cs have become to be utilized as parts of aerospace applications and its low density, high thermal conductivity and excellent mechanical properties at elevated temperatures make it an ideal material for aircraft brake disks. Because of permeation of coupling medium such as water, it is desirable to perform contact-less nondestructive evaluation to assess material properties and part homogeneity. In this work, a C/C composite material was characterized with non-contact and contact ultrasonic methods using a scanner with automatic-data acquisition function. Also through transmission mode was performed because of the main limitation for air-coupled transducers, which is the acoustic impedance mismatch between most materials and air. Especially ultrasonic images and velocities for C/C composite disk brake were compared and found to be consistent to some degree with the non-contact and contact ultrasonic measurement methods. Low frequency through-transmission scans based on both amplitude of the ultrasonic pulse was used for mapping out the material property inhomogeneity. Measured results were compared with those obtained by the dry-coupling ultrasonic UT system and through transmission method in immersion. Finally, feasibility has been found to measure and compare ultrasonic velocities of C/C composites with using the contact/noncontact peak-delay measurement method based on the pulse overlap method.

  1. Ultrasonic nondestructive materials characterization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, R. E., Jr.

    1986-01-01

    A brief review of ultrasonic wave propagation in solid materials is presented with consideration of the altered behavior in anisotropic and nonlinear elastic materials in comparison with isotropic and linear elastic materials. Some experimental results are described in which ultrasonic velocity and attenuation measurements give insight into materials microstructure and associated mechanical properties. Recent developments with laser beam non-contact generation and detection of ultrasound are presented. The results of several years of experimental measurements using high-power ultrasound are discussed, which provide substantial evidence of the inability of presently accepted theories to fully explain the interaction of ultrasound with solid materials. Finally, a special synchrotron X-ray topographic system is described which affords the possibility of observing direct interaction of ultrasonic waves with the microstructural features of real crystalline solid materials for the first time.

  2. Determination of Flaw Type and Location Using an Expert Module in Ultrasonic Nondestructive Testing for Weld Inspection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shahriari, D.; Zolfaghari, A.; Masoumi, F.

    2011-01-01

    Nondestructive evaluation is explained as nondestructive testing, nondestructive inspection, and nondestructive examination. It is a desire to determine some characteristic of the object or to determine whether the object contains irregularities, discontinuities, or flaws. Ultrasound based inspection techniques are used extensively throughout industry for detection of flaws in engineering materials. The range and variety of imperfections encountered is large, and critical assessment of location, size, orientation and type is often difficult. In addition, increasing quality requirements of new standards and codes of practice relating to fitness for purpose are placing higher demands on operators. Applying of an expert knowledge-based analysis in ultrasonic examination is a powerful tool that can help assure safety, quality, and reliability; increase productivity; decrease liability; and save money. In this research, an expert module system is coupled with ultrasonic examination (A-Scan Procedure) to determine and evaluate type and location of flaws that embedded during welding parts. The processing module of this expert system is implemented based on EN standard to classify welding defects, acceptance condition and measuring of their location via echo static pattern and image processing. The designed module introduces new system that can automate evaluating of the results of A-scan method according to EN standard. It can simultaneously recognize the number and type of defects, and determine flaw position during each scan.

  3. Non-destructive Inspection of Top-Down Construction Joints of Column in SRC Structure using Ultrasonic Method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Seok Kyun; Baek, Un Chan; Lee, Han Bum; Kim, Myoung Mo

    2000-01-01

    The joint treatment of concrete is one of the technical problems in top down construction method. Joints created with the top down construction result in serious weakness from the aspects of both structural and water-barrier function. Ultrasonic method was used for the inspection of top down construction joints of a various column in SRC structure in this study. The advantages and limitations of this method for non-destructive inspection in top down construction joints are investigated. As a result, it has been verified that the semi-direct measurement method is more effective than the other methods for detecting the voids of construction joints using ultrasonic method

  4. Physical Principles Pertaining to Ultrasonic and Mechanical Properties of Anisotropic Media and Their Application to Nondestructive Evaluation of Fiber-Reinforced Composite Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Handley, Scott Michael

    The central theme of this thesis is to contribute to the physics underlying the mechanical properties of highly anisotropic materials. Our hypothesis is that a fundamental understanding of the physics involved in the interaction of interrogating ultrasonic waves with anisotropic media will provide useful information applicable to quantitative ultrasonic measurement techniques employed for the determination of material properties. Fiber-reinforced plastics represent a class of advanced composite materials that exhibit substantial anisotropy. The desired characteristics of practical fiber -reinforced composites depend on average mechanical properties achieved by placing fibers at specific angles relative to the external surfaces of the finished part. We examine the physics underlying the use of ultrasound as an interrogation probe for determination of ultrasonic and mechanical properties of anisotropic materials such as fiber-reinforced composites. Fundamental constituent parameters, such as elastic stiffness coefficients (c_{rm IJ}), are experimentally determined from ultrasonic time-of-flight measurements. Mechanical moduli (Poisson's ratio, Young's and shear modulus) descriptive of the anisotropic mechanical properties of unidirectional graphite/epoxy composites are obtained from the ultrasonically determined stiffness coefficients. Three-dimensional visualizations of the anisotropic ultrasonic and mechanical properties of unidirectional graphite/epoxy composites are generated. A related goal of the research is to strengthen the connection-between practical ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation methods and the physics underlying quantitative ultrasonic measurements for the assessment of manufactured fiber-reinforced composites. Production defects such as porosity have proven to be of substantial concern in the manufacturing of composites. We investigate the applicability of ultrasonic interrogation techniques for the detection and characterization of porosity in

  5. Thickness measurement by using cepstrum ultrasonic signal processing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Young Chul; Yoon, Chan Hoon; Choi, Heui Joo; Park, Jong Sun

    2014-01-01

    Ultrasonic thickness measurement is a non-destructive method to measure the local thickness of a solid element, based on the time taken for an ultrasound wave to return to the surface. When an element is very thin, it is difficult to measure thickness with the conventional ultrasonic thickness method. This is because the method measures the time delay by using the peak of a pulse, and the pulses overlap. To solve this problem, we propose a method for measuring thickness by using the power cepstrum and the minimum variance cepstrum. Because the cepstrums processing can divides the ultrasound into an impulse train and transfer function, where the period of the impulse train is the traversal time, the thickness can be measured exactly. To verify the proposed method, we performed experiments with steel and, acrylic plates of variable thickness. The conventional method is not able to estimate the thickness, because of the overlapping pulses. However, the cepstrum ultrasonic signal processing that divides a pulse into an impulse and a transfer function can measure the thickness exactly.

  6. Basic Principles and Utilization Possibilities’ of Ultrasonic Phased Array in Material Nondestructive Evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dagmar Faktorova

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with the basic principles of operation and with the utilization possibilities of phased array (PA in materials nondestructive testing (NDT. The first part deals with description of PA arrangement modes, which enable to generate, focus and steer the ultrasonic beem. The second part deals with the description of electromagnetic acoustic transducer PA operation. The last part deals with the description of the utilization of PA in nondestructive testing of conductive materials and the advantages of PA utilization in inhomogeneous materials NDT.

  7. Nondestructive evaluation of adhesive joints by C-scan ultrasonic testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zeighami, Mehdi; Honarvar, Farhang

    2009-01-01

    Evaluation of the quality of adhesive bonding is an important issue in many industries who incorporate adhesive joints in their products. Over the past few decades, numerous acoustical techniques have been developed for nondestructive testing (NDT) of adhesively bonded joints. Among these techniques, the ultrasonic pulse-echo method is the most promising means for inspection of adhesive bonds. In practice, due to low impedance matching between adhesive and metal, the discrimination of a good bond from a bad bond is difficult. The low impedance matching also results in low contrast between perfect and disbanded zone in a C-scan image. In this paper, the quality of the interface between aluminum and epoxy is investigated by using an in-house built ultrasonic C-scan system. Two adhesion indices are proposed for producing C-scan images. To verify the capability of these indices, an adhesively bonded sample was fabricated using aluminum plates and epoxy. An artificial defect was implanted in the first interface of the specimens. The C-scan measurement prepared based on the proposed indices was able to reveal the defect much better than the C-scan image prepared by conventional approach. (author)

  8. Electromagnetic ultrasonic guided waves

    CERN Document Server

    Huang, Songling; Li, Weibin; Wang, Qing

    2016-01-01

    This book introduces the fundamental theory of electromagnetic ultrasonic guided waves, together with its applications. It includes the dispersion characteristics and matching theory of guided waves; the mechanism of production and theoretical model of electromagnetic ultrasonic guided waves; the effect mechanism between guided waves and defects; the simulation method for the entire process of electromagnetic ultrasonic guided wave propagation; electromagnetic ultrasonic thickness measurement; pipeline axial guided wave defect detection; and electromagnetic ultrasonic guided wave detection of gas pipeline cracks. This theory and findings on applications draw on the author’s intensive research over the past eight years. The book can be used for nondestructive testing technology and as an engineering reference work. The specific implementation of the electromagnetic ultrasonic guided wave system presented here will also be of value for other nondestructive test developers.

  9. Review of Micro/Nano Nondestructive Evaluation Technique (II): Measurement of Acoustic Properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Chung Seok; Park, Ik Keun

    2012-01-01

    The present paper reviews the micro and nano nondestructive evaluation(NDE) technique that is possible to investigate the surface and measure the acoustic properties. The technical theory, features and applications of the ultrasonic atomic force microscopy(UAFM) and scanning acoustic microscopy(SAM) are illustrated. Especially, these technologies are possible to evaluate the mechanical properties in micro/nano structure and surface through the measurement of acoustic properties in addition to the observation of surface and subsurface. Consequently, it is thought that technique developments and applications of these micro/nano NDE in advanced industrial parts together with present nondestructive industry are widely possible hereafter.

  10. Development of ultrasonic heat transfer tube thickness measurement apparatus. Contract research

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ohba, Toshihiro; Katoh, Chiaki; Yanagihara, Takao [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment; Suetugu, Hidehiko; Yano, Masaya [Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)

    2003-01-01

    The demonstration test for evaluating reliability of the acid recovery evaporator at Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant has been carried out at JAERI. For the nondestructive measurement of the thickness of heat transfer tubes of the acid recovery evaporator in corrosion test, we have developed thickness measurement apparatus for heat transfer tubes by ultrasonic immersion method with high resolution. The ultrasonic prove in a heat transfer tube can be moved vertically and radially. The results obtained by this apparatus coincident well with those obtained by a destructive method using an optical microscope. (author)

  11. Evaluation of Creep-Fatigue Damage in 304 Stainless Steel using Ultrasonic Non-Destructive Test

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Sung Sik [Safetech Co. Ltd., Kimhae (Korea, Republic of); Oh, Yong Jun [Hanbat National Univ., Daejon (Korea, Republic of); Nam, Soo Woo [KISTI ReSEAT Program, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2011-12-15

    It is well known that grain boundary cavitation is the main failure mechanism in austenitic stainless steel under tensile hold creep-fatigue interaction conditions. The cavities are nucleated at the grain boundary during cyclic loading and grow to become grain boundary cracks. The attenuation of ultrasound depends on scattering and absorption in polycrystalline materials. Scattering occurs when a propagation wave encounters microstructural discontinuities, such as internal voids or cavities. Since the density of the creepfatigue cavities increases with the fatigue cycles, the attenuation of ultrasound will also be increased with the fatigue cycles and this attenuation can be detected nondestructively. In this study, it is found that individual grain boundary cavities are formed and grow up to about 100 cycles and then, these cavities coalesce to become cracks. The measured ultrasonic attenuation increased with the cycles up to cycle 100, where it reached a maximum value and then decreased with further cycles. These experimental measurements strongly indicate that the open pores of cavities contribute to the attenuation of ultrasonic waves. However, when the cavities develop, at the grain boundary cracks whose crack surfaces are in contact with each other, there is no longer any open space and the ultrasonic wave may propagate across the cracks. Therefore, the attenuation of ultrasonic waves will be decreased. This phenomenon of maximum attenuation is very important to judge the stage of grain boundary crack development, which is the indication of the dangerous stage of the structures.

  12. Evaluation of Ultrasonic and Thermal Nondestructive Evaluation for the Characterization of Aging Degradation in Braided Composite Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Richard E.

    2010-01-01

    This paper examines the ability of traditional nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques to measure the degradation of braided polymer composite materials subjected to thermal-humidity cycling to simulate aging. A series of braided composite coupons were examined using immersion ultrasonic and pulsed thermography techniques in the as received condition. These same specimens were then examined following extended thermal-humidity cycling. Results of this examination did not show a significant change in the resulting (NDE) signals.

  13. Using piezoelectric sensors for ultrasonic pulse velocity measurements in concrete

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kee, Seong-Hoon; Zhu, Jinying

    2013-01-01

    The ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) test has been a widely used non-destructive testing method for concrete structures. However, the conventional UPV test has limitations in consistency of results and applicability in hard-to-access regions of structures. The authors explore the feasibility of embedded piezoelectric (PZT) sensors for ultrasonic measurements in concrete structures. Two PZT sensors were embedded in a reinforced concrete specimen. One sensor worked as an actuator driven by an ultrasonic pulse-receiver, and another sensor worked as a receiver. A series of ultrasonic tests were conducted to investigate the performance of the embedded sensors in crack-free concrete and concrete specimens having a surface-breaking crack under various external loadings. Signals measured by the embedded sensors show a broad bandwidth with a centre frequency around 80 kHz, and very good coherence in the frequency range from 30 to 180 kHz. Furthermore, experimental variability in ultrasonic pulse velocity and attenuation is substantially reduced compared to previously reported values from conventional UPV equipment. Findings from this study demonstrate that the embedded sensors have great potential as a low-cost solution for ultrasonic transducers for health monitoring of concrete in structures. (paper)

  14. Newly developed non-destructive testing method for evaluation of irradiation brittleness of structural materials using ultrasonic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishii, Toshimitsu; Ooka, Norikazu; Kato, Yoshiaki; Saito, Junichi; Hoshiya, Taiji; Shibata, Saburo; Kobayashi, Hideo

    1999-01-01

    Surveillance testing is important to evaluate neutron irradiation embrittlement of reactor pressure vessel material for long life operation. An alternative test method for evaluating the irradiation embrittlement of the pressure vessel material will have to be proposed to support the limited number of surveillance test specimens in order to manage the plant life to be extended. In this study, ultrasonic testing for irradiated A533B-1 steel and weld metal was applied to examine material degradation nondestructively. With increasing the shift of Charpy 41 J transition temperature, ultrasonic velocity decreased and attenuation coefficient of ultrasonic wave increased. Especially, the difference of ultrasonic velocity for 5 MHz shear wave between as-received and irradiated material is corresponding to the shift of transition temperature showing material degradation. (author)

  15. Ultrasonic technique for measuring porosity of plasma-sprayed alumina coatings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parthasarathi, S.; Tittmann, B. R.; Onesto, E. J.

    1997-12-01

    Porosity is an important factor in plasma-sprayed coatings, especially ceramic coatings. Excessive poros-ity can adversely affect the performance of the coated component in various ways. An ultrasonic nonde-structive measurement technique has been developed to measure porosity in plasma-sprayed alumina coatings. The technique is generic and can be extended to other ceramic coating systems. To test the tech-nique, freestanding alumina coatings with varying levels of porosity were fabricated via plasma spray. Samples with varying porosity, obtained through innovative fabrication techniques, were used to gener-ate a calibration curve. The ultrasonic velocity in the low-frequency range was found to be dependent on the density of freestanding coatings (measured via Archimedian techniques). This dependence is the basis of the development of a technique to measure the density of coatings.

  16. Design and fabrication of liner-arroy ultrasonic transducer using KLM and FEM simulation for non-destructive testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Chan Yuk; Sung, Jin Ho; Jeong, Jong Seob

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, a linear-array transducer capable of overcoming the faults of a single element and phased array transducers with convex shape for non-destructive ultrasonic testing was designed and fabricated. A 5.5 MHz linear-array transducer was designed using the PiezoCAD program based on the KLM analysis and the PZFlex program based on the FEM analysis. A 2-2 composite structure was employed to achieve broad-band characteristics. A 128 element linear-array transducer was fabricated and its performance was compared with the simulation results. The center frequency of the fabricated transducer was 5.5 Mhzand the -6 dB frequency bandwidth was 70 %. Thus, we expect that the designed transducer can provide an effective inner image of the test material during non-destructive ultrasonic testing.

  17. Design and fabrication of liner-arroy ultrasonic transducer using KLM and FEM simulation for non-destructive testing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, Chan Yuk; Sung, Jin Ho; Jeong, Jong Seob [Dept. of Medical Biotechnology, Dongguk University Biomedi Campus, Goyang (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-04-15

    In this paper, a linear-array transducer capable of overcoming the faults of a single element and phased array transducers with convex shape for non-destructive ultrasonic testing was designed and fabricated. A 5.5 MHz linear-array transducer was designed using the PiezoCAD program based on the KLM analysis and the PZFlex program based on the FEM analysis. A 2-2 composite structure was employed to achieve broad-band characteristics. A 128 element linear-array transducer was fabricated and its performance was compared with the simulation results. The center frequency of the fabricated transducer was 5.5 Mhzand the -6 dB frequency bandwidth was 70 %. Thus, we expect that the designed transducer can provide an effective inner image of the test material during non-destructive ultrasonic testing.

  18. Training methods in non-destructive examination with ultrasonic testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walte, F.

    1986-01-01

    German concept for inspection of LWR, leak before break, basic safety; General inspection methods; Ultrasonic inspection - basic principle, generation of ultrasound, bulk and surface waves, piezo electric and electromagnetic transducers, energy balance, scattering and adsorption, divergence; Ultra techniques in compliance with KTA-rules - pulse-echo, tandem, throughtransmission; Valuation of ultrasonic indications; Pre- and in-service inspection; Practical part - ultrasonic equipment, ultrasonic piezo electric transducers, wall thickness measurement, crack depth measurement with potential drop technique. (orig.)

  19. Building Of Training Program Of Non-Destructive Testing For Concrete Structures (Part 1: Radiographic testing; Ultrasonic pulse velocity measurement; Nuclear moisture-density gauge)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nguyen Le Son; Phan Chanh Vu; Pham The Hung; Vu Huy Thuc

    2007-01-01

    Non-destructive testing methods (NDT) have been identified as a strong candidate for remote sensing of concrete structures over recent years. This has accelerated the powerful development of the NDT techniques in Vietnam. Hence, there is an urgent need to promote the awareness of NDT methods which could give an improved estimate of the condition concrete. Building of training program of non-destructive testing for concrete structures is a necessary duty, in aiming to build a unified training program, possibly satisfying the requirements on training as well as researching. Under the framework of the basic VAEC project (CS/07/02-03), a training program for the first 03 NDT methods: 1. Radiographic testing; 2. Ultrasonic pulse velocity measurement; 3. Nuclear moisture- density gauge was prepared. The main products of this project include: 1. Set out 03 training notes for 03 methods; 2. Set out the practical exercises to train for 03 methods; 3. Editing a set of examination questions in aiming to familiarize with various questions in 03 trained methods; 4. Fabricating practical test specimens to demonstrate for 03 techniques. (author)

  20. Non-destructive evaluation of the cladding thickness in LEU fuel plates by accurate ultrasonic scanning technique

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Borring, J.; Gundtoft, H.E.; Borum, K.K.; Toft, P. [Riso National Lab. (Denmark)

    1997-08-01

    In an effort to improve their ultrasonic scanning technique for accurate determination of the cladding thickness in LEU fuel plates, new equipment and modifications to the existing hardware and software have been tested and evaluated. The authors are now able to measure an aluminium thickness down to 0.25 mm instead of the previous 0.35 mm. Furthermore, they have shown how the measuring sensitivity can be improved from 0.03 mm to 0.01 mm. It has now become possible to check their standard fuel plates for DR3 against the minimum cladding thickness requirements non-destructively. Such measurements open the possibility for the acceptance of a thinner nominal cladding than normally used today.

  1. Non-destructive evaluation of the cladding thickness in LEU fuel plates by accurate ultrasonic scanning technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borring, J.; Gundtoft, H.E.; Borum, K.K.; Toft, P.

    1997-01-01

    In an effort to improve their ultrasonic scanning technique for accurate determination of the cladding thickness in LEU fuel plates, new equipment and modifications to the existing hardware and software have been tested and evaluated. The authors are now able to measure an aluminium thickness down to 0.25 mm instead of the previous 0.35 mm. Furthermore, they have shown how the measuring sensitivity can be improved from 0.03 mm to 0.01 mm. It has now become possible to check their standard fuel plates for DR3 against the minimum cladding thickness requirements non-destructively. Such measurements open the possibility for the acceptance of a thinner nominal cladding than normally used today

  2. The Design Of The Ultrasonic Nondestructive Testing System Based On The EMAT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cheng Huan Xin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper introduces a kind of based on the electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT metal pipeline detection system, fusion of two dimensional orientation, shape unique technological innovation, implementation of various metal pipe wall corrosion situation of rapid, accurate, fully automated non-destructive testing.In the aspect of hardware design, single-chip microcomputer control was achieved by C language programming the launch of the pulse signal. Pulse signal was sent to launch circuit, ultrasonic signal. Design of preamplifier, controllable gain amplifier two-stage amplifier circuit for receiving signal is amplified. Including data acquisition circuit detection circuit and A/D conversion circuit, single chip microcomputer and the LabVIEW platform via A serial port communication agreement. In the aspect of software design, the design of the EMAT pipe nondestructive testing system based on LabVIEW human-computer interaction interface.

  3. Ultrasonic surface measurements at the Porta Nigra, Trier, and the Neptungrotte, Park Sanssouci Potsdam

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Thomas; Auras, Michael; Fehr, Moritz; Köhn, Daniel

    2015-04-01

    Ultrasonic measurements along profiles at the surface of an object are well suited to characterize non-destructively weathering of natural stone near the surface. Ultrasonic waveforms of surface measurements in the frequency range between 10 kHz and 300 kHz are often dominated by the Rayleigh wave - a surface wave that is mainly sensitive to the velocity and attenuation of S-waves in the upper 0.3 cm to 3 cm. The frequency dependence of the Rayleigh wave velocity may be used to analyze variations of the material properties with depth. Applications of ultrasonic surface measurements are shown for two buildings: the Roman Porta Nigra in Trier from the 3rd century AD and the Neptungrotte at Park Sanssouci in Potsdam designed by von Knobelsdorff in the 18th century. Both buildings belong to the world cultural heritage and restorations are planned for the near future. It is interesting to compare measurements at these two buildings because they show the applicability of ultrasonic surface measurements to different natural stones. The Porta Nigra is made of local sandstones whereas the facades of the Neptungrotte are made of Carrara and Kauffunger marble. 71 and 46 surface measurements have been carried out, respectively. At both buildings, Rayleigh-wave group velocities show huge variations. At the Porta Nigra they vary between ca. 0.4 km/s and 1.8 km/s and at the Neptungrotte between ca. 0.7 km/s and 3.0 km/s pointing to alterations in the Rayleigh- and S-wave velocities of more than 50 % due to weathering. Note that velocities of elastic waves may increase e.g. because of the formation of black crusts like at the Porta Nigra or they may be strongly reduced due to weathering. The accuracy of the ultrasonic surface measurements, its reproducibility, and the influence of varying water saturation are discussed. Options for the analysis of ultrasonic waveforms are presented ranging from dispersion analysis to full waveform inversions for one-dimensional and two

  4. Progress and Challenges of Ultrasonic Testing for Stress in Remanufacturing Laser Cladding Coating

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiao-Ling Yan

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Stress in laser cladding coating is an important factor affecting the safe operation of remanufacturing components. Ultrasonic testing has become a popular approach in the nondestructive evaluation of stress, because it has the advantages of safety, nondestructiveness, and online detection. This paper provides a review of ultrasonic testing for stress in remanufacturing laser cladding coating. It summarizes the recent research outcomes on ultrasonic testing for stress, and analyzes the mechanism of ultrasonic testing for stress. Remanufacturing laser cladding coating shows typical anisotropic behaviors. The ultrasonic testing signal in laser cladding coating is influenced by many complex factors, such as microstructure, defect, temperature, and surface roughness, among others. At present, ultrasonic testing for stress in laser cladding coating can only be done roughly. This paper discusses the active mechanism of micro/macro factors in the reliability of stress measurement, as well as the impact of stress measurement on the quality and safety of remanufacturing components. Based on the discussion, this paper proposes strategies to nondestructively, rapidly, and accurately measure stress in remanufacturing laser cladding coating.

  5. Ultrasonic inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Satittada, Gannaga

    1984-01-01

    Ultrasonic inspection is one of the most widely used methods for nondestructive inspection. The beam of high-frequency sound wave, ultrasonic wave, is introduced into the material. It travels through the material with some attendant loss of energy and can be reflected at interfaces. The reflected beam is detected and analyzed. Ultrasonic inspection is used to detect flaws in metal parts as well as in welded, brazed and bonded joints during research work and developing production and service. It is also used to detect and locate porosity, pipe, and flakes. In addition, it can be used for the measurement of metal thickness. Ultrasonic inspection is therefore used for quality control and material inspection in all major industries

  6. Ultrasonic velocity measurements- a potential sensor for intelligent processing of austenitic stainless steels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Venkadesan, S.; Palanichamy, P.; Vasudevan, M.; Baldev Raj

    1996-01-01

    Development of sensors based on Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) techniques for on-line sensing of microstructure and properties requires a thorough knowledge on the relation between the sensing mechanism/measurement of an NDE technique and the microstructure. As a first step towards developing an on-line sensor for studying the dynamic microstructural changes during processing of austenitic stainless steels, ultrasonic velocity measurements have been carried out to study the microstructural changes after processing. Velocity measurements could follow the progress of annealing starting from recovery, onset and completion of recrystallization, sense the differences in the microstructure obtained after hot deformation and estimate the grain size. This paper brings out the relation between the sensing method based on ultrasonic velocity measurements and the microstructure in austenitic stainless steel. (author)

  7. Ultrasonic Imaging Technology Helps American Manufacturer of Nondestructive Evaluation Equipment Become More Competitive in the Global Market

    Science.gov (United States)

    1995-01-01

    Sonix, Inc., of Springfield, Virginia, has implemented ultrasonic imaging methods developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center. These methods have heretofore been unavailable on commercial ultrasonic imaging systems and provide significantly more sensitive material characterization than conventional high-resolution ultrasonic c-scanning. The technology transfer is being implemented under a cooperative agreement between NASA and Sonix, and several invention disclosures have been submitted by Dr. Roth to protect Lewis interests. Sonix has developed ultrasonic imaging systems used worldwide for microelectronics, materials research, and commercial nondestructive evaluation (NDE). In 1993, Sonix won the U.S. Department of Commerce "Excellence in Exporting" award. Lewis chose to work with Sonix for two main reasons: (1) Sonix is an innovative leader in ultrasonic imaging systems, and (2) Sonix was willing to apply the improvements we developed with our in-house Sonix equipment. This symbiotic joint effort has produced mutual benefits. Sonix recognized the market potential of our new and highly sensitive methods for ultrasonic assessment of material quality. We, in turn, see the cooperative effort as an effective means for transferring our technology while helping to improve the product of a domestic firm.

  8. Nondestructive characterization of austenitic stainless steels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jayakumar, T.; Kumar, Anish

    2010-01-01

    The paper presents an overview of the non-destructive methodologies developed at the authors' laboratory for characterization of various microstructural features, residual stresses and corrosion in austenitic stainless steels. Various non-destructive evaluation (NDE) parameters such as ultrasonic velocity, ultrasonic attenuation, spectral analysis of the ultrasonic signals, magnetic hysteresis parameters and eddy current amplitude have been used for characterization of grain size, precipitation behaviour, texture, recrystallization, thermomechanical processing, degree of sensitization, formation of martensite from metastable austenite, assessment of residual stresses, degree of sensitization and propensity for intergranular corrosion in different austenitic steels. (author)

  9. Rotary union for use with ultrasonic thickness measuring probe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nachbar, Henry D.

    1992-01-01

    A rotary union for rotatably supporting an ultrasonic probe operable to nondestructively measure the thickness of steam generator tubes to determine the amount of corrosion experienced by the tubes includes a stationary body having a bore therethrough and an outlet drain, and a fitting rotatably mounted within the upper end of the body. The fitting has a bore aligned with the bore of the body. An electrical cable positioned within a water supply tube in an annular arrangement passes through the bore of the body and the bore of the fitting. This annular arrangement, in turn, is positioned within a connector element which extends outwardly from the fitting bore and is connected to the ultrasonic probe. An elastomeric lower bushing seals the annular arrangement to the lower end of the rotary union body and an elastomeric upper bushing seals the connector element to the fitting to permit the connector element and the ultrasonic probe connected thereto to rotate with the fitting relative to the body. The lower and upper bushings permit water to be passed through the annular arrangement and into the ultrasonic probe and thereafter discharged between the annular arrangement and the connector element to the outlet drain of the rotary union body.

  10. Rotary union for use with ultrasonic thickness measuring probe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nachbar, H.D.

    1992-01-01

    A rotary union for rotatably supporting an ultrasonic probe operable to nondestructively measure the thickness of steam generator tubes to determine the amount of corrosion experienced by the tubes includes a stationary body having a bore therethrough and an outlet drain, and a fitting rotatably mounted within the upper end of the body. The fitting has a bore aligned with the bore of the body. An electrical cable positioned within a water supply tube in an annular arrangement passes through the bore of the body and the bore of the fitting. This annular arrangement, in turn, is positioned within a connector element which extends outwardly from the fitting bore and is connected to the ultrasonic probe. An elastomeric lower bushing seals the annular arrangement to the lower end of the rotary union body and an elastomeric upper bushing seals the connector element to the fitting to permit the connector element and the ultrasonic probe connected thereto to rotate with the fitting relative to the body. The lower and upper bushings permit water to be passed through the annular arrangement and into the ultrasonic probe and thereafter discharged between the annular arrangement and the connector element to the outlet drain of the rotary union body. 5 figs

  11. Uncertainty management in knowledge based systems for nondestructive testing-an example from ultrasonic testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rajagopalan, C.; Kalyanasundaram, P.; Baldev Raj

    1996-01-01

    The use of fuzzy logic, as a framework for uncertainty management, in a knowledge-based system (KBS) for ultrasonic testing of austenitic stainless steels is described. Parameters that may contain uncertain values are identified. Methodologies to handle uncertainty in these parameters using fuzzy logic are detailed. The overall improvement in the performance of the knowledge-based system after incorporating fuzzy logic is discussed. The methodology developed being universal, its extension to other KBS for nondestructive testing and evaluation is highlighted. (author)

  12. Experimental Development and Demonstration of Ultrasonic Measurement Diagnostics for Sodium Fast Reactor Thermal-hydraulics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tokuhiro, Akira; Jones, Byron

    2013-09-13

    This research project will address some of the principal technology issues related to sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFR), primarily the development and demonstration of ultrasonic measurement diagnostics linked to effective thermal convective sensing under normatl and off-normal conditions. Sodium is well-suited as a heat transfer medium for the SFR. However, because it is chemically reactive and optically opaque, it presents engineering accessibility constraints relative to operations and maintenance (O&M) and in-service inspection (ISI) technologies that are currently used for light water reactors. Thus, there are limited sensing options for conducting thermohydraulic measurements under normal conditions and off-normal events (maintenance, unanticipated events). Acoustic methods, primarily ultrasonics, are a key measurement technology with applications in non-destructive testing, component imaging, thermometry, and velocimetry. THis project would have yielded a better quantitative and qualitative understanding of the thermohydraulic condition of solium under varied flow conditions. THe scope of work will evaluate and demonstrate ultrasonic technologies and define instrumentation options for the SFR.

  13. Laser ultrasonic receivers based on photorefractive materials in non-destructive testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zamiri Hosseinzadeh, S.

    2014-01-01

    The field of laser ultrasonics is one of the most interesting topics in which laser light is used for the generation and the detection of ultrasound waves in materials. This contactless method is extremely useful for materials inspection being nondestructive and contactless, especially for hazardous environments. In this method a pulsed laser with a short pulse length of e.g. nano- or even picoseconds is focused on the surface of a specimen and then ultrasonic waves, nanometer vibrations, such as surface and bulk waves are generated and propagate in all directions on to the material. For contactless detection of ultrasonic waves several interferometers such as confocal Fabry-Perot, Michelson, and long path difference interferometers have been applied. Each of them has its individual advantages and disadvantages concerning, e.g., frequency responses and sensitivity. However, most of these interferometers work best on mirror-like surfaces and exhibit reduced sensitivity on rough surfaces. Also these kinds of interferometer are sensible to external noise as air fluctuations, sample vibrations or thermal deformations, thus requiring relatively complex stabilization techniques. This hinders their applicability in industrial applications with harsh environmental conditions. As an alternative to the before mentioned techniques interferometers based on photorefractive materials (PR) have been established. A typical two wave mixing interferometer (TWMI) configuration enables broadband ultrasonic measurements on rough surfaces. These types of interferometers have a good sensitivity up to 3e-7 nm(W/Hz) 1/2 spatially for samples with a high rough surface unlike the Michelson interferometer. By using ferroelectric photorefractive crystals such as LiNbO:Fe+2, sensitivity even is enhanced to 4e-8 nm(W/Hz) 1/2 but response time in these crystals is slower. In this work, contactless interferometer set ups based on photorefractive materials such as BSO (Bismuth Silicon Oxide: Bi 12

  14. Advanced ultrasonic techniques for nondestructive testing of austenitic and dissimilar welds in nuclear facilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juengert, Anne; Dugan, Sandra; Homann, Tobias; Mitzscherling, Steffen; Prager, Jens; Pudovikov, Sergey; Schwender, Thomas

    2018-04-01

    Austenitic stainless steel welds as well as dissimilar metal welds with nickel alloy filler material, used in safety relevant parts of nuclear power plants, still challenge the ultrasonic inspection. The weld material forms large oriented grains that lead, on the one hand, to high sound scattering and, on the other hand, to inhomogeneity and to the acoustic anisotropy of the weld structure. The ultrasonic wave fronts do not propagate linearly, as in ferritic weld joints, but along the curves, which depend on the specific grain structure of the weld. Due to the influence of these phenomena, it is difficult to analyze the inspection results and to classify the ultrasonic indications, which could be both from the weld geometry and from the material defects. A correct flaw sizing is not possible. In an ongoing research project, different techniques to improve the reliability of ultrasonic testing at these kinds of welds are investigated. In a first step (in the previous research project) two ultrasonic inspection techniques were developed and validated on plane test specimens with artificial and realistic flaws. In the ongoing project, these techniques are applied to circumferential pipe welds with longitudinal and transverse flaws. The technique developed at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Germany uses a combination of ray tracing and synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT). To investigate the unknown grain structure, the velocity distribution of weld-transmitting ultrasound waves is measured and used to model the weld by ray tracing. The second technique, developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing (IZFP) in Germany, uses Sampling Phased Array (Full Matrix Capture) combined with the reverse phase matching (RPM) and the gradient elastic constant descent algorithm (GECDM). This inspection method is able to estimate the elastic constants of the columnar grains in the weld and offers an improvement of the

  15. Sampling phased array a new technique for signal processing and ultrasonic imaging

    OpenAIRE

    Bulavinov, A.; Joneit, D.; Kröning, M.; Bernus, L.; Dalichow, M.H.; Reddy, K.M.

    2006-01-01

    Different signal processing and image reconstruction techniques are applied in ultrasonic non-destructive material evaluation. In recent years, rapid development in the fields of microelectronics and computer engineering lead to wide application of phased array systems. A new phased array technique, called "Sampling Phased Array" has been developed in Fraunhofer Institute for non-destructive testing. It realizes unique approach of measurement and processing of ultrasonic signals. The sampling...

  16. Ultrasonic Measurement of Corrosion Depth Development in Concrete Exposed to Acidic Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fan Yingfang

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Corrosion depth of concrete can reflect the damage state of the load-carrying capacity and durability of the concrete structures servicing in severe environment. Ultrasonic technology was studied to evaluate the corrosion depth quantitatively. Three acidic environments with the pH level of 3.5, 2.5, and 1.5 were simulated by the mixture of sulfate and nitric acid solutions in the laboratory. 354 prism specimens with the dimension of 150 mm × 150 mm × 300 mm were prepared. The prepared specimens were first immersed in the acidic mixture for certain periods, followed by physical, mechanical, computerized tomography (CT and ultrasonic test. Damage depths of the concrete specimen under different corrosion states were obtained from both CT and ultrasonic test. Based on the ultrasonic test, a bilinear regression model is proposed to estimate the corrosion depth. It is shown that the results achieved by ultrasonic and CT test are in good agreement with each other. Relation between the corrosion depth of concrete specimen and the mechanical indices such as mass loss, compressive strength, and elastic modulus is discussed in detail. It can be drawn that the ultrasonic test is a reliable nondestructive way to measure the damage depth of concrete exposed to acidic environment.

  17. Fundamentals of ultrasonic phased arrays

    CERN Document Server

    Schmerr, Lester W

    2014-01-01

    This book describes in detail the physical and mathematical foundations of ultrasonic phased array measurements.?The book uses linear systems theory to develop a comprehensive model of the signals and images that can be formed with phased arrays. Engineers working in the field of ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation (NDE) will find in this approach a wealth of information on how to design, optimize and interpret ultrasonic inspections with phased arrays. The fundamentals and models described in the book will also be of significant interest to other fields, including the medical ultrasound and

  18. Nondestructive detection of microstructural fatigue damage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Willems, H.; Persch, H.; Voss, B.; Falk, L.

    1989-01-01

    Ultrasonic as well as magnetic investigations have been performed on a pressure vessel steel (A533, B class 1) in order to study the influence of fatigue loading on both elastic and magnetic material properties. Using laboratory specimens under two different loading conditions (tension-tension loading, tension-compression loading), material characteristics like ultrasonic velocity, ultrasonic absorption, coercivity, incremental permeability were measured and evaluated as a function of consumed lifetime. Only in case of macroscopic plastic deformation, significant changes of the measuring quantities were observed. Otherwise the effects are so small that the nondestructive detection of microstructural changes due to high-cycle fatigue loading seems not to be feasible under practical conditions (for example at pressure vessels) with the techniques used. (orig.) [de

  19. Nondestructive testing method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Porter, J.F.

    1996-01-01

    Nondestructive testing (NDT) is the use of physical and chemical methods for evaluating material integrity without impairing its intended usefulness or continuing service. Nondestructive tests are used by manufaturer's for the following reasons: 1) to ensure product reliability; 2) to prevent accidents and save human lives; 3) to aid in better product design; 4) to control manufacturing processes; and 5) to maintain a uniform quality level. Nondestructive testing is used extensively on power plants, oil and chemical refineries, offshore oil rigs and pipeline (NDT can even be conducted underwater), welds on tanks, boilers, pressure vessels and heat exchengers. NDT is now being used for testing concrete and composite materials. Because of the criticality of its application, NDT should be performed and the results evaluated by qualified personnel. There are five basic nondestructive examination methods: 1) liquid penetrant testing - method used for detecting surface flaws in materials. This method can be used for metallic and nonmetallic materials, portable and relatively inexpensive. 2) magnetic particle testing - method used to detect surface and subsurface flaws in ferromagnetic materials; 3) radiographic testing - method used to detect internal flaws and significant variation in material composition and thickness; 4) ultrasonic testing - method used to detect internal and external flaws in materials. This method uses ultrasonics to measure thickness of a material or to examine the internal structure for discontinuities. 5) eddy current testing - method used to detect surface and subsurface flaws in conductive materials. Not one nondestructive examination method can find all discontinuities in all of the materials capable of being tested. The most important consideration is for the specifier of the test to be familiar with the test method and its applicability to the type and geometry of the material and the flaws to be detected

  20. Sampling phased array - a new technique for ultrasonic signal processing and imaging

    OpenAIRE

    Verkooijen, J.; Boulavinov, A.

    2008-01-01

    Over the past 10 years, the improvement in the field of microelectronics and computer engineering has led to significant advances in ultrasonic signal processing and image construction techniques that are currently being applied to non-destructive material evaluation. A new phased array technique, called 'Sampling Phased Array', has been developed in the Fraunhofer Institute for Non-Destructive Testing([1]). It realises a unique approach of measurement and processing of ultrasonic signals. Th...

  1. 46 CFR 151.03-38 - Nondestructive testing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... CARRYING BULK LIQUID HAZARDOUS MATERIAL CARGOES Definitions § 151.03-38 Nondestructive testing. Nondestructive testing includes ultrasonic examination, liquid penetrant examination, magnetic particle... 46 Shipping 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Nondestructive testing. 151.03-38 Section 151.03-38...

  2. Research of the ultrasonic testing parts reconditioned by welding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Petriceanu

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the results obtained following the nondestructive ultrasonic testing of crankpin shaft of a crankshaft that were reconditioned by welding. After the ultrasonic testing, the reconditioned samples were cut and subjected to visual testing and microstructure examination. When the results obtained following the nondestructive tests were analyzed, it was observed that the ultrasonic nondestructive testing method is an efficient way to determine the conformity of the areas that were reconditioned by welding.

  3. Ultrasonic Surface Measurements for the investigation of superficial alteration of natural stones

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Thomas; Auras, Michael; Bilgili, Filiz; Christen, Sandra; Cristiano, Luigia; Krompholz, Rolf; Mosca, Ilaria; Rose, David

    2013-04-01

    Seismic waveform analysis is applicable also to the centimeter and decimeter scale for non-destructive testing of pavement, facades, plaster, sculptures, or load-bearing structures like pillars. Mostly transmission measurements are performed and travel-times of first arriving P-waves are considered that have limited resolution for the upper centimeters of an object. In contrast, surface measurements are well suited to quantify superficial alterations of material properties e.g. due to weathering. A number of surface measurements have been carried out in the laboratory as well as on real structures in order to study systematically the information content of ultrasonic waveforms and their variability under real conditions. As a preposition for ultrasonic waveform analysis, reproducible, broad-band measurements have to be carried out with a definite radiation pattern and an about 1 mm accuracy of the measurement geometry. We used special coupling devices for effective ultrasonic surface measurements in the laboratory as well as at real objects. Samples of concrete with varying composition and samples of natural stone - marble, tuff, and sandstone - were repeatedly weathered and tested by ultrasonic measurements. The resistance of the samples to weathering and the penetration depth of the weathering are analyzed. Furthermore, material specific calibration curves for changes in velocities of elastic waves due to weathering can be obtained by these tests. Tests on real structures have been carried out for marble (Schlossbrücke, Berlin) and sandstone (Porta Nigra, Trier). Altogether, these test measurements show clearly that despite of the internal inhomogeneity of many real objects, their surface roughness and topography especially ultrasonic Rayleigh waves are well suited to study material alterations in the upper centimeters. Dispersion of Rayleigh waves may be inverted for shear-wave velocity as a function of depth.

  4. Ultrasonic immersion probes characterization for use in nondestructive testing according to EN 12668-2:2001

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, C E R; Alvarenga, A V; Costa-Felix, R P B

    2011-01-01

    Ultrasound is often used as a Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) technique to analyze components and structures to detect internal and surface flaws. To guarantee reliable measurements, it is necessary to calibrate instruments and properly assess related uncertainties. An important device of an ultrasonic instrument system is its probe, which characterization should be performed according to EN 12668-2. Concerning immersion probes beam profile, the parameters to be assessed are beam divergence, focal distance, width, and zone length. Such parameters are determined by scanning a reflector or a hydrophone throughout the transducer beam. Within the present work, a methodology developed at Inmetro's Laboratory of Ultrasound to evaluate relevant beam parameters is presented, based on hydrophone scan. Water bath and positioning system to move the hydrophone were used to perform the scan. Studied probes were excited by a signal generator, and the waterborne signals were detected by the hydrophone and acquired using an oscilloscope. A user-friendly virtual instrument was developed in LabVIEW to automate the system. The initial tests were performed using 1 and 2.25 MHz-ultrasonic unfocused probes (Oe 1.27 cm), and results were consistent with the manufacturer's specifications. Moreover, expanded uncertainties were lower than 6% for all parameters under consideration.

  5. Ultrasonic immersion probes characterization for use in nondestructive testing according to EN 12668-2:2001

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, C. E. R.; Alvarenga, A. V.; Costa-Felix, R. P. B.

    2011-02-01

    Ultrasound is often used as a Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) technique to analyze components and structures to detect internal and surface flaws. To guarantee reliable measurements, it is necessary to calibrate instruments and properly assess related uncertainties. An important device of an ultrasonic instrument system is its probe, which characterization should be performed according to EN 12668-2. Concerning immersion probes beam profile, the parameters to be assessed are beam divergence, focal distance, width, and zone length. Such parameters are determined by scanning a reflector or a hydrophone throughout the transducer beam. Within the present work, a methodology developed at Inmetro's Laboratory of Ultrasound to evaluate relevant beam parameters is presented, based on hydrophone scan. Water bath and positioning system to move the hydrophone were used to perform the scan. Studied probes were excited by a signal generator, and the waterborne signals were detected by the hydrophone and acquired using an oscilloscope. A user-friendly virtual instrument was developed in LabVIEW to automate the system. The initial tests were performed using 1 and 2.25 MHz-ultrasonic unfocused probes (Ø 1.27 cm), and results were consistent with the manufacturer's specifications. Moreover, expanded uncertainties were lower than 6% for all parameters under consideration.

  6. Technical regulation of nondestructive inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-01-01

    It starts with the explanation of definition of nondestructive inspection and qualifications for a inspection. It lists the technical regulations of nondestructive inspections which are radiographic testing, ultrasonic flaw detecting test, liquid penetrant test, magnetic particle inspection, eddy current test visual inspection and leakage test.

  7. Nondestructive testing 89

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1989-01-01

    The proceedings contain 24 contributions, out of which 14 have been inputted in INIS. These deal with materials for nondestructive testing and various nondestructive testing systems, with the evaluation of radiograms and with the application of radiographic, ultrasonic and eddy current methods to the detection of defects in materials, to the inspection of nuclear reactor components and in other fields of technology. (B.S.)

  8. Ultrasonic imaging algorithms with limited transmission cycles for rapid nondestructive evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreau, Ludovic; Drinkwater, Bruce W; Wilcox, Paul D

    2009-09-01

    Imaging algorithms recently developed in ultrasonic nondestructive testing (NDT) have shown good potential for defect characterization. Many of them are based on the concept of collecting the full matrix of data, obtained by firing each element of an ultrasonic phased array independently, while collecting the data with all elements. Because of the finite sound velocity in the test structure, 2 consecutive firings must be separated by a minimum time interval. Depending on the number of elements in a given array, this may become problematic if data must be collected within a short time, as it is often the case, for example, in an industrial context. An obvious way to decrease the duration of data capture is to use a sparse transmit aperture, in which only a restricted number of elements are used to transmit ultrasonic waves. This paper compares 2 approaches aimed at producing an image on the basis of restricted data: the common source method and the effective aperture technique. The effective aperture technique is based on the far-field approximation, and no similar approach exists for the near-field. This paper investigates the performance of this technique in near-field conditions, where most NDT applications are made. First, these methods are described and their point spread functions are compared with that of the Total Focusing Method (TFM), which consists of focusing the array at every point in the image. Then, a map of efficiency is given for the different algorithms in the near-field. The map can be used to select the most appropriate algorithm. Finally, this map is validated by testing the different algorithms on experimental data.

  9. Experimental POD measurement using ultrasonic phased arrays for incorporating nondestructive testes in probabilistic failure analyses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kurz, Jochen H.; Dobmann, Gerd; Juengert, Anne; Dugan, Sandra; Roos, Eberhard

    2011-01-01

    In nuclear facilities, nondestructive tests are carried out during construction and during inspections. The type and extent of the tests are specified in the KTA rules. All tests must be qualified. In the past, the qualifications were made by extensive performance demonstrations of the test teams and equipment, which were judged by experts. This provided primarily pragmatic information on fault detection performance. In the USA, qualification of EPRI test teams also includes testing of test pieces with hidden (unknown) defects, of which a certain percentage must be detected. There is still a lack of information on the probability of detection (POD), in the form of POD curves, of specific defects in given test situations, using specifically selected testing techniques. Quantification of POD and the integration of relevant data in the probabilistic evaluation chain is one of the key goals of a research project whose first results are presented here. The concept of the project and first results of ultrasonic tests are presented. Defect distributions in the test pieces, experiment planning, and test specifications are gone into more closely. One of the most important goals is the specification of the residual uncertainty of components failure on the basis of the investigations. An outlook is presented for this.

  10. Application of Neuro-Wavelet Algorithm in Ultrasonic-Phased Array Nondestructive Testing of Polyethylene Pipelines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reza Bohlouli

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Polyethylene (PE pipelines with electrofusion (EF joining is an essential method of transportation of gas energy. EF joints are weak points for leakage and therefore, Nondestructive testing (NDT methods including ultrasonic array technology are necessary. This paper presents a practical NDT method of fusion joints of polyethylene piping using intelligent ultrasonic image processing techniques. In the proposed method, to detect the defects of electrofusion joints, the NDT is applied based on an ANN-Wavelet method as a digital image processing technique. The proposed approach includes four steps. First an ultrasonic-phased array technique is used to provide real time images of high resolution. In the second step, the images are preprocessed by digital image processing techniques for noise reduction and detection of ROI (Region of Interest. Furthermore, to make more improvement on the images, mathematical morphology techniques such as dilation and erosion are applied. In the 3rd step, a wavelet transform is used to develop a feature vector containing 3-dimensional information on various types of defects. In the final step, all the feature vectors are classified through a backpropagation-based ANN algorithm. The obtained results show that the proposed algorithms are highly reliable and also precise for NDT monitoring.

  11. Nondestructive detection of microstructural fatigue damage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Willems, H.; Persch, H.

    1990-02-01

    Ultrasonic as well as magnetic investigations have been performed on a pressure vessel steel (A533, B class 1) in order to study the influence of fatigue loading on both elastic and magnetic material properties. Using laboratory specimens under two different loading conditions (tension-tension loading, tension-compression loading), material characteristics like ultrasonic velocity, ultrasonic absorption, coercivity, incremental permeability were measured and evaluated as a function of consumed lifetime. Only in case of macroscopic plastic deformation, significant changes of the measuring quantities were observed. Otherwise the effects are so small that the nondestructive detection of microstructural changes due to fatigue loading seems not to be feasible under practical conditions (for example at pressure vessels) with the techniques used. Besides a zero measurement, additional measurements on a 1:5 model vessel at JRC Ispra could not be carried out, because the planned fatigue tests were not performed by JRC Ispra during the research period

  12. Ultrasonic texture characterization of aluminum, zirconium and titanium alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, A.J.

    1997-01-01

    This work attempts to show the feasibility of nondestructive characterization of non-ferrous alloys. Aluminum alloys have a small single crystal anisotropy which requires very precise ultrasonic velocity measurements for derivation of orientation distribution coefficients (ODCs); the precision in the ultrasonic velocity measurement required for aluminum alloys is much greater than is necessary for iron alloys or other alloys with a large single crystal anisotropy. To provide greater precision, some signal processing corrections need to be applied to account for the inherent, half-bandwidth offset in triggered pulses when using a zero-crossing technique for determining ultrasonic velocity. In addition, alloys with small single crystal anisotropy show a larger dependence on the single crystal elastic constants (SCECs) when predicting ODCs which require absolute velocity measurements. Attempts were made to independently determine these elastics constants in an effort to improve correlation between ultrasonically derived ODCs and diffraction derived ODCs. The greater precision required to accurately derive ODCs in aluminum alloys using ultrasonic nondestructive techniques is easily attainable. Ultrasonically derived ODCs show good correlation with derivations made by Bragg diffraction techniques, both neutron and X-ray. The best correlation was shown when relative velocity measurements could be used in the derivations of the ODCs. Calculation of ODCs in materials with hexagonal crystallites can also be done. Because of the crystallite symmetries, more information can be extracted using ultrasonic techniques, but at a cost of requiring more physical measurements. Some industries which use materials with hexagonal crystallites, e.g. zirconium alloys and titanium, have traditionally used texture parameters which provide some specialized measure of the texture. These texture parameters, called Kearns factors, can be directly related to ODCs

  13. Improvement of the reliability on nondestructive inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Song, Sung Jin; Kim, Young H.; Lee, Hyang Beom; Shin, Young Kil; Jung, Hyun Jo; Park, Ik Keun; Park, Eun Soo

    2002-03-01

    Retaining reliabilities of nondestructive testing is essential for the life-time maintenance of Nuclear Power Plant. The nondestructive testing methods which are frequently used in the Nuclear Power Plant are eddy current testing for the inspection of steam generator tubes and ultrasonic testing for the inspection of weldments. In order to improve reliabilities of ultrasonic testing and eddy current testing, the subjects carried out in this study are as follows : development of BEM analysis technique for ECT of SG tube, development of neural network technique for the intelligent analysis of ECT flaw signals of SG tubes, development of RFECT technology for the inspection of SG tube, FEM analysis of ultrasonic scattering field, evaluation of statistical reliability of PD-RR test of ultrasonic testing and development of multi-Gaussian beam modeling technique to predict accurate signal of signal beam ultrasonic testing with the efficiency in calculation time

  14. Improvement of the reliability on nondestructive inspection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Song, Sung Jin; Kim, Young H. [Sungkyunkwan Univ., Suwon (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Hyang Beom [Soongsil Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Shin, Young Kil [Kunsan National Univ., Gunsan (Korea, Republic of); Jung, Hyun Jo [Wonkwang Univ., Iksan (Korea, Republic of); Park, Ik Keun; Park, Eun Soo [Seoul Nationl Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2002-03-15

    Retaining reliabilities of nondestructive testing is essential for the life-time maintenance of Nuclear Power Plant. The nondestructive testing methods which are frequently used in the Nuclear Power Plant are eddy current testing for the inspection of steam generator tubes and ultrasonic testing for the inspection of weldments. In order to improve reliabilities of ultrasonic testing and eddy current testing, the subjects carried out in this study are as follows : development of BEM analysis technique for ECT of SG tube, development of neural network technique for the intelligent analysis of ECT flaw signals of SG tubes, development of RFECT technology for the inspection of SG tube, FEM analysis of ultrasonic scattering field, evaluation of statistical reliability of PD-RR test of ultrasonic testing and development of multi-Gaussian beam modeling technique to predict accurate signal of signal beam ultrasonic testing with the efficiency in calculation time.

  15. Nondestructive evaluation of a cermet coating using ultrasonic and eddy current techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roge, B.; Fahr, A.; Giguere, J.S.R.; McRae, K.I.

    2002-01-01

    This paper describes a series of experiments conducted to characterize cermet coatings using conventional ultrasonic and eddy current techniques as well as an ultrasonic leaky surface wave method. The results demonstrate the ability of these techniques to detect the presence of artificial defects on the surface or beneath the surface of the coating. In addition, ultrasonic tests in particular ultrasonic leaky surface waves demonstrate the ability to detect the presence of manufacturing flaws. Ultrasonic time-of-flight and eddy current quadrature measurements also show sensitivity to variations in coating thickness

  16. Remote measurement of corrosion using ultrasonic techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garcia, K.M.; Porter, A.M.

    1995-02-01

    Supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) technology has the potential of meeting the US Department of Energy's treatment requirements for mixed radioactive waste. A major technical constraint of the SCWO process is corrosion. Safe operation of a pilot plant requires monitoring of the corrosion rate of the materials of construction. A method is needed for measurement of the corrosion rate taking place during operation. One approach is to directly measure the change in wall thickness or growth of oxide layer at critical points in the SCWO process. In FY-93, a brief survey of the industry was performed to evaluate nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods for remote corrosion monitoring in supercritical vessels. As a result of this survey, it was determined that ultrasonic testing (UT) methods would be the most cost-effective and suitable method of achieving this. Therefore, the objective for FY-94 was to prove the feasibility of using UT to monitor corrosion of supercritical vessels remotely during operation without removal of the insulation

  17. Initial evaluation of ultrasonic attenuation measurements for estimating fracture toughness of RPV steels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hiser, A.L. Jr.; Green, R.E. Jr. [Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States). Center for Nondestructive Evaluation

    1999-08-01

    Neutron bombardment of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels causes reductions in fracture toughness in these steels, termed neutron irradiation embrittlement. Currently, there are no accepted methods for nondestructive determination of the extent of the irradiation embrittlement nor the actual fracture toughness of the reactor pressure vessel. This paper provides initial results of an effort addressing the use of ultrasonic attenuation as a suitable parameter for nondestructive determination of irradiation embrittlement in RPV steels. (orig.)

  18. Non-Destructive Inspection Lab (NDI)

    Data.gov (United States)

    Federal Laboratory Consortium — The NDI specializes in applied research, development and performance of nondestructive inspection procedures (flourescent penetrant, magnetic particle, ultrasonics,...

  19. Non-destructive controls in the steel tube industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mondot, J.

    1978-01-01

    The main non-destructive control methods in the tube industry are reviewed: eddy currents, particularly well adapted to small tubes; magnetoscopic testing for weldless tubes; ultrasonic waves widely used for thick weldless tubes and weldings; radiography, to examine tube ends and the known questionable zones; measure of diameters by laser [fr

  20. Sampling phased array, a new technique for ultrasonic signal processing and imaging now available to industry

    OpenAIRE

    Verkooijen, J.; Bulavinov, A.

    2008-01-01

    Over the past 10 years the improvement in the field of microelectronics and computer engineering has led to significant advances in ultrasonic signal processing and image construction techniques that are currently being applied to non-destructive material evaluation. A new phased array technique, called "Sampling Phased Array" has been developed in the Fraunhofer Institute for non-destructive testing [1]. It realizes a unique approach of measurement and processing of ultrasonic signals. The s...

  1. Ultrasonic guided wave for monitoring corrosion of steel bar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Xi; Qin, Lei; Huang, Bosheng

    2018-01-01

    Steel corrosion of reinforced concrete structures has become a serious problem all over the word. In this paper, the work aims at monitoring steel corrosion using ultrasonic guided wave (UGW). Ultrasonic guided wave monitoring is a dynamic and non-destructive testing technology. The advantages of ultrasonic guided wave monitoring for reinforcement corrosion are real-time, online and continuous. In addition, it can judge the different stages of steel bar corrosion, which achieved non-destructive detection.

  2. Ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation systems industrial application issues

    CERN Document Server

    Callegari, Sergio; Montisci, Augusto; Ricci, Marco; Versaci, Mario

    2015-01-01

    This book covers the practical implementation of ultrasonic NDT techniques in an industrial environment, discussing several issues that may emerge and proposing strategies for addressing them successfully.  It aims to bridge advanced academic research results and their application to industrial procedures. The topics covered in the text range from the basic operation of an ultrasonic NDT system to the simulation of the measurement operations; from the choice and generation of the signals energizing the system to the different ways of exploiting the probes and their output signals; and from quality assessment evaluation to the use of soft computing techniques for classification. Throughout the text, an effort is made to embrace a system view where the physical and technological aspects of sensing are addressed together with higher abstraction levels, such as signal and information processing. Consequently, the book aims at guiding the reader through the various tasks requested for developing a complete ultras...

  3. Nondestructive nuclear measurement in the fuel cycle. Part 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lyoussi, A.

    2005-01-01

    Nondestructive measurement techniques are today widely used in practically all steps of the fuel cycle. This article is devoted to the presentation of the control and characterization needs and to the main passive nondestructive nuclear methods used: 1 - nondestructive nuclear measurement, needs and motivation: nuclear fuel cycle, nondestructive nuclear measurements (passive and active methods), comments; 2 - main passive nondestructive nuclear measurement methods: gamma spectroscopy (principle, detectors, electronic systems, data acquisition and signal processing, domains of application, main limitations), passive neutronic measurements (needs and motivations, neutron detectors, total neutronic counting, neutronic coincidences counting, neutronic multiplicities counting, comments). (J.S.)

  4. Quality assurance of brazed copper plates through advanced ultrasonic NDE

    OpenAIRE

    Segreto, T.; Caggiano, A.; Teti, R.

    2016-01-01

    Ultrasonic non-destructive methods have demonstrated great potential for the detection of flaws in a material under examination. In particular, discontinuities produced by welding, brazing, and soldering are regularly inspected through ultrasonic techniques. In this paper, an advanced ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation technique is applied for the quality control of brazed copper cells in order to realize an accelerometer prototype for cancer proton therapy. The cells are composed of two h...

  5. Manufacturing technologies for ultrasonic transducers in a broad frequency range

    OpenAIRE

    Gebhardt, Sylvia; Hohlfeld, Kai; Günther, Paul; Neubert, Holger

    2018-01-01

    According to the application field, working frequency of ultrasonic transducers needs to be tailored to a certain value. Low frequency ultrasonic transducers with working frequencies of 1 kHz to 1 MHz are especially interesting for sonar applications, whereas high frequency ultrasonic transducers with working frequencies higher than 15 MHz are favorable for high-resolution imaging in biomedical and non-destructive evaluation. Conventional non-destructive testing devices and clinical ultrasoun...

  6. The non-destructive control, a major constituent of quality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1998-01-01

    The number of continuous research and development works about non-destructive control in all sectors of activity is justified by the increasing need for high quality materials without anomalies. This paper gives a overview of the state of the art and of the recent trends in non-destructive testing researches in different sectors: aeronautics, nuclear industry, automotive industry. New studies and techniques are presented: ultrasonic testing of welds on large diameter pipes, automated applications of ultrasonic testing, ultrasound/computer-aided design coupling, pressure vessels inspection using acoustic emission testing (leaks detection, application to composite materials), numerical radiography (image visualisation and processing), magnetic testing (steel damage detection using Barkhausen noise testing), 'shearography' (detection of the loss of thickness in pipes due to corrosion), X-ray tomography (density measurement of sintered steels, fluid flow calculations in automobile parts). (J.S.)

  7. Nondestructive testing of materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    NUKEM has transferred know-how from reactor technology to materials testing. The high and to a large extent new quality standards in the nuclear industry necessitate reliable measuring and testing equipment of the highest precision. Many of the tasks presented to us could not be solved with the equipment available on the market, for which reason we have developed our own measuring, testing and control systems. We have therefore acquired considerable experience in dealing with specific measuring, testing and control tasks and can handle even out-of-the-way problems that are submitted to us from a wide variety of fields. Our mechanical systems for the checking of close-tolerance gaps, the automatic determination of pellet dimensions and the measurement of absolute lengths and absolute velocities are in use in many different industrial fields. We have succeeded in solving unusual testing and sorting problems with the aid of automated surface testing equipment working on optical principles. Our main activities in the field of non-destructive testing have been concentrated on ultrasonic and eddy current testing and, of late, acoustic emission analysis. NUKEM ultrasonic systems are notable for their high defect detection rate and testing accuracy, combined with high testing speed. The equipment we supply includes ultrasonic rotary systems for the production testing of quality tubes, ultrasonic immersion systems for the final testing of reactor cladding tubes, weld testing equipment, and test equipment for the bonds in multi-layer plates. (orig./RW) [de

  8. Ultrasonic non-destructive testing of pieces of complex geometry with a flexible phased array transducer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chatillon; Cattiaux; Serre; Roy

    2000-03-01

    Ultrasonic non-destructive testing of components of complex geometry in the nuclear industry faces several difficulties: sensitivity variations due to unmatched contact, inaccurate localization of defects due to variations of transducer orientation, and uncovered area of the component. To improve the performances of such testing and defect characterization, we propose a new concept of ultrasonic contact phased array transducer. The phased array transducer has a flexible radiating surface able to fit the actual surface of the piece to optimize the contact and thus the sensitivity of the test. To control the transmitted field, and therefore to improve the defect characterization, a delay law optimizing algorithm is developed. To assess the capability of such a transducer, the Champ-Sons model, developed at the French Atomic Energy Commission for predicting field radiated by arbitrary transducers into pieces, has to be extended to sources directly in contact with pieces of complex geometry. The good behavior of this new type of probe predicted by computations is experimentally validated with a jointed transducer positioned on pieces of various profiles.

  9. Review of progress in quantitative nondestructive evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thompson, D.O.; Chimenti, D.E.

    1983-01-01

    A comprehensive review of the current state of quantitative nondestructive evaluation (NDE), this volume brings together papers by researchers working in government, private industry, and university laboratories. Their papers cover a wide range of interests and concerns for researchers involved in theoretical and applied aspects of quantitative NDE. Specific topics examined include reliability probability of detection--ultrasonics and eddy currents weldments closure effects in fatigue cracks technology transfer ultrasonic scattering theory acoustic emission ultrasonic scattering, reliability and penetrating radiation metal matrix composites ultrasonic scattering from near-surface flaws ultrasonic multiple scattering

  10. Timelapse ultrasonic tomography for measuring damage localization in geomechanics laboratory tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tudisco, Erika; Roux, Philippe; Hall, Stephen A; Viggiani, Giulia M B; Viggiani, Gioacchino

    2015-03-01

    Variation of mechanical properties in materials can be detected non-destructively using ultrasonic measurements. In particular, changes in elastic wave velocity can occur due to damage, i.e., micro-cracking and particles debonding. Here the challenge of characterizing damage in geomaterials, i.e., rocks and soils, is addressed. Geomaterials are naturally heterogeneous media in which the deformation can localize, so that few measurements of acoustic velocity across the sample are not sufficient to capture the heterogeneities. Therefore, an ultrasonic tomography procedure has been implemented to map the spatial and temporal variations in propagation velocity, which provides information on the damage process. Moreover, double beamforming has been successfully applied to identify and isolate multiple arrivals that are caused by strong heterogeneities (natural or induced by the deformation process). The applicability of the developed experimental technique to laboratory geomechanics testing is illustrated using data acquired on a sample of natural rock before and after being deformed under triaxial compression. The approach is then validated and extended to time-lapse monitoring using data acquired during plane strain compression of a sample including a well defined layer with different mechanical properties than the matrix.

  11. High-resolution ultrasonic spectroscopy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. Buckin

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available High-resolution ultrasonic spectroscopy (HR-US is an analytical technique for direct and non-destructive monitoring of molecular and micro-structural transformations in liquids and semi-solid materials. It is based on precision measurements of ultrasonic velocity and attenuation in analysed samples. The application areas of HR-US in research, product development, and quality and process control include analysis of conformational transitions of polymers, ligand binding, molecular self-assembly and aggregation, crystallisation, gelation, characterisation of phase transitions and phase diagrams, and monitoring of chemical and biochemical reactions. The technique does not require optical markers or optical transparency. The HR-US measurements can be performed in small sample volumes (down to droplet size, over broad temperature range, at ambient and elevated pressures, and in various measuring regimes such as automatic temperature ramps, titrations and measurements in flow.

  12. Nondestructive testing for bridge diagnosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oshima, Toshiyuki; Mikami, Shuichi; Yamazaki, Tomoyuki

    1997-01-01

    There are many motivations for bridge diagnosis using Nondestructive testing (NDT) to monitor its integrity. The measured frequency and damping on real bridge are compared in one figure as a function of span length and general aspects are explained. These date were measured in every construction of bridges and applied to design new bridges. Ultrasonic testing is also well used for concrete and steel members mainly to detect internal damages or delaminations. Detail analysis on reflected waves gives us more accurate information about the defect. Experimental results are shown as examples in this paper.

  13. Finite element simulation and experimental verification of ultrasonic non-destructive inspection of defects in additively manufactured materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taheri, H.; Koester, L.; Bigelow, T.; Bond, L. J.

    2018-04-01

    Industrial applications of additively manufactured components are increasing quickly. Adequate quality control of the parts is necessary in ensuring safety when using these materials. Base material properties, surface conditions, as well as location and size of defects are some of the main targets for nondestructive evaluation of additively manufactured parts, and the problem of adequate characterization is compounded given the challenges of complex part geometry. Numerical modeling can allow the interplay of the various factors to be studied, which can lead to improved measurement design. This paper presents a finite element simulation verified by experimental results of ultrasonic waves scattering from flat bottom holes (FBH) in additive manufacturing materials. A focused beam immersion ultrasound transducer was used for both the modeling and simulations in the additive manufactured samples. The samples were SS17 4 PH steel samples made by laser sintering in a powder bed.

  14. Advanced non-destructive methods for an efficient service performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rauschenbach, H.; Clossen-von Lanken Schulz, M.; Oberlin, R.

    2015-01-01

    Due to the power generation industry's desire to decrease outage time and extend inspection intervals for highly stressed turbine parts, advanced and reliable Non-destructive methods were developed by Siemens Non-destructive laboratory. Effective outage performance requires the optimized planning of all outage activities as well as modern Non-destructive examination methods, in order to examine the highly stressed components (turbine rotor, casings, valves, generator rotor) reliably and in short periods of access. This paper describes the experience of Siemens Energy with an ultrasonic Phased Array inspection technique for the inspection of radial entry pinned turbine blade roots. The developed inspection technique allows the ultrasonic inspection of steam turbine blades without blade removal. Furthermore advanced Non-destructive examination methods for joint bolts will be described, which offer a significant reduction of outage duration in comparison to conventional inspection techniques. (authors)

  15. An ultrasonic methodology to non-destructively estimate the grain orientation in an anisotropic weld

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wirdelius Håkan

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The initial step towards a non-destructive technique that estimates grain orientation in an anisotropic weld is presented in this paper. The purpose is to aid future forward simulations of ultrasonic NDT of this kind of weld to achieve a better result. A forward model that consists of a weld model, a transmitter model, a receiver model and a 2D ray tracing algorithm is introduced. An inversion based on a multi-objective genetic algorithm is also presented. Experiments are conducted for both P and SV waves in order to collect enough data used in the inversion. Calculation is conducted to fulfil the estimation with both the synthetic data and the experimental data. Concluding remarks are presented at the end of the paper.

  16. Local defect resonance for sensitive non-destructive testing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adebahr, W.; Solodov, I.; Rahammer, M.; Gulnizkij, N.; Kreutzbruck, M.

    2016-02-01

    Ultrasonic wave-defect interaction is a background of ultrasound activated techniques for imaging and non-destructive testing (NDT) of materials and industrial components. The interaction, primarily, results in acoustic response of a defect which provides attenuation and scattering of ultrasound used as an indicator of defects in conventional ultrasonic NDT. The derivative ultrasonic-induced effects include e.g. nonlinear, thermal, acousto-optic, etc. responses also applied for NDT and defect imaging. These secondary effects are normally relatively inefficient so that the corresponding NDT techniques require an elevated acoustic power and stand out from conventional ultrasonic NDT counterparts for their specific instrumentation particularly adapted to high-power ultrasonic. In this paper, a consistent way to enhance ultrasonic, optical and thermal defect responses and thus to reduce an ultrasonic power required is suggested by using selective ultrasonic activation of defects based on the concept of local defect resonance (LDR). A strong increase in vibration amplitude at LDR enables to reliably detect and visualize the defect as soon as the driving ultrasonic frequency is matched to the LDR frequency. This also provides a high frequency selectivity of the LDR-based imaging, i.e. an opportunity of detecting a certain defect among a multitude of other defects in material. Some examples are shown how to use LDR in non-destructive testing techniques, like vibrometry, ultrasonic thermography and shearography in order to enhance the sensitivity of defect visualization.

  17. Uncertainty estimation of ultrasonic thickness measurement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yassir Yassen, Abdul Razak Daud; Mohammad Pauzi Ismail; Abdul Aziz Jemain

    2009-01-01

    The most important factor that should be taken into consideration when selecting ultrasonic thickness measurement technique is its reliability. Only when the uncertainty of a measurement results is known, it may be judged if the result is adequate for intended purpose. The objective of this study is to model the ultrasonic thickness measurement function, to identify the most contributing input uncertainty components, and to estimate the uncertainty of the ultrasonic thickness measurement results. We assumed that there are five error sources significantly contribute to the final error, these sources are calibration velocity, transit time, zero offset, measurement repeatability and resolution, by applying the propagation of uncertainty law to the model function, a combined uncertainty of the ultrasonic thickness measurement was obtained. In this study the modeling function of ultrasonic thickness measurement was derived. By using this model the estimation of the uncertainty of the final output result was found to be reliable. It was also found that the most contributing input uncertainty components are calibration velocity, transit time linearity and zero offset. (author)

  18. Nondestructive assay measurements applied to reprocessing plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ruhter, Wayne D.; Lee, R. Stephen; Ottmar, Herbert; Guardini, Sergio

    1999-01-01

    Nondestructive assay for reprocessing plants relies on passive gamma-ray spectrometry for plutonium isotopic and plutonium mass values of medium-to-low-density samples and holdup deposits; on active x-ray fluorescence and densitometry techniques for uranium and plutonium concentrations in solutions; on calorimetry for plutonium mass in product; and passive neutron techniques for plutonium mass in spent fuel, product, and waste. This paper will describe the radiation-based nondestructive assay techniques used to perform materials accounting measurements. The paper will also discuss nondestructive assay measurements used in inspections of reprocessing plants [ru

  19. Ultrasonic non-destructive testing on CFC monoblock divertor mock-up

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ezato, K.; Taniguchi, M.; Sato, K.; Araki, M.; Akiba, M.

    2001-01-01

    Non-destructive ultrasonic testing has been applied for the characterization of joints by means of a polymer transducer. One of the advantages of the polymer transducer is flexibility in its shape and the possibility to install multiple transducers in one probe, which can reduce the time for inspection. As a first step, the size effect of the transducer on the resolution and sensitivity was examined to detect the joint flaw. Transducers with circumferential angles of 5 , 10 and 30 were tested. For this test a small divertor element with a driller hole was prepared, which simulates a joint defect. The transducers with angles of 30 could not characterize the size of the artificial joint flaw. On the contrary, the size of the artificial defect was successfully detected with an accuracy of 90% by means of the transducers with angles of 5 and 10 . From the viewpoint of the sensitivity of the detection of the joint flaw, the transducer with the angle of 10 is appropriate because it could detect the largest intensity of the reflected signal caused by the same artificial defect of the joint interface. (orig.)

  20. Pattern recognition approach to nondestructive evaluation of materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, C.H.

    1987-01-01

    In this paper, a pattern recognition approach to the ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation of materials is examined. Emphasis is placed on identifying effective features from time and frequency domains, correlation functions and impulse responses to classify aluminum plate specimens into three major defect geometry categories: flat, angular cut and circular hole defects. A multi-stage classification procedure is developed which can further determine the angles and sizes for defect characterization and classification. The research clearly demonstrates that the pattern recognition approach can significantly improve the nondestructive material evaluation capability of the ultrasonic methods without resorting to the solution of highly complex mathematical inverse problems

  1. Studies in nondestructive testing with potential for in-service inspection of LMFBRs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McClung, R.W.

    1976-01-01

    A variety of nondestructive examination techniques have been and are being developed at ORNL with potential for ISI in LMFBRs. Among these are radiographic techniques for radiation environment and image enhancement, advanced eddy-current techniques and equipment for flaw detection and thickness measurement and ISI of steam generator tubing, and ultrasonic methods for quantitative flaw evaluation using frequency-analysis and bore-side ultrasonic techniques for steam generator tubing. Further developments should result in positive application to ISI

  2. Non-destructive Inspection of Multi-layered Composite Using Ultrasonic Signal Processing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ng, S C; Ismail, N; Ali, Aidy; Sahari, Barkawi; Yusof, J M; Chu, B W

    2011-01-01

    Composites exhibit higher strength and stiffness, better design practice and greater corrosion resistance compare to metal material. However, composites are susceptible to impact damage and the typical damage behaviour in the laminated composites is fibre-breakage and delamination. Detection of failure in laminated composites is complicated compared with ordinary non-destructive testing for metal materials as they are sensitive to echoes drown in noise due to the properties of the constituent materials and the multi-layered structure of the composites. In the current study, the detection of failure in multi-layered composite materials is investigated. To obtain a high probability of defect detection in composite materials, signal processing algorithms were used to resolve echoes associated with defects in glass fibre-reinforced plastics (GRP) detected by using ultrasonic testing. Pulse-echo method with single transducer was used to transmit and receive ultrasound. The obtained signals were processed to reduce noise and to extract suitable features. Results were validated on GRP with and without defects in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the method on defect detection in composites.

  3. Nondestructive testing of thin films using surface acoustic waves and laser ultrasonics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenot, Frédéric; Fourez, Sabrina; Ouaftouh, Mohammadi; Duquennoy, Marc

    2018-04-01

    Thin films are widely used in many fields such as electronics, optics or materials science. For example, they find applications in thermal or mechanical sensors design. They are also very useful as protective or reinforcement layers for many structures. However, some coating defects such as thickness variations, microfissuring or poor adhesion are common problems. Therefore, nondestructive testing of these structures using acoustic waves generated and detected by lasers represents a major interest. Indeed, in comparison with conventional methods based on the use of piezoelectric transducers, laser ultrasonics leads to non-contact investigations with a large bandwidth. Usually, bulk acoustic waves are used and a pulse-echo technique is considered that needs high frequencies and implies local measurements. In order to avoid this limitation, we propose to use surface acoustic waves in a frequency range up to 45 MHz. The samples consist of a micrometric gold layer deposited on silicon substrates. In a first part, using dispersion analysis, theoretical and experimental results clearly reveal that the first Rayleigh mode allows the detection of film thickness variations and open cracks. In a second part, a localized adhesion defect is introduced in a similar sample. The effects of such a flaw on the Rayleigh modes dispersion curves are theoretically described. Finally, we experimentally show that the first Rayleigh mode allows the defect detection only under specific conditions.

  4. Ultrasonic Tomography Imaging for Liquid-Gas Flow Measurement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Jaysuman PUSPPANATHAN

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This research was carried out to measure two-phase liquid – gas flow regime by using a dual functionality ultrasonic transducer. Comparing to the common separated transmitter–receiver ultrasonic pairs transducer, the dual functionality ultrasonic transceiver is capable to produce the same measurable results hence further improvises and contributes to the hardware design improvement and system accuracy. Due to the disadvantages and the limitations of the separated ultrasonic transmitter–receiver pair, this paper presents a non-invasive ultrasonic tomography system using ultrasonic transceivers as an alternative approach. Implementation of ultrasonic transceivers, electronic measurement circuits, data acquisition system and suitable image reconstruction algorithms, the measurement of a liquid/gas flow was realized.

  5. Study of the simulation of working of ultrasonic equipment in order to optimize the nondestructive control conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drai, R.

    1986-01-01

    The aim of this study is, for the long run, to define one or several procedures of ultrasonic nondestructive testing, allowing the use of the equipment, at their best conditions. In this work, the behaviour of the testing system is simulated. The water bounded by a reflector plane is taken as a propagation medium. The testing equipment is considered as a system composed by a set of sub-systems (generator, cable, transducers and reception amplifier). Each of these sub-systems is modelled by its respective transfer functions. Thus, an experimental procedure for measuring sub-system characteristics is given in order to calculate the different transfer functions. With this model, we have the possibility to obtain, by calculation, all signals given by testing system for any combination of these parameters: damping, attenuation, cable length... So, it is possible to establish prior to the test, the adequate conditions for the testing system (high sensitivity, good resolution or good compromise between both)

  6. Nondestructive characterization of embrittlement in reactor pressure vessel steels -- A feasibility study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McHenry, H.I.; Alers, G.A.

    1998-01-01

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently initiated a study by NIST to assess the feasibility of using physical-property measurements for evaluating radiation embrittlement in reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels. Ultrasonic and magnetic measurements provide the most promising approaches for nondestructive characterization of RPV steels because elastic waves and magnetic fields can sense the microstructural changes that embrittle materials. The microstructural changes of particular interest are copper precipitation hardening, which is the likely cause of radiation embrittlement in RPV steels, and the loss of dislocation mobility that is an attribute of the ductile-to-brittle transition. Measurements were made on a 1% copper steel, ASTM grade A710, in the annealed, peak-aged and overaged conditions, and on an RPV steel, ASTM grade A533B. Nonlinear ultrasonic and micromagnetic techniques were the most promising measures of precipitation hardening. Ultrasonic velocity measurements and the magnetic properties associated with hysteresis-loop measurements were not particularly sensitive to either precipitation hardening or the ductile-to-brittle transition. Measurements of internal friction using trapped ultrasonic resonance modes detected energy losses due to the motion of pinned dislocations; however, the ultrasonic attenuation associated with these measurements was small compared to the attenuation caused by beam spreading that would occur in conventional ultrasonic testing of RPVs

  7. Improvement of Ultrasonic Distance Measuring System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiang Yu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper mainly introduces a kind of ultrasonic distance measuring system with AT89C51 single chip as the core component. The paper expounds the principle of ultrasonic sensor and ultrasonic ranging, hardware circuit and software program, and the results of experiment and analysis.The hardware circuit based on SCM, the software design adopts the advanced microcontroller programming language.The amplitude of the received signal and the time of ultrasonic propagation are regulated by closed loop control. [1,2]The double closed loop control technology for amplitude and time improves the measuring accuracy of the instrument. The experimental results show that greatly improves the measurement accuracy of the system.

  8. Ultrasonic Technique for Predicting Grittiness of Salted Duck Egg

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erawan, S.; Budiastra, I. W.; Subrata, I. D. M.

    2018-05-01

    Grittiness of egg yolk is a major factor in consumer acceptance of salted duck egg product. Commonly, the grittiness level is determined by the destructive method. Salted egg industries need a grading system that can judge the grittiness accurately and nondestructively. The purpose of this study was to develop a method for determining grittiness of salted duck eggs nondestructively based on ultrasonic method. This study used 100 samples of salted duck eggs with 7,10,14 and 21 days of salting age. Velocity and attenuation were measured by an ultrasonic system at frequency 50 kHz, followed by physicochemical properties measurement (hardness of egg yolks and salt content), and organoleptic test. Ultrasonic wave velocity in salted duck eggs ranged from 620.6 m/s to 1334.6 m/s, while the coefficient of attenuation value ranged from – 0.76 dB/m to -0.51 dB/m. Yolk hardness was 2.68 N at 7 days to 5.54 N at 21 days of salting age. Salt content was 1.81 % at 7 days to 5.71 % at 21 days of salting age. Highest scores of organoleptic tests on salted duck eggs were 4.23 and 4.18 for 10 and 14 days of salting age, respectively. Discriminant function using ultrasonic velocity variables in minor and major diameter could predict grittiness with 95 % accuracy.

  9. Geometrical Feature Extraction from Ultrasonic Time Frequency Responses: An Application to Nondestructive Testing of Materials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naranjo Valery

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Signal processing is an essential tool in nondestructive material characterization. Pulse-echo inspection with ultrasonic energy provides signals (A-scans that can be processed in order to obtain parameters which are related to physical properties of inspected materials. Conventional techniques are based on the use of a short-term frequency analysis of the A-scan, obtaining a time-frequency response (TFR, to isolate the evolution of the different frequency-dependent parameters. The application of geometrical estimators to TFRs provides an innovative way to complement conventional techniques based on the one-dimensional evolution of an A-scan extracted parameter (central or centroid frequency, bandwidth, etc.. This technique also provides an alternative method of obtaining similar meaning and less variance estimators. A comparative study of conventional versus new proposed techniques is presented in this paper. The comparative study shows that working with binarized TFRs and the use of shape descriptors provide estimates with lower bias and variance than conventional techniques. Real scattering materials, with different scatterer sizes, have been measured in order to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed estimators to distinguish among scattering soft tissues. Superior results, using the proposed estimators in real measures, were obtained when classifying according to mean scatterer size.

  10. Nondestructive nuclear measurement in the fuel cycle. Part 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lyoussi, A.

    2005-01-01

    Nondestructive measurement techniques are today widely used in practically all steps of the fuel cycle. This article is devoted to the presentation of the control and characterization needs and to the main active nondestructive nuclear methods used: 1 - main active nondestructive nuclear measurement methods: active neutronic measurement (needs and motivations, physical principle, measurement of delayed neutrons following a continuous irradiation, measurement of prompt neutrons (differential die-away technique - DDT), measurement of prompt and delayed neutrons (Sphincs method), neutronic method coupled to gamma spectroscopy), measurement by induced photo-fissions (needs and motivations, physical principle); 2 - conclusion. (J.S.)

  11. Ultrasonic testing of a sealing construction made of salt concrete in an underground disposal facility for radioactive waste

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Krause, Martin; Effner, Ute Antonie; Milmann, Boris; Voelker, Christoph; Wiggenhauser, Herbert [Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Berlin (Germany); Mauke, Ralf [The Federal Office for Radiation Protection, Salzgitter (Germany)

    2015-07-01

    For the closure of radioactive waste disposal facilities engineered barriers- so called ''drift seals'' are used. The purpose of these barriers is to constrain the possible infiltration of brine and to prevent the migration of radionuclides into the biosphere. In a rock salt mine a large scale in-situ experiment of a sealing construction made of salt concrete was set up to prove the technical feasibility and operability of such barriers. In order to investigate the integrity of this structure, non-destructive ultrasonic measurements were carried out. Therefore two different methods were applied at the front side of the test-barrier: 1 Reflection measurements from boreholes 2 Ultrasonic imaging by means of scanning ultrasonic echo methods This extended abstract is a short version of an article to be published in a special edition of ASCE Journal that will briefly describe the sealing construction, the application of the non-destructive ultrasonic measurement methods and their adaptation to the onsite conditions -as well as parts of the obtained results. From this a concept for the systematic investigation of possible contribution of ultrasonic methods for quality assurance of sealing structures may be deduced.

  12. The role of ultrasonic velocity and Schmidt hammer hardness - The simple and economical non-destructive test for the evaluation of mechanical properties of weathered granite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jobli, Ahmad Fadzil; Hampden, Ahmad Zaidi; Tawie, Rudy

    2017-08-01

    One of the most significant techniques for evaluation of rock strength is by using the simple and economical non-destructive test (NDT). Previous literatures confirm that there were good correlations between NDTs to the strength properties of granite rocks. The present work deals with the use of Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity and Schmidt Hammer Hardness test to predict the mechanical properties of weathered granite. Cylindrical specimens with the length to diameter ratio of two were prepared for this study and were characterized based on different weathering states. Each of the rock specimens was tested under non-destructive test and then followed by uniaxial compression test to assess the mechanical properties. It was found that good correlations established between the NDTs and the uniaxial compressive strength. The correlation between uniaxial compressive strength and rebound hardness number was demonstrated by exponential form; UCS = 6.31e0.057N, while linear correlations was obtained between the uniaxial compressive strength and the ultrasonic pulse velocity; UCS = 0.023Vp - 21.43. It was also noticed that the increase of uniaxial compression strength was parallel to the increase of elastic modulus and can be presented by a linear equation; UCS = 1.039Et50 + 4.252. Based on the reported results, it is clear that the mechanical properties or weathered granite can be estimated by means of non-destructive test.

  13. Annual meeting 1996 'Nondestructive materials testing'. German, Austrian and Swiss nondestructive materials testing standards as mirrored by international standardization. Vol. 1. Lectures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-01-01

    The volume contains 45 lectures which were given at the annual meeting of the German Society for Nondestructive Testing on May 13-15, 1996 at Lindau. The main subjects were: Standardization of nondestructive testing, irradiation testing, ultrasonic testing and electromagnetic processes. 13 individual articles were included in the ENERGY database. (MM) [de

  14. Annual meeting 1996 'Nondestructive material testing'. German, Austrian and Swiss nondestructive materials testing standards as mirrored by international standardization. Vol. 2. Posters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-01-01

    The volume contains 49 poster articles which were presented at the Annual Meeting of the German Society for Nondestructive Testing at Lindau on May 13-15, 1996. The main subjects were: Standardization of nondestructive testing, irradiation testing, ultrasonic testing and electromagnetic processes. 16 individual articles were included in the ENERGY databank. (MM) [de

  15. Ultrasonic monitoring of Iberian fat crystallization during cold storage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Corona, E; García-Pérez, J V; Santacatalina, J V; Peña, R; Benedito, J

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this work was to evaluate the use of ultrasonic measurements to characterize the crystallization process and to assess the textural changes of Iberian fat and Iberian ham during cold storage. The ultrasonic velocity was measured in two types of Iberian fats (Montanera and Cebo) during cold storage (0, 2, 5, 7 and 10 °C) and in vacuum packaged Iberian ham stored at 6°C for 120 days. The fatty acid profile, thermal behaviour and textural properties of fat were determined. The ultrasonic velocity and textural measurements showed a two step increase during cold storage, which was related with the separate crystallization of two fractions of triglycerides. It was observed that the harder the fat, the higher the ultrasonic velocity. Likewise, Cebo fat resulted harder than Montanera due to a higher content of saturated triglycerides. The ultrasonic velocity in Iberian ham showed an average increase of 55 m/s after 120 days of cold storage due to fat crystallization. Thus, non-destructive ultrasonic technique could be a reliable method to follow the crystallization of fats and to monitor the changes in the textural properties of Iberian ham during cold storage.

  16. A robust approach to optimal matched filter design in ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation (NDE)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Minghui; Hayward, Gordon

    2017-02-01

    The matched filter was demonstrated to be a powerful yet efficient technique to enhance defect detection and imaging in ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of coarse grain materials, provided that the filter was properly designed and optimized. In the literature, in order to accurately approximate the defect echoes, the design utilized the real excitation signals, which made it time consuming and less straightforward to implement in practice. In this paper, we present a more robust and flexible approach to optimal matched filter design using the simulated excitation signals, and the control parameters are chosen and optimized based on the real scenario of array transducer, transmitter-receiver system response, and the test sample, as a result, the filter response is optimized and depends on the material characteristics. Experiments on industrial samples are conducted and the results confirm the great benefits of the method.

  17. Nondestructive testing at the CEA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Colomer, J.; Lucas, G.

    1976-01-01

    The different nondestructive testing methods used at the CEA are presented: X-ray or gamma radiography, X-ray stress analysis, neutron radiography, ultrasonic testing, eddy currents, electrical testing, microwaves, thermal testing, acoustic emission, optical holography, tracer techniques. (102 references are cited) [fr

  18. Mid-infrared pulsed laser ultrasonic testing for carbon fiber reinforced plastics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kusano, Masahiro; Hatano, Hideki; Watanabe, Makoto; Takekawa, Shunji; Yamawaki, Hisashi; Oguchi, Kanae; Enoki, Manabu

    2018-03-01

    Laser ultrasonic testing (LUT) can realize contactless and instantaneous non-destructive testing, but its signal-to-noise ratio must be improved in order to measure carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs). We have developed a mid-infrared (mid-IR) laser source optimal for generating ultrasonic waves in CFRPs by using a wavelength conversion device based on an optical parametric oscillator. This paper reports a comparison of the ultrasonic generation behavior between the mid-IR laser and the Nd:YAG laser. The mid-IR laser generated a significantly larger ultrasonic amplitude in CFRP laminates than a conventional Nd:YAG laser. In addition, our study revealed that the surface epoxy matrix of CFRPs plays an important role in laser ultrasonic generation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Feasibility of ultrasonic and eddy current methods for measurement of residual stress in shot peened metals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lavrentyev, Anton I.; Stucky, Paul A.; Veronesi, William A.

    2000-01-01

    Shot peening is a well-known method for extending the fatigue life of metal components by introducing compressive residual stresses near their surfaces. The capability to nondestructively evaluate the near surface residual stress would greatly aid the assurance of proper fatigue life in shot-peened components. This paper presents preliminary results from a feasibility study examining the use of ultrasonic and eddy current NDE methods for residual stress measurement in components where the stress has been introduced by shot peening. With an ultrasonic method, a variation of ultrasonic surface wave speed with shot peening intensity was measured. Near surface conductivity was measured by eddy current methods. Since the effective penetration depth of both methods employed is inversely related to the excitation frequency, by making measurements at different frequencies, each method has the potential to provide the stress-depth profile. Experiments were conducted on aluminum specimens (alloy 7075-T7351) peened within the Almen peening intensity range of 4C to 16C. The experimental results obtained demonstrate a correlation between peening intensity and Rayleigh wave velocity and between peening intensity and conductivity. The data suggests either of the methods may be suitable, with limitations, for detecting unsatisfactory levels of shot peening. Several factors were found to contribute to the measured responses: surface roughness, near surface plastic deformation (cold work) and residual stress. The contribution of each factor was studied experimentally. The feasibility of residual stress determination from the measured data is discussed

  20. Characterization of nuclear graphite elastic properties using laser ultrasonic methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Fan W.; Han, Karen; Olasov, Lauren R.; Gallego, Nidia C.; Contescu, Cristian I.; Spicer, James B.

    2015-05-01

    Laser ultrasonic methods have been used to characterize the elastic behaviors of commercially-available and legacy nuclear graphites. Since ultrasonic techniques are sensitive to various aspects of graphite microstructure including preferred grain orientation, microcrack orientation and porosity, laser ultrasonics is a candidate technique for monitoring graphite degradation and structural integrity in environments expected in high-temperature, gas-cooled nuclear reactors. Aspects of materials texture can be assessed by studying ultrasonic wavespeeds as a function of propagation direction and polarization. Shear wave birefringence measurements, in particular, can be used to evaluate elastic anisotropy. In this work, laser ultrasonic measurements of graphite moduli have been made to provide insight into the relationship between the microstructures and the macroscopic stiffnesses of these materials. In particular, laser ultrasonic measurements have been made using laser line sources to produce shear waves with specific polarizations. By varying the line orientation relative to the sample, shear wave birefringence measurements have been recorded. Results from shear wave birefringence measurements show that an isostatically molded graphite, such as PCIB, behaves isotropically, while an extruded graphite, such as H-451, displays significant ultrasonic texture. Graphites have complicated microstructures that depend on the manufacturing processes used, and ultrasonic texture in these materials could originate from grain orientation and preferred microcrack alignment. Effects on material isotropy due to service related microstructural changes are possible and the ultimate aim of this work is to determine the degree to which these changes can be assessed nondestructively using laser ultrasonics measurements.

  1. Ultrasonic flow measurements for irrigation process monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziani, Elmostafa; Bennouna, Mustapha; Boissier, Raymond

    2004-02-01

    This paper presents the state of the art of the general principle of liquid flow measurements by ultrasonic method, and problems of flow measurements. We present an ultrasonic flowmeter designed according to smart sensors concept, for the measurement of irrigation water flowing through pipelines or open channels, using the ultrasonic transit time approach. The new flowmeter works on the principle of measuring time delay differences between sound pulses transmitted upstream and downstream in the flowing liquid. The speed of sound in the flowing medium is eliminated as a variable because the flowrate calculations are based on the reciprocals of the transmission times. The transit time difference is digitally measured by means of a suitable, microprocessor controlled logic. This type of ultrasonic flowmeter will be widely used in industry and water management, it is well studied in this work, followed by some experimental results. For pressurized channels, we use one pair of ultrasonic transducer arranged in proper positions and directions of the pipe, in this case, to determine the liquid velocity, a real time on-line analysis taking account the geometries of the hydraulic system, is applied to the obtained ultrasonic data. In the open channels, we use a single or two pairs of ultrasonic emitter-receiver according to the desired performances. Finally, the goals of this work consist in integrating the smart sensor into irrigation systems monitoring in order to evaluate potential advantages and demonstrate their performance, on the other hand, to understand and use ultrasonic approach for determining flow characteristics and improving flow measurements by reducing errors caused by disturbances of the flow profiles.

  2. Recent improvements concerning nondestructive testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asty, M.

    1984-12-01

    Rare are the techniques of which development is not already touched by microelectronics and micro-data processing. Nondestructive testing and more particularly ultrasonic and Foucault current testing follow this general rule. With some examples, this paper focuses on the potential of numerical signal processing [fr

  3. Benefits of the Multiple Echo Technique for Ultrasonic Thickness Testing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Elder, J.; Vandekamp, R.

    2011-02-10

    Much effort has been put into determining methods to make accurate thickness measurements, especially at elevated temperatures. An accuracy of +/- 0.001 inches is typically noted for commercial ultrasonic thickness gauges and ultrasonic thickness techniques. Codes and standards put limitations on many inspection factors including equipment, calibration tolerance and temperature variations. These factors are important and should be controlled, but unfortunately do not guarantee accurate and repeatable measurements in the field. Most technicians long for a single technique that is best for every situation, unfortunately, there are no 'silver bullets' when it comes to nondestructive testing. This paper will describe and discuss some of the major contributors to measurement error as well as some advantages and limitations of multiple echo techniques and why multiple echo techniques should be more widely utilized for ultrasonic thickness measurements.

  4. Interrelation of material microstructure, ultrasonic factors, and fracture toughness of two phase titanium alloy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vary, A.; Hull, D. R.

    1982-01-01

    The pivotal role of an alpha-beta phase microstructure in governing fracture toughness in a titanium alloy, Ti-662, is demonstrated. The interrelation of microstructure and fracture toughness is demonstrated using ultrasonic measurement techniques originally developed for nondestructive evaluation and material property characterization. It is shown that the findings determined from ultrasonic measurements agree with conclusions based on metallurgical, metallographic, and fractographic observations concerning the importance of alpha-beta morphology in controlling fracture toughness in two phase titanium alloys.

  5. Assessment and Calibration of Ultrasonic Measurement Errors in Estimating Weathering Index of Stone Cultural Heritage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Y.; Keehm, Y.

    2011-12-01

    Estimating the degree of weathering in stone cultural heritage, such as pagodas and statues is very important to plan conservation and restoration. The ultrasonic measurement is one of commonly-used techniques to evaluate weathering index of stone cultual properties, since it is easy to use and non-destructive. Typically we use a portable ultrasonic device, PUNDIT with exponential sensors. However, there are many factors to cause errors in measurements such as operators, sensor layouts or measurement directions. In this study, we carried out variety of measurements with different operators (male and female), different sensor layouts (direct and indirect), and sensor directions (anisotropy). For operators bias, we found that there were not significant differences by the operator's sex, while the pressure an operator exerts can create larger error in measurements. Calibrating with a standard sample for each operator is very essential in this case. For the sensor layout, we found that the indirect measurement (commonly used for cultural properties, since the direct measurement is difficult in most cases) gives lower velocity than the real one. We found that the correction coefficient is slightly different for different types of rocks: 1.50 for granite and sandstone and 1.46 for marble. From the sensor directions, we found that many rocks have slight anisotropy in their ultrasonic velocity measurement, though they are considered isotropic in macroscopic scale. Thus averaging four different directional measurement (0°, 45°, 90°, 135°) gives much less errors in measurements (the variance is 2-3 times smaller). In conclusion, we reported the error in ultrasonic meaurement of stone cultural properties by various sources quantitatively and suggested the amount of correction and procedures to calibrate the measurements. Acknowledgement: This study, which forms a part of the project, has been achieved with the support of national R&D project, which has been hosted by

  6. In-Situ Characterization of Isotropic and Transversely Isotropic Elastic Properties Using Ultrasonic Wave Velocities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pant, S; Laliberte, J; Martinez, M.J.; Rocha, B.

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, a one-sided, in situ method based on the time of flight measurement of ultrasonic waves was described. The primary application of this technique was to non-destructively measure the stiffness properties of isotropic and transversely isotropic materials. The method consists of

  7. Ultrasonic and radiographic evaluation of advanced aerospace materials: Ceramic composites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Generazio, Edward R.

    1990-01-01

    Two conventional nondestructive evaluation techniques were used to evaluate advanced ceramic composite materials. It was shown that neither ultrasonic C-scan nor radiographic imaging can individually provide sufficient data for an accurate nondestructive evaluation. Both ultrasonic C-scan and conventional radiographic imaging are required for preliminary evaluation of these complex systems. The material variations that were identified by these two techniques are porosity, delaminations, bond quality between laminae, fiber alignment, fiber registration, fiber parallelism, and processing density flaws. The degree of bonding between fiber and matrix cannot be determined by either of these methods. An alternative ultrasonic technique, angular power spectrum scanning (APSS) is recommended for quantification of this interfacial bond.

  8. Nondestructive characterization of hydrogen concentration in zircaloy cladding tubes with laser ultrasound technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Che Hua; Lai, Yu An

    2006-01-01

    This paper describes a laser ultrasound technique (LUT) for nondestructive characterization of hydrogen concentration (HC) in Zircaloy cladding tubes. With the LUT, guided ultrasonic waves are generated remotely and then propagate in the axial direction of Zircaloy tubes, and finally detected remotely by an optical probe. By measuring the dispersion spectra with the LUT, relations between the dispersion spectra and the HC of the Zircaloy tubes can be established. The LUT is non-contact, capable of remote inspection, and therefore suitable for nondestructive inspection of HC in Zircaloy cladding tubes used in nuclear power plant.

  9. Ultrasonic Transducer Peak-to-Peak Optical Measurement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavel Skarvada

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Possible optical setups for measurement of the peak-to-peak value of an ultrasonic transducer are described in this work. The Michelson interferometer with the calibrated nanopositioner in reference path and laser Doppler vibrometer were used for the basic measurement of vibration displacement. Langevin type of ultrasonic transducer is used for the purposes of Electro-Ultrasonic Nonlinear Spectroscopy (EUNS. Parameters of produced mechanical vibration have to been well known for EUNS. Moreover, a monitoring of mechanical vibration frequency shift with a mass load and sample-transducer coupling is important for EUNS measurement.

  10. Advanced ultrasonic technology for natural gas measurement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2011-11-15

    In recent years, due to rising environmental and safety concerns, increasing commodity prices, and operational inefficiencies, a paradigm shift has been taking place with respect to gas measurement. The price of natural gas depends on the location, time of the year, and type of consumer. There is wide uncertainty associated with an orifice meter. This paper presents the use of advanced ultrasonic technology for the measurement of natural gas. For many years, multi-path ultrasonic meters with intelligent sensor technology have been used for gas measurement. This paper gives the various applications of ultrasonic technology along with their advantages and a draws a comparison with orifice meters. From the study it can be concluded that extensive advances in the use of ultrasonic technology for gas measurement have widened the areas of application and that varying frequencies combined with sealed transducer designs make it possible to measure atmospheric and sour gas in custody transfer process control and flaring accurately.

  11. Thermal shock resistance of ceramic fibre composites characterized by non-destructive methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Dimitrijević

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Alumina based ceramic fibres and alumina based ceramic were used to produce composite material. Behaviour of composite ceramics after thermal shock treatments was investigated. Thermal shock of the samples was evaluated using water quench test. Surface deterioration level of samples was monitored by image analysis before and after a number of quenching cycles. Ultrasonic measurements were done on samples after quench tests. Dynamic Young modulus of elasticity and strength degradation were calculated using measured values of ultrasonic velocities. Strengths deterioration was calculated using the non-destructive measurements and correlated to degradation of surface area and number of quenches. The addition of small amount of ceramic fibres improves the strengths and diminishes the loss of mechanical properties of samples during thermal shock experiments.

  12. Non-destructive controls

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nouvet, A.

    1978-01-01

    The non-destructive controls permit, while respecting their integrity, the direct and individual examination of parts or complete objects as they are manufactured, as well as to follow the evolution of their eventual defects while in operation. The choice of control methods depends on the manufacturing process and shapes of parts, on the physical properties of their components as well as the nature, position and size of the defects which are likely to be detected. Whether it is a question of controls by means of ionizing radiation, flux of neutrons, ultrasons, acoustic source, sweating, magnetoscopy. Foucault currents, thermography, detection of leaks or non-destructive metallography, each has a limited field of application such that they are less competitive than complementary [fr

  13. Assessing ultrasonic examination results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deutsch, V.; Vogt, M.

    1977-01-01

    Amongst nondestructive examination methods, the ultrasonic examination plays an important role. The reason why its scope of application is so wide is because the sound conducting capacity is the only property the material of a test specimen has to have. As the fields are so manifold, only main aspects can be described briefly. The list of references, however, is very extensive and gives plenty of information of all the problems concerning the assessment of ultrasonic examination results. (orig./RW) [de

  14. Development of phased-array ultrasonic testing probe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kawanami, Seiichi; Kurokawa, Masaaki; Taniguchi, Masaru; Tada, Yoshihisa

    2001-01-01

    Phased-array ultrasonic testing was developed for nondestructive evaluation of power plants. Phased-array UT scans and focuses an ultrasonic beam to inspect areas difficult to inspect by conventional UT. We developed a highly sensitive piezoelectric composite, and designed optimized phased-array UT probes. We are applying our phased-array UT to different areas of power plants. (author)

  15. Ultrasonic detection technology based on joint robot on composite component with complex surface

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hao, Juan; Xu, Chunguang; Zhang, Lan [School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing (China)

    2014-02-18

    Some components have complex surface, such as the airplane wing and the shell of a pressure vessel etc. The quality of these components determines the reliability and safety of related equipment. Ultrasonic nondestructive detection is one of the main methods used for testing material defects at present. In order to improve the testing precision, the acoustic axis of the ultrasonic transducer should be consistent with the normal direction of the measured points. When we use joint robots, automatic ultrasonic scan along the component surface normal direction can be realized by motion trajectory planning and coordinate transformation etc. In order to express the defects accurately and truly, the robot position and the signal of the ultrasonic transducer should be synchronized.

  16. Air-coupled ultrasonic through-transmission thickness measurements of steel plates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waag, Grunde; Hoff, Lars; Norli, Petter

    2015-02-01

    Non-destructive ultrasonic testing of steel structures provide valuable information in e.g. inspection of pipes, ships and offshore structures. In many practical applications, contact measurements are cumbersome or not possible, and air-coupled ultrasound can provide a solution. This paper presents air-coupled ultrasonic through-transmission measurements on a steel plate with thicknesses 10.15 mm; 10.0 mm; 9.8 mm. Ultrasound pulses were transmitted from a piezoelectric transducer at normal incidence, through the steel plate, and were received at the opposite side. The S1, A2 and A3 modes of the plate are excited, with resonance frequencies that depend on the material properties and the thickness of the plate. The results show that the resonances could be clearly identified after transmission through the steel plate, and that the frequencies of the resonances could be used to distinguish between the three plate thicknesses. The S1-mode resonance was observed to be shifted 10% down compared to a simple plane wave half-wave resonance model, while the A2 and S2 modes were found approximately at the corresponding plane-wave resonance frequencies. A model based on the angular spectrum method was used to predict the response of the through-transmission setup. This model included the finite aperture of the transmitter and receiver, and compressional and shear waves in the solid. The model predicts the frequencies of the observed modes of the plate to within 1%, including the down-shift of the S1-mode. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Designing an in-situ ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation system for ultrasonic additive manufacturing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nadimpalli, Venkata K.; Nagy, Peter B.

    2018-04-01

    Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM) is a solid-state layer by layer manufacturing process that utilizes vibration induced plastic deformation to form a metallurgical bond between a thin layer and an existing base structure. Due to the vibration based bonding mechanism, the quality of components at each layer depends on the geometry of the structure. In-situ monitoring during and between UAM manufacturing steps offers the potential for closed-loop control to optimize process parameters and to repair existing defects. One interface that is most prone to delamination is the base/build interface and often UAM component height and quality are limited by failure at the base/build interface. Low manufacturing temperatures and favorable orientation of typical interface defects in UAM make ultrasonic NDE an attractive candidate for online monitoring. Two approaches for in-situ NDE are discussed and the design of the monitoring system optimized so that the quality of UAM components is not affected by the addition of the NDE setup. Preliminary results from in-situ ultrasonic NDE indicate the potential to be utilized for online qualification, closed-loop control and offline certification of UAM components.

  18. Imaging techniques for ultrasonic testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2013-01-01

    These seminar proceedings contain 16 lectures on the following topics: 1. From imaging to quantification - ultrasound methods in medical diagnostics; 2. SAFT, TOFD, Phased Array - classical applications and recent developments in ultrasonic imaging; 3. Innovative ultrasonic imaging methods in research and application; 4. Industrial ultrasonic testing of fibre-reinforced structures of complex geometry; 5. Visualisation of crack tips in the inspection of wheel set shafts with longitudinal boreholes as a means of avoiding unnecessary wheel set changes; 6. Areal analysis of the propagation of Lamb waves on curved, anisotropic structures; 7. High-resolution representation in immersion technique testing; 8. Variants in generating images from phased array measurement data - practical examples involving copper, carbon-fibre reinforced plastic and other materials; 9. GIUM - an unconventional method of microstructure imaging using ultrasonic stimulation and laser vibrometry scanning; 10. Innovative air-ultrasonic testing concepts for improved imaging; 11. Use of imaging methods for improving the quality of test results from nondestructive testing; 12. Modelling and visualisation of EMUS stimulation for transducer optimisation; 13. Use of SAFT in the manufacture of energy conversion machines; 14. Ultrasonic imaging tests for improved defect characterisation during weld seam inspection on longitudinally welded large-diameter pipes; 15. SAFT reconstruction for testing austenitic weld seams and dissimilar metal weld seams for transverse cracks; 16. Imaging-based optimisation method for quantitative ultrasonic testing of anisotropic inhomogeneous austenitic welded joints with determination and utilisation of their elastic properties. One contribution has been abstracted separately. [de

  19. Standard practice for digital imaging and communication in nondestructive evaluation (DICONDE) for ultrasonic test methods

    CERN Document Server

    American Society for Testing and Materials. Philadelphia

    2008-01-01

    1.1 This practice facilitates the interoperability of ultrasonic imaging equipment by specifying image data transfer and archival storage methods in commonly accepted terms. This document is intended to be used in conjunction with Practice E 2339 on Digital Imaging and Communication in Nondestructive Evaluation (DICONDE). Practice E 2339 defines an industrial adaptation of the NEMA Standards Publication titled Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM, see http://medical.nema.org), an international standard for image data acquisition, review, transfer and archival storage. The goal of Practice E 2339, commonly referred to as DICONDE, is to provide a standard that facilitates the display and analysis of NDE test results on any system conforming to the DICONDE standard. Toward that end, Practice E 2339 provides a data dictionary and set of information modules that are applicable to all NDE modalities. This practice supplements Practice E 2339 by providing information object definitions, information ...

  20. Correlation between ultrasonic nonlinearity and elastic nonlinearity in heat-treated aluminum alloy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Jong Beom; Jhang, Kyung Young [Hanyang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2017-04-15

    The nonlinear ultrasonic technique is a potential nondestructive method to evaluate material degradation, in which the ultrasonic nonlinearity parameter is usually measured. The ultrasonic nonlinearity parameter is defined by the elastic nonlinearity coefficients of the nonlinear Hooke’s equation. Therefore, even though the ultrasonic nonlinearity parameter is not equal to the elastic nonlinearity parameter, they have a close relationship. However, there has been no experimental verification of the relationship between the ultrasonic and elastic nonlinearity parameters. In this study, the relationship is experimentally verified for a heat-treated aluminum alloy. Specimens of the aluminum alloy were heat-treated at 300°C for different periods of time (0, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 h). The relative ultrasonic nonlinearity parameter of each specimen was then measured, and the elastic nonlinearity parameter was determined by fitting the stress-strain curve obtained from a tensile test to the 5th-order-polynomial nonlinear Hooke’s equation. The results showed that the variations in these parameters were in good agreement with each other.

  1. Application of nonlinear ultrasonic method for monitoring of stress state in concrete

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Gyu Jin; Kwak, Hyo Gyoung; Park, Sun Jong

    2016-01-01

    As the lifespan of concrete structures increases, their load carrying capacity decreases owing to cyclic loads and long-term effects such as creep and shrinkage. For these reasons, there is a necessity for stress state monitoring of concrete members. Particularly, it is necessary to evaluate the concrete structures for behavioral changes by using a technique that can overcome the measuring limitations of usual ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation methods. This paper proposes the use of a nonlinear ultrasonic method, namely, nonlinear resonant ultrasonic spectroscopy (NRUS) for the measurement of nonlinearity parameters for stress monitoring. An experiment compared the use of NRUS method and a linear ultrasonic method, namely, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) to study the effects of continuously increasing loads and cyclic loads on the nonlinearity parameter. Both NRUS and UPV methods found a similar direct relationship between load level and that parameter. The NRUS method showed a higher sensitivity to micro-structural changes of concrete than UPV method. Thus, the experiment confirms the possibility of using the nonlinear ultrasonic method for stress state monitoring of concrete members

  2. Application of nonlinear ultrasonic method for monitoring of stress state in concrete

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Gyu Jin; Kwak, Hyo Gyoung [Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Park, Sun Jong [Dept. of Structural System and Site Safety Evaluation, Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-04-15

    As the lifespan of concrete structures increases, their load carrying capacity decreases owing to cyclic loads and long-term effects such as creep and shrinkage. For these reasons, there is a necessity for stress state monitoring of concrete members. Particularly, it is necessary to evaluate the concrete structures for behavioral changes by using a technique that can overcome the measuring limitations of usual ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation methods. This paper proposes the use of a nonlinear ultrasonic method, namely, nonlinear resonant ultrasonic spectroscopy (NRUS) for the measurement of nonlinearity parameters for stress monitoring. An experiment compared the use of NRUS method and a linear ultrasonic method, namely, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) to study the effects of continuously increasing loads and cyclic loads on the nonlinearity parameter. Both NRUS and UPV methods found a similar direct relationship between load level and that parameter. The NRUS method showed a higher sensitivity to micro-structural changes of concrete than UPV method. Thus, the experiment confirms the possibility of using the nonlinear ultrasonic method for stress state monitoring of concrete members.

  3. A Comparative Analysis of the Rebound Hammer and Ultrasonic ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This work presents a study on the comparison between some non-destructive testing tech-niques (Rebound Hammer and Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity). Tests were performed to com-pare the accuracy between the rebound hammer and the ultrasonic pulse velocity methodin estimating the strength of concrete. Eighty samples ...

  4. Flaw characterization through nonlinear ultrasonics and wavelet cross-correlation algorithms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bunget, Gheorghe; Yee, Andrew; Stewart, Dylan; Rogers, James; Henley, Stanley; Bugg, Chris; Cline, John; Webster, Matthew; Farinholt, Kevin; Friedersdorf, Fritz

    2018-04-01

    Ultrasonic measurements have become increasingly important non-destructive techniques to characterize flaws found within various in-service industrial components. The prediction of remaining useful life based on fracture analysis depends on the accurate estimation of flaw size and orientation. However, amplitude-based ultrasonic measurements are not able to estimate the plastic zones that exist ahead of crack tips. Estimating the size of the plastic zone is an advantage since some flaws may propagate faster than others. This paper presents a wavelet cross-correlation (WCC) algorithm that was applied to nonlinear analysis of ultrasonically guided waves (GW). By using this algorithm, harmonics present in the waveforms were extracted and nonlinearity parameters were used to indicate both the tip of the cracks and size of the plastic zone. B-scans performed with the quadratic nonlinearities were sensitive to micro-damage specific to plastic zones.

  5. Non-destructive control at the Kozloduy NPP; Nerazrushayushchij kontrol` v AEhS `Kozloduy`

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mikhovsky, M [Institute of Mechanics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia (Bulgaria); Skordev, A [SIME-CONTROL, Sofia (Bulgaria); Nichev, V; Tsokov, P; Popova, N [Kombinat Atomna Energetika, Kozloduj (Bulgaria)

    1996-12-31

    A program for technical diagnostics using non-destructive methods is being carried out at the Kozloduy NPP. The main target is to test mechanical equipment integrity (metal control, mechanical stress control, etc.) as well as electrical equipment. Computer methods and simulation are widely used in program implementation. Non-destructive testing is based on methods involving optical, radiation, ultrasonic and magnetic processes. Control procedures are standardised in special technological documents and one of them is described as an example. It refers to ultrasonic control of the austenitic steel welds of the WWER-440 piping system (DU-500). Graphic representing the microstructure of the welds, the distribution of surface ultrasonic wave and the longitudinal and vertically polarised perpendicular waves are presented. 6 refs. 8 figs.

  6. Supporting the potential of quantitative ultrasonic techniques for the evaluation of platelet concentration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villamarín, J. A.; Jiménez, Y. M.; Molano, L. Tatiana; Gutierrez, W. Edgar; Londoño, L. Fernando; Gutierrez, D. A.

    2017-11-01

    This article describes the results obtained by making use of a non-destructive, non-invasive ultrasonic system for the acoustic characterization of bovine plasma rich in platelets using digital signal processing techniques. This study includes computational methods based on acoustic spectrometry estimation and experimental measurements of the speed of sound in blood plasma from different samples analyzed, using an ultrasonic field with resonance frequency of 5 MHz. The results showed that the measurements on ultrasonic signals can contribute to the hematological predictions based on the linear regression model applied to the relationship between experimental ultrasonic parameters calculated and platelet concentration, indicating a growth rate of 1 m/s for each 0.90 x103 platelet per mm3. On the other hand, the attenuation coefficient presented changes of 20% in the platelet concentration using a resolution of 0.057 dB/cm MHz.

  7. Ultrasonic defect characterization using parametric-manifold mapping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Velichko, A.; Bai, L.; Drinkwater, B. W.

    2017-06-01

    The aim of ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation includes the detection and characterization of defects, and an understanding of the nature of defects is essential for the assessment of structural integrity in safety critical systems. In general, the defect characterization challenge involves an estimation of defect parameters from measured data. In this paper, we explore the extent to which defects can be characterized by their ultrasonic scattering behaviour. Given a number of ultrasonic measurements, we show that characterization information can be extracted by projecting the measurement onto a parametric manifold in principal component space. We show that this manifold represents the entirety of the characterization information available from far-field harmonic ultrasound. We seek to understand the nature of this information and hence provide definitive statements on the defect characterization performance that is, in principle, extractable from typical measurement scenarios. In experiments, the characterization problem of surface-breaking cracks and the more general problem of elliptical voids are studied, and a good agreement is achieved between the actual parameter values and the characterization results. The nature of the parametric manifold enables us to explain and quantify why some defects are relatively easy to characterize, whereas others are inherently challenging.

  8. Spatially resolved ultrasonic attenuation in resistance spot welds: implications for nondestructive testing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mozurkewich, George; Ghaffari, Bita; Potter, Timothy J

    2008-09-01

    Spatial variation of ultrasonic attenuation and velocity has been measured in plane parallel specimens extracted from resistance spot welds. In a strong weld, attenuation is larger in the nugget than in the parent material, and the region of increased attenuation is surrounded by a ring of decreased attenuation. In the center of a stick weld, attenuation is even larger than in a strong weld, and the low-attenuation ring is absent. These spatial variations are interpreted in terms of differences in grain size and martensite formation. Measured frequency dependences indicate the presence of an additional attenuation mechanism besides grain scattering. The observed attenuations do not vary as commonly presumed with weld quality, suggesting that the common practice of using ultrasonic attenuation to indicate weld quality is not a reliable methodology.

  9. Ultrasonic analysis of UO{sub 2} pellets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bittencourt, Marcelo de S.Q.; Baroni, Douglas B.; Martorelli, Daniel S., E-mail: bittenc@ien.gov.br, E-mail: douglasbaroni@ien.gov.br, E-mail: daniel@ien.gov.br [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Lab. de Ultrassom; Dias, Fabio C.; Silva, Jose W.S. da, E-mail: fabio@ird.gov.br, E-mail: wanderley@ird.gov.br [Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Lab. de Salvaguardas

    2013-07-01

    Ceramic materials have been widely used for various purposes in many different industries due to certain characteristics, such as high melting point and high resistance to corrosion. In the nuclear area, ceramics are of great importance due to the process of fabrication of fuel pellets for nuclear reactors. Generally, high accuracy destructive techniques are used to characterize nuclear materials for fuel fabrication. These techniques usually require costly equipment and facilities, as well as experienced personnel. This paper aims at presenting an analysis methodology for UO2 pellets using a non-destructive ultrasonic technique for porosity measurement. This technique differs from traditional ultrasonic techniques in the sense it uses ultrasonic pulses in frequency domain instead of time domain. Therefore, specific characteristics of the analyzed material are associated with the obtained frequency spectrum. In the present work, four fuel grade UO2 pellets were analyzed and the corresponding results evaluated. (author)

  10. Accumulation and preparation of nondestructive inspection data for nuclear power plants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2013-08-15

    In recent years, flaws due to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in stainless steel piping and nickel based alloy welds were detected at nuclear power plants in Japan. Weld Overlay (WOL) has been developed as a repairing method for piping items without removing flaws. Since the inspection techniques for WOL pipes and nickel based alloy welds are not verified enough in Japan, Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization (JNES) has been carrying out a six year research project entitled 'Accumulation and Preparation of Nondestructive Inspection Data for Nuclear Power Plants' regarding nondestructive inspection since FY2007. In this research project, detection and sizing capability of SCC by Ultrasonic Testing (UT) are evaluated using mockup tests. In addition, the results of this project and past nondestructive inspection data performed by JNES projects are gathered, and inputted into the database of NDT information. In FY2012, followings were conducted. 1) Analysis for UT measurement results of nickel based alloy weld simulating safe end of reactor vessel outlet nozzle. 2) Analysis for UT measurement results of cast stainless steel piping. 3) Development of interface of UT simulation. 4) Development of nondestructive testing guideline. (author)

  11. Liquid ultrasonic flow meters for crude oil measurement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kalivoda, Raymond J.; Lunde, Per

    2005-07-01

    Liquid ultrasonic flow meters (LUFMs) are gaining popularity for the accurate measurement of petroleum products. In North America the first edition of the API standard ''Measurement of liquid hydrocarbons by ultrasonic flow meters using transit time technology'' was issued in February 2005. It addresses both refined petroleum products and crude oil applications. Its field of application is mainly custody transfer applications but it does provide general guidelines for the installation and operation of LUFM's other applications such as allocation, check meters and leak detection. As with all new technologies performance claims are at times exaggerated or misunderstood and application knowledge is limited. Since ultrasonic meters have no moving parts they appear to have fewer limitations than other liquid flow meters. Liquids ultrasonic flow meters, like turbine meters, are sensitive to fluid properties. It is increasingly more difficult to apply on high viscosity products then on lighter hydrocarbon products. Therefore application data or experience on the measurement of refined or light crude oil may not necessarily be transferred to measuring medium to heavy crude oils. Before better and more quantitative knowledge is available on how LUFMs react on different fluids, the arguments advocating reduced need for in-situ proving and increased dependency on laboratory flow calibration (e.g. using water instead of hydrocarbons) may be questionable. The present paper explores the accurate measurement of crude oil with liquid ultrasonic meters. It defines the unique characteristics of the different API grades of crude oils and how they can affect the accuracy of the liquid ultrasonic measurement. Flow testing results using a new LUFM design are discussed. The paper is intended to provide increased insight into the potentials and limitations of crude oil measurement using ultrasonic flow meters. (author) (tk)

  12. Non-Destructive Inspection of Impact Damage in Composite Aircraft Panels by Ultrasonic Guided Waves and Statistical Processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capriotti, Margherita; Kim, Hyungsuk E; Scalea, Francesco Lanza di; Kim, Hyonny

    2017-06-04

    This paper discusses a non-destructive evaluation (NDE) technique for the detection of damage in composite aircraft structures following high energy wide area blunt impact (HEWABI) from ground service equipment (GSE), such as heavy cargo loaders and other heavy equipment. The test structures typically include skin, co-cured stringers, and C-frames that are bolt-connected onto the skin with shear ties. The inspection exploits the waveguide geometry of these structures by utilizing ultrasonic guided waves and a line scan approach. Both a contact prototype and a non-contact prototype were developed and tested on realistic test panels subjected to impact in the laboratory. The results are presented in terms of receiver operating characteristic curves that show excellent probability of detection with low false alarm rates for defects located in the panel skin and stringers.

  13. Nondestructive Testing of Advanced Concrete Structure during Lifetime

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lubos Pazdera

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper reports on measurements and analysis of the measurements during hardening and drying of specimens using selected acoustic nondestructive testing techniques. An integrated approach was created for better understanding of the relations between the lifetime cycle and the development of the mechanical properties of concrete. Acoustic emission, impact echo, and ultrasonic techniques were applied simultaneously to the same mixtures. These techniques and results are presented on alkali-activated slag mortars. The acoustic emission method detects transient elastic waves within the material, caused by the release of cumulated stress energy, which can be mechanical, thermal, or chemical. Hence, the cause is a phenomenon which releases elastic energy into the material, which then spreads in the form of an elastic wave. The impact echo method is based on physical laws of elastic stress wave propagation in solids generated by mechanical impulse. Ultrasonic testing is commonly used to find flaws in materials or to assess wave velocity spreading.

  14. Summaries of the lectures of a conference on nondestructive testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1980-01-01

    The present brochure contains summaries of the lectures that were held at the DGZfP-conference on non-destructive testing' in May 1980 in Goettingen. The greater part of the lectures dealt with ultrasonic methods, electromagnetic methods and applications of X-, γ- and neutron-rays in non-destructive testing. Besides, questions of quality ensurance, economics and problems of the training of testing personnel were treated. (RW) [de

  15. Community survey on reference blocks and transducers for non-destructive ultrasonic testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vinche, C.; Borloo, E.; Jehenson, P.

    1978-01-01

    In the frame of the European programmes 'Standards and Reference Substances' and 'Reference Materials and Methods' (BCR) the Commission of the European Communities, in conjunction with National experts launched in 1975 an inquiry on reference blocks and transducers for non-destructive ultrasonic testing. This inquiry which is complementary to a general survey made in 1971-1972 by the Commission on Reference Materials (Ref. EUR Report 1973. EUR 4886. d,f,i,n,e) was felt necessary and prepared by a specialists group from the Community Countries and the Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra Establishment (the list of these specialists is indicated on p. 2 of the questionnaire). The results of this survey, collated by the JRC Ispra Members have been discussed by the group of specialists and form the subject of this report. On bases of mailing lists submitted by national specialists, 215 organizations have been contacted; the fields of activity of these organizations are mainly: metallurgy, machine parts, technical assistance, aeronautics, power stations and research, 73 organizations have replied to the questionnaire. Most answers were obained from organizations dealing with metallurgy, machine parts manufacturers and technical consultants. The annexes supply a detailed analysis of the results given, on a national basis

  16. Prediction of strength of wood composite materials using ultrasonic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mahmoud, M.K.; Emam, A.

    2005-01-01

    Wood is a biological material integrating a very large variability of its mechanical properties (tensile and compressive), on the two directional longitudinal and transverse Ultrasonic method has been utilized to measure both wood physical and / or wood mechanical properties. The aim of this article is to show the development of ultrasonic technique for quality evaluation of trees, wood material and wood based composites. For quality assessment of these products we discuss the nondestructive evaluation of different factors such as: moisture content, temperature, biological degradation induced by bacterial attack and fungal attack. These techniques were adapted for trees, timber and wood based composites. The present study discusses the prediction of tensile and compressive strength of wood composite materials using ultrasonic testing. Empirical relationships between the tensile properties, compression strength and ultrasonic were proposed. The experimental results indicate the possibility of establishing a relationship between tensile strength and compression values. Moreover, the fractures in tensile and compressive are discussed by photographic

  17. Nondestructive technique application for corrosion evaluation by hydrogen charging of stainless steel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Jin Kyung, E-mail: leejink@deu.ac.kr [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dongeui University, Busan (Korea, Republic of); Bae, Dong Su [Department of Advanced Materials Engineering, Dongeui University, Busan (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Sang Pill; Hwang, Sung Guk [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dongeui University, Busan (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Joon Hyun [School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-11-01

    Highlights: • We have studied on the nondestructive technique application for corrosion evaluation by hydrogen charging of stainless steel. An ultrasonic test (UT) is an useful method to evaluate the mechanical properties of material. By measuring the velocity and the attenuation of ultrasonic wave propagating the hydrogen charged stainless steel, the relation of ultrasonic wave and mechanical properties of hydrogen charged 316L stainless steel was discussed. However, in order to evaluate the dynamic behavior of materials, an acoustic emission (AE) technique was applied to investigate the corrosion characteristics of hydrogen charged specimen. Acoustic emission is one of elastic waves caused by dislocation, cracks initiation and propagation within material from loading outside. The waveform of the acoustic emission is different depending on the damage mechanism of material. Lots of AE parameters such as energy, duration time, event and amplitude were used to analyze the dynamic behavior of the hydrogen charged specimen. • A conventional 316L stainless steel was used in this study, and electrochemical treat system for hydrogen charging of the specimen. ASTM (G142) type tensile specimens (diameter 6.0 mm, gage length 28.6 mm) were prepared, and sulfuric acid(H{sub 2}SO{sub 4}) and arsenic trioxide(As{sub 2}O{sub 3}) were used as the electrolyte, and potentiostat(HA 151) supplied the current to platinum wire and specimen. • Tensile strength and attenuation coefficient has a relation to some extent. Therefore, we could estimate the tensile strength and the hydrogen charging time by measuring the attenuation coefficient using ultrasonic wave nondestructively. • Acoustic emission technique was useful to evaluate the dynamic damage because AE parameters of AE event, average energy and average frequency showed various change by external loading at the specimens with and without hydrogen. - Abstract: Caused corrosion by hydrogen on stainless steel using

  18. Computer simulation of ultrasonic waves in solids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thibault, G.A.; Chaplin, K.

    1992-01-01

    A computer model that simulates the propagation of ultrasonic waves has been developed at AECL Research, Chalk River Laboratories. This program is called EWE, short for Elastic Wave Equations, the mathematics governing the propagation of ultrasonic waves. This report contains a brief summary of the use of ultrasonic waves in non-destructive testing techniques, a discussion of the EWE simulation code explaining the implementation of the equations and the types of output received from the model, and an example simulation showing the abilities of the model. (author). 2 refs., 2 figs

  19. Combined Non-destructive Testing (NDT) methods for evaluating concrete quality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohamad Pauzi Ismail; Noor Azreen Masenwat; Suhairy Sani; Nasharuddin Isa; Mohamad Haniza Mahmud

    2014-01-01

    This paper described the results of combining Non-destructive measurements on concrete. Local crushed granite and hematite were used as coarse aggregates; mining sand and river sand were used as fine aggregates to produce various density and strength of concrete. Concrete samples (150 mm cubes and interlocked blocks) were prepared by changing mix ratio, water to cement ratio (w/c) and types of aggregates. Density, rebound number(N) and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) of the samples were taken before compressed to failure. The measurement results are explained and discussed. (author)

  20. Non-destructive testing of the MEGAPIE target

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dai, Y.; Wohlmuther, M.; Boutellier, V.; Hahl, S.; Lagotzki, A.; Leu, H.; Linder, H. P.; Schwarz, R.; Spahr, A.; Zanini, L.; Kuster, D.; Gavillet, D.; Wagner, W.

    2016-01-01

    Non-destructive testing (NDT) is one important part of the post-irradiation examination (PIE) of the MEGAPIE target. It includes visual inspection and ultrasonic measurement of the beam window of the T91 LBE container and gamma mapping of the beam window of the AlMg3 safety-container. The visual inspection showed no visible failure in the proton beam window area of the T91 LBE container. The ultrasonic measurement demonstrated no detectable change in the wall thickness of the T91 beam window, which implies no severe corrosion effect induced by flowing LBE during the four-month irradiation period. The gamma mapping provided the distribution of 22Na, a spallation product, in the proton beam window area of the AlMg3 safety-container. The result was used to evaluate the accumulated proton fluence distribution profile, the input data for determining irradiation parameters. A maximum proton fluence of 1.9 × 1025 p/m2 was deduced. The corresponding displacement damage degree in the T91 beam window was 7.1 dpa.

  1. Ultrasonic evaluation of the physical and mechanical properties of granites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasconcelos, G; Lourenço, P B; Alves, C A S; Pamplona, J

    2008-09-01

    Masonry is the oldest building material that survived until today, being used all over the world and being present in the most impressive historical structures as an evidence of spirit of enterprise of ancient cultures. Conservation, rehabilitation and strengthening of the built heritage and protection of human lives are clear demands of modern societies. In this process, the use of nondestructive methods has become much common in the diagnosis of structural integrity of masonry elements. With respect to the evaluation of the stone condition, the ultrasonic pulse velocity is a simple and economical tool. Thus, the central issue of the present paper concerns the evaluation of the suitability of the ultrasonic pulse velocity method for describing the mechanical and physical properties of granites (range size between 0.1-4.0 mm and 0.3-16.5 mm) and for the assessment of its weathering state. The mechanical properties encompass the compressive and tensile strength and modulus of elasticity, and the physical properties include the density and porosity. For this purpose, measurements of the longitudinal ultrasonic pulse velocity with distinct natural frequency of the transducers were carried out on specimens with different size and shape. A discussion of the factors that induce variations on the ultrasonic velocity is also provided. Additionally, statistical correlations between ultrasonic pulse velocity and mechanical and physical properties of granites are presented and discussed. The major output of the work is the confirmation that ultrasonic pulse velocity can be effectively used as a simple and economical nondestructive method for a preliminary prediction of mechanical and physical properties, as well as a tool for the assessment of the weathering changes of granites that occur during the serviceable life. This is of much interest due to the usual difficulties in removing specimens for mechanical characterization.

  2. Development of Hardware and Software for Automated Ultrasonic Testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Sung Nam; Lee, Hee Jong; Yang, Seung Ok

    2012-01-01

    Nondestructive testing (NDT) for the construction and operating of NPPs plays an important role in confirming the integrity of the NPPs. Especially, Automated ultrasonic testing (AUT) is one of the primary nondestructive examination methods for in-service inspection of the welding parts in major components in NPPs. AUT is a reliable nondestructive testing because the data of AUT are saved and reviewed with other examiners. Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power-Central Research Institute (KHNP-CRI) has developed an automated ultrasonic testing (AUT) system based on a high speed pulser-receiver. In combination with the designed software and hardware architecture, this new system permits user configurations for a wide range of user-specific applications through fully automated inspections using compact portable systems with up to eight channels. This paper gives an overview of hardware (H/W) and software (S/W) for the AUT system to inspect welds in NPPs

  3. Technical plan for nondestructive examination technology development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, B.C.

    1982-12-01

    This report provides a description of the development of the nondestructive examination (NDE) equipment to be used in the Stored Waste Examination Pilot Plant (SWEPP) for certifying transuranic (TRU) waste for shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). NDE equipment is being developed for waste identification and container integrity. Real-time x-ray radiography is the basic method being used for waste identification. Acoustic (ultrasonic) testing is being used to obtain measurements to verify container integrity. This report describes the decisions made to date, the decisions to be made, and the activities planned for FY 1983 through FY 1985

  4. Non-Destructive Inspection of Impact Damage in Composite Aircraft Panels by Ultrasonic Guided Waves and Statistical Processing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margherita Capriotti

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses a non-destructive evaluation (NDE technique for the detection of damage in composite aircraft structures following high energy wide area blunt impact (HEWABI from ground service equipment (GSE, such as heavy cargo loaders and other heavy equipment. The test structures typically include skin, co-cured stringers, and C-frames that are bolt-connected onto the skin with shear ties. The inspection exploits the waveguide geometry of these structures by utilizing ultrasonic guided waves and a line scan approach. Both a contact prototype and a non-contact prototype were developed and tested on realistic test panels subjected to impact in the laboratory. The results are presented in terms of receiver operating characteristic curves that show excellent probability of detection with low false alarm rates for defects located in the panel skin and stringers.

  5. Computer control in nondestructive testing illustrated by an automatic ultrasonic tube inspection system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gundtoft, H.E.; Nielsen, N.

    1976-06-01

    In Risoe's automatic tube inspection system, data (more than half a million per tube) from ultrasonic dimension measurements and defect inspections are fed into a computer that simultaneously calculates and evaluates the results. (author)

  6. NonDestructive Evaluation for Industrial & Development Applications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hunter, James F. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2016-10-12

    Provide overview of weld inspection for Non-Destructive Testing at LANL. This includes radiography (RT/DR/CR/CT for x-ray & neutron sources), ultrasonic testing (UT/PAUT), dye penetrant inspection (PT), eddy current inspection (ET) and magnetic particle testing (MT). Facilities and capabilities for weld inspection will be summarized with examples.

  7. HTS-SQUID NDE Technique for Pipes based on Ultrasonic Guided Wave

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hatsukade, Y; Masutani, N; Teranishi, S; Masamoto, K; Kanenaga, S; Adachi, S; Tanabe, K

    2017-01-01

    This article describes research on the novel high-temperature superconductor (HTS) superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) non-destructive evaluation (NDE) technique for metallic pipes based on ultrasonic guided waves. We constructed HTS-SQUID NDE system for pipes based on ultrasonic guided waves, which were generated and received by means of the magnetostrictive effects. Using the system, we measured magnetic signals due to T (0, 1) mode ultrasonic guided waves that transmitted on aluminium pipe, and investigated influences of measurement parameters to the magnetic signals, such as direction of a HTS-SQUID gradiometer, lift-off distance, and intensity and frequency of input current fed to a magnetostrictive transmitter. With the gradiometer oriented parallel to the pipe axis, more than 10 times larger signals were measured compared with that oriented perpendicular to the pipe axis. Magnetic signals measured by the gradiometer were inverse proportional to the power of the list- off distance, and proportional to the intensity of the input current up to 1 A pp . Relation between the frequency of the input current and the measured signal was shown and discussed. (paper)

  8. HTS-SQUID NDE Technique for Pipes based on Ultrasonic Guided Wave

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatsukade, Y.; Masutani, N.; Teranishi, S.; Masamoto, K.; Kanenaga, S.; Adachi, S.; Tanabe, K.

    2017-07-01

    This article describes research on the novel high-temperature superconductor (HTS) superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) non-destructive evaluation (NDE) technique for metallic pipes based on ultrasonic guided waves. We constructed HTS-SQUID NDE system for pipes based on ultrasonic guided waves, which were generated and received by means of the magnetostrictive effects. Using the system, we measured magnetic signals due to T (0, 1) mode ultrasonic guided waves that transmitted on aluminium pipe, and investigated influences of measurement parameters to the magnetic signals, such as direction of a HTS-SQUID gradiometer, lift-off distance, and intensity and frequency of input current fed to a magnetostrictive transmitter. With the gradiometer oriented parallel to the pipe axis, more than 10 times larger signals were measured compared with that oriented perpendicular to the pipe axis. Magnetic signals measured by the gradiometer were inverse proportional to the power of the list- off distance, and proportional to the intensity of the input current up to 1 App. Relation between the frequency of the input current and the measured signal was shown and discussed.

  9. Determine bond strength by ultrasonic measurement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, C.M.

    1978-01-01

    Application of ultrasonic methods for the evaluation and measurement of bond strength has been the object of numerous investigations in the last fifteen years. Some investigators have reported good success (in limited application) while others have experienced dismal failure. One problem common to all investigations was the difficulty in extracting and isolating the many components which comprise the ultrasonic signal reflected from a bonded interface. Part of this problem was due to manually extracting individual parameters from large volumes of raw data. However, with the vast technology now available in the field of signal analysis and computerized data processing, it is feasible to isolate and analyze individual parameters within the ultrasonic signal for great volumes of raw data

  10. Non-destructive control: technologies, applications and markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1995-01-01

    A description of NDC - nondestructive controls - (acoustic emission, Eddy currents, infrared and thermal, liquid penetrants, magnetic particles, radiographic, ultrasonic, visual and optical techniques) is given with various industrial applications and market trends. Some research projects, contacts and a list of NDC systems main manufacturers are given. (A.B.). 37 figs. and tabs

  11. Innovative ultrasonics for power plant commissioning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murphy, R.V.; Alikhan, S.

    1983-05-01

    During the commissioning of a nuclear power plant, the usual role of ultrasonics is associated with nondestructive testing of welds. There is, however, a variety of undesirable conditions associated with the fluids carried through the various reactor systems which may be just as important to station operation. A variety of unusual ultrasonic techniques has been developed for testing fluid systems at the Point Lepreau Generating Station. This paper uses the experience gained at the Point Lepreau reactor to illustrate the valuable information which can be gained from these measurements, such as: fluid level in pipes and headers; fluid level in pressure vessels; detection, and sizing of debris in pipes; in situ measurement and verification of orifice condition; detection and location of cavitation, water hammer, valve leakage; quantitative measurement of gate movement within the body of an inservice valve; determination of valve position; detection and imaging of flow separation; detection and location of leaks in concrete containment structures; verification of design flows; balancing of loop flows; and detection of low flow. The application of these techniques at other reactor sites is also discussed

  12. Kalman filter analysis of delayed neutron nondestructive assay measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aumeier, S. E.

    1998-01-01

    The ability to nondestructively determine the presence and quantity of fissile and fertile nuclei in various matrices is important in several nuclear applications including international and domestics safeguards, radioactive waste characterization and nuclear facility operations. Material irradiation followed by delayed neutron counting is a well known and useful nondestructive assay technique used to determine the fissile-effective content of assay samples. Previous studies have demonstrated the feasibility of using Kalman filters to unfold individual isotopic contributions to delayed neutron measurements resulting from the assay of mixes of uranium and plutonium isotopes. However, the studies in question used simulated measurement data and idealized parameters. We present the results of the Kalman filter analysis of several measurements of U/Pu mixes taken using Argonne National Laboratory's delayed neutron nondestructive assay device. The results demonstrate the use of Kalman filters as a signal processing tool to determine the fissile and fertile isotopic content of an assay sample from the aggregate delayed neutron response following neutron irradiation

  13. Experimental electro-thermal method for nondestructively testing welds in stainless steel pipes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Green, D.R.

    1979-01-01

    Welds in austenitic stainless steel pipes are notoriously difficult to nondestructively examine using conventional ultrasonic and eddy current methods. Survace irregularities and microscopic variations in magnetic permeability cause false eddy current signal variations. Ultrasonic methods have been developed which use computer processing of the data to overcome some of the problems. Electro-thermal nondestructive testing shows promise for detecting flaws that are difficult to detect using other NDT methods. Results of a project completed to develop and demonstrate the potential of an electro-thermal method for nondestructively testing stainless steel pipe welds are presented. Electro-thermal NDT uses a brief pulse of electrical current injected into the pipe. Defects at any depth within the weld cause small differences in surface electrical current distribution. These cause short-lived transient temperature differences on the pipe's surface that are mapped using an infrared scanning camera. Localized microstructural differences and normal surface roughness in the welds have little effect on the surface temperatures

  14. Ultrasonic extensometer measures bolt preload

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniels, C. M., Jr.

    1978-01-01

    Extensometer using ultrasonic pulse reflections to measure elongations in tightened belts and studs is much more accurate than conventional torque wrenches in application of specified preload to bolts and other threaded fasteners.

  15. High-temperature ultrasonic measurements applied to directly heated samples

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moore, R.I.; Taylor, R.E.

    1984-01-01

    High-temperature ultrasonic measurements of Young's modulus were made of graphite samples heated directly. The samples were cylindrical rods of the same geometry as that used in the multiproperty apparatus for simultaneous/consecutive measurements of a number of thermophysical properties to high temperatures. The samples were resonated in simple longitudinal vibration modes. Measurements were performed up to 2000 K. Incorporation of ultrasonic measurements of Young's modulus in the capabilities of the multiproperty apparatus is valuable because (i) ultrasonic measurements can be related to normal destructive measurements of this property; (ii) they can be used for screening materials or acceptance testing of specimens; (iii) they can be used to increase the understanding of thermophysical properties and property correlations. (author)

  16. Assessment of hydrogen levels in Zircaloy-2 by non-destructive testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De, P.K.; John, J.T.; Banerjee, S.; Jayakumar, T.; Thavasimuthu, M.; Raj, B.

    1998-01-01

    A non-destructive assessment of Zircaloy-2 samples charged with hydrogen in the range of 50 to 1150 mg/kg has been made using ultrasonic and eddy current testing. It has been found that the ratio of the longitudinal to the shear wave velocity is a parameter which can be directly correlated with the hydrogen content up to a level of 100 to 200 mg/kg. This parameter together with the values of longitudinal and shear wave velocities can be utilized in a multi-parametric correlation approach for estimation of higher levels of the hydrogen content (up to 1150 mg/kg). The sensitivity at different ranges has been found to be acceptable. Ultrasonic attenuation measurements at higher frequencies and eddy current test parameter are also effective for estimation of hydrogen levels above 250 mg/kg in zirconium alloys. Microstructural characterization including TEM studies have been carried out for studying the influence of the type and the morphology of hydride precipitates on ultrasonic parameters. (orig.)

  17. Non-Destructive Testing for Building Diagnostics and Monitoring: Experience Achieved with Case Studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tavukçuoğlu Ayşe

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Building inspection on site, in other words in-situ examinations of buildings is a troublesome work that necessitates the use of non-destructive investigation (NDT techniques. One of the main concerns of non-destructive testing studies is to improve in-situ use of NDT techniques for diagnostic and monitoring studies. The quantitative infrared thermography (QIRT and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV measurements have distinct importance in that regard. The joint use of QIRT and ultrasonic testing allows in-situ evaluation and monitoring of historical structures and contemporary ones in relation to moisture, thermal, materials and structural failures while the buildings themselves remain intact. For instances, those methods are useful for detection of visible and invisible cracks, thermal bridges and damp zones in building materials, components and functional systems as well as for soundness assessment of materials and thermal performance assessment of building components. In addition, those methods are promising for moisture content analyses in materials and monitoring the success of conservation treatments or interventions in structures. The in-situ NDT studies for diagnostic purposes should start with the mapping of decay forms and scanning of building surfaces with infrared images. Quantitative analyses are shaped for data acquisition on site and at laboratory from representative sound and problem areas in structures or laboratory samples. Laboratory analyses are needed to support in-situ examinations and to establish the reference data for better interpretation of in situ data. Advances in laboratory tests using IRT and ultrasonic testing are guiding for in-situ materials investigations based on measurable parameters. The knowledge and experience on QIRT and ultrasonic testing are promising for the innovative studies on today’s materials technologies, building science and conservation/maintenance practices. Such studies demand a multi

  18. IVA Ultrasonic and Eddy Current NDE for ISS

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The project intends to develop a combined Ultrasonic and Eddy Current nondestructive evaluation (NDE) instrument for IVA use on ISS. A suite of IVA and EVA NDE...

  19. Guided ultrasonic wave beam skew in silicon wafers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pizzolato, Marco; Masserey, Bernard; Robyr, Jean-Luc; Fromme, Paul

    2018-04-01

    In the photovoltaic industry, monocrystalline silicon wafers are employed for solar cells with high conversion efficiency. Micro-cracks induced by the cutting process in the thin wafers can lead to brittle wafer fracture. Guided ultrasonic waves would offer an efficient methodology for the in-process non-destructive testing of wafers to assess micro-crack density. The material anisotropy of the monocrystalline silicon leads to variations of the guided wave characteristics, depending on the propagation direction relative to the crystal orientation. Selective guided ultrasonic wave excitation was achieved using a contact piezoelectric transducer with custom-made wedges for the A0 and S0 Lamb wave modes and a transducer holder to achieve controlled contact pressure and orientation. The out-of-plane component of the guided wave propagation was measured using a non-contact laser interferometer. The phase slowness (velocity) of the two fundamental Lamb wave modes was measured experimentally for varying propagation directions relative to the crystal orientation and found to match theoretical predictions. Significant wave beam skew was observed experimentally, especially for the S0 mode, and investigated from 3D finite element simulations. Good agreement was found with the theoretical predictions based on nominal material properties of the silicon wafer. The important contribution of guided wave beam skewing effects for the non-destructive testing of silicon wafers was demonstrated.

  20. Inverse Kinematic Analysis and Evaluation of a Robot for Nondestructive Testing Application

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zongxing Lu

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The robot system has been utilized in the nondestructive testing field in recent years. However, only a few studies have focused on the application of ultrasonic testing for complex work pieces with the robot system. The inverse kinematics problem of the 6-DOF robot should be resolved before the ultrasonic testing task. A new effective solution for curved-surface scanning with a 6-DOF robot system is proposed in this study. A new arm-wrist separateness method is adopted to solve the inverse problem of the robot system. Eight solutions of the joint angles can be acquired with the proposed inverse kinematics method. The shortest distance rule is adopted to optimize the inverse kinematics solutions. The best joint-angle solution is identified. Furthermore, a 3D-application software is developed to simulate ultrasonic trajectory planning for complex-shape work pieces with a 6-DOF robot. Finally, the validity of the scanning method is verified based on the C-scan results of a work piece with a curved surface. The developed robot ultrasonic testing system is validated. The proposed method provides an effective solution to this problem and would greatly benefit the development of industrial nondestructive testing.

  1. Review of progress in quantitative nondestructive evaluation

    CERN Document Server

    Chimenti, Dale

    1999-01-01

    This series provides a comprehensive review of the latest research results in quantitative nondestructive evaluation (NDE). Leading investigators working in government agencies, major industries, and universities present a broad spectrum of work extending from basic research to early engineering applications. An international assembly of noted authorities in NDE thoroughly cover such topics as: elastic waves, guided waves, and eddy-current detection, inversion, and modeling; radiography and computed tomography, thermal techniques, and acoustic emission; laser ultrasonics, optical methods, and microwaves; signal processing and image analysis and reconstruction, with an emphasis on interpretation for defect detection; and NDE sensors and fields, both ultrasonic and electromagnetic; engineered materials and composites, bonded joints, pipes, tubing, and biomedical materials; linear and nonlinear properties, ultrasonic backscatter and microstructure, coatings and layers, residual stress and texture, and constructi...

  2. Ultrasonic measurements for in-service assessment of wrought Inconel 625 cracker tubes of heavy water plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kumar, Anish; Rajkumar, K.V.; Jayakumar, T.; Raj, Baldev; Mishra, B.

    2006-01-01

    The degradation in mechanical properties of Inconel 625 ammonia cracker tubes occurs during the service for long duration in heavy water plants. The present study brings out the possibility of using Poisson's ratio (derived from measurement of time of flight of ultrasonic waves) in combination with hardness measurements, as an effective non-destructive tool for assessment of in-service degradation of Inconel 625 cracker tubes and qualification of re-solution annealing heat treatment for their rejuvenation. Further, the study also indicates the feasibility of extending the life of some of the tubes beyond the presently followed 120 000 h, before they are taken up for re-solution annealing, without affecting their serviceability. However, further studies are required to identify quantitative criterion for Poisson's ratio and hardness values, for deciding on the basis for removal of the tubes for rejuvenation

  3. Residual stress determination of rail tread using a laser ultrasonic technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Jing; Feng, Qibo

    2015-01-01

    A non-destructive method for measuring the residual stress on rail tread that uses a laser-generated ultrasonic technique is proposed. The residual stress distribution of different parts on both the new rail and used rail were examined. The surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are excited by a scanning line laser and detected by a laser ultrasonic detection system. A digital correlation method was used for calculating the changes in velocity of SAWs, which reflects the stress distribution. A wavelet de-noising technique and a least square fit were used for signal processing to improve the measurement accuracy. The effects of ultrasonic propagation distance and surface roughness on the determination of residual stress were analyzed and simulated. Results from the study demonstrate that the stress distribution results are accordant with the practical situation, and the laser-generated SAWs technique is a promising tool for the determination of residual stress in the railway inspection and other industrial testing fields. (paper)

  4. Ultrasonic testing of materials at level 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1988-06-01

    Ultrasonic inspection is a nondestructive method in which high frequency sound waves are introduced into the material being inspected. Ultrasonic testing has a superior penetrating power to radiography and can detect flaws deep in the test specimen (say up to about 6 to 7 meters of steel). It is quite sensitive to small flaws and allows the precise determination of the location and size of the flaws. Basic ultrasonic test methods such as the through transmission method and the resonance method, sensors and testing techniques are described. Pulse echo type flaw detectors and their applications for inspection of welds are surveyed. Ultrasonic standards, calibration of the equipment and evaluation methods are presented. Examples of practical applications in welding, casting and forging processes are given. Figs and tabs

  5. Pipe Wall Thickness Monitoring Using Dry-Coupled Ultrasonic Waveguide Technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheong, Yong Moo; Kim, Ha Nam; Kim, Hong Pyo

    2012-01-01

    In order to monitor a corrosion or FAC (Flow Accelerated Corrosion) in a pipe, there is a need to measure pipe wall thickness at high temperature. Ultrasonic thickness gauging is the most commonly used non-destructive testing technique for wall thickness measurement. However, current commonly available ultrasonic transducers cannot withstand high temperatures, such as above 200 .deg. C. It is therefore necessary to carry out manual measurements during plant shutdowns. The current method thus reveals several disadvantages: inspection have to be performed during shutdowns with the possible consequences of prolonging down time and increasing production losses, insulation has to be removed and replaced for each manual measurement, and scaffolding has to be installed to inaccessible areas, resulting in considerable cost for interventions. It has been suggested that a structural health monitoring approach with permanently installed ultrasonic thickness gauges could have substantial benefits over current practices. The main reasons why conventional piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers cannot be used at high temperatures are that the piezo-ceramic becomes depolarized at temperature above the Curie temperature and because differential thermal expansion of the substrate, couplant, and piezoelectric materials cause failure. In this paper, a shear horizontal waveguide technique for wall thickness monitoring at high temperature is investigated. Two different designs for contact to strip waveguide are shown and the quality of output signal is compared and reviewed. After a success of acquiring high quality ultrasonic signal, experiment on the wall thickness monitoring at high temperature is planned

  6. Ultrasonic imaging of material flaws exploiting multipath information

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Xizhong; Zhang, Yimin D.; Demirli, Ramazan; Amin, Moeness G.

    2011-05-01

    In this paper, we consider ultrasonic imaging for the visualization of flaws in a material. Ultrasonic imaging is a powerful nondestructive testing (NDT) tool which assesses material conditions via the detection, localization, and classification of flaws inside a structure. Multipath exploitations provide extended virtual array apertures and, in turn, enhance imaging capability beyond the limitation of traditional multisensor approaches. We utilize reflections of ultrasonic signals which occur when encountering different media and interior discontinuities. The waveforms observed at the physical as well as virtual sensors yield additional measurements corresponding to different aspect angles. Exploitation of multipath information addresses unique issues observed in ultrasonic imaging. (1) Utilization of physical and virtual sensors significantly extends the array aperture for image enhancement. (2) Multipath signals extend the angle of view of the narrow beamwidth of the ultrasound transducers, allowing improved visibility and array design flexibility. (3) Ultrasonic signals experience difficulty in penetrating a flaw, thus the aspect angle of the observation is limited unless access to other sides is available. The significant extension of the aperture makes it possible to yield flaw observation from multiple aspect angles. We show that data fusion of physical and virtual sensor data significantly improves the detection and localization performance. The effectiveness of the proposed multipath exploitation approach is demonstrated through experimental studies.

  7. Non-destructive controls in the mechanical industry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jarlan, L

    1978-12-01

    The sequence of operations implicating the mechanical industries from the suppliers to their customers is briefly recalled; a description of the field of application of non-destructive control methods in these industries is given. Follows a description of some recent typical applications of the principal methods: radiography, ultrasonic waves, magnetism, acoustic emission, sonic control, tracer techniques.

  8. Development of nondestructive evaluation methods for structural ceramics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ellingson, W.A.; Roberts, R.A.; Vannier, M.W.; Ackerman, J.L.; Sawicka, B.D.; Gronemeyer, S.; Kriz, R.J.

    1987-01-01

    Advanced nondestructive evaluation methods are being developed to characterize ceramic materials and allow improvement of process technology. If one can spatially determine porosity, map organic binder/plasticizer distributions, measure average through-volume and in-plane density, as well as detect inclusions, process and machining operations may be modified to enhance the reliability of ceramics. Two modes of X-ray tomographic imaging -- advanced film (analog) tomography and computed tomography -- are being developed to provide flaw detection and density profile mapping capability. Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging is being developed to determine porosity and map the distribution of organic binder/plasticizer. Ultrasonic backscatter and through-transmission are being developed to measure average through-thickness densities and detect surface inclusions

  9. Evaluation of Internal Cracks and Collapse in Poplar Wood (Populus nigra during a Conventional Drying Process with Ultrasonic Inspection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saeid ESHAGHI

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available In this research, internal cracks and collapse of wood, formed during drying process, were measured using ultrasonic inspection. For this purpose, seven poplar (Populus nigra small blocks were dried, according to a time-based schedule. Ultrasonic waves� propagation velocity was measured at both parallel and perpendicular to grain directions, using Sylvatest ultrasound device, during kiln drying process. Results showed that in all dried blocks, waves� propagation velocity in the parallel direction was higher than in the perpendicular direction to grain. Ultrasonic waves� propagation test for non-destructive identification of internal cracks, which occurs in wood during drying process in the parallel direction, was more successful compared to the perpendicular direction. Using ultrasonic waves� propagation test for detection of collapse that occurs in wood during drying process was not useful.

  10. Evaluation of Internal Cracks and Collapse in Poplar Wood (Populus nigra during a Conventional Drying Process with Ultrasonic Inspection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saeid ESHAGHI

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available In this research, internal cracks and collapse of wood, formed during drying process, were measured using ultrasonic inspection. For this purpose, seven poplar (Populus nigra small blocks were dried, according to a time-based schedule. Ultrasonic waves propagation velocity was measured at both parallel and perpendicular to grain directions, using Sylvatest ultrasound device, during kiln drying process. Results showed that in all dried blocks, waves propagation velocity in the parallel direction was higher than in the perpendicular direction to grain. Ultrasonic waves propagation test for non-destructive identification of internal cracks, which occurs in wood during drying process in the parallel direction, was more successful compared to the perpendicular direction. Using ultrasonic waves propagation test for detection of collapse that occurs in wood during drying process was not useful.

  11. Monitoring of Freeze-Thaw Cycles in Concrete Using Embedded Sensors and Ultrasonic Imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ranz, Javier; Aparicio, Sofía; Romero, Héctor; Casati, María Jesús; Molero, Miguel; González, Margarita

    2014-01-01

    This paper deals with the study of damage produced during freeze-thaw (F-T) cycles using two non-destructive measurement approaches—the first approach devoted to continuous monitoring using embedded sensors during the cycles, and the second one, performing ultrasonic imaging before and after the cycles. Both methodologies have been tested in two different types of concrete specimens, with and without air-entraining agents. Using the first measurement approach, the size and distribution of pores were estimated using a thermoporometrical model and continuous measurements of temperature and ultrasonic velocity along cycles. These estimates have been compared with the results obtained using mercury porosimetry testing. In the second approach, the damage due to F-T cycles has been evaluated by automated ultrasonic transmission and pulse-echo inspections made before and after the cycles. With these inspections the variations in the dimensions, velocity and attenuation caused by the accelerated F-T cycles were determined. PMID:24481231

  12. Non-destructive evaluation methods to improve quality control in low enrichment MTR fuel plate production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Milne, J.M.; Lidington, B.; Hawker, B.M.

    1991-01-01

    This paper summarises some preliminary non-destructive measurements made recently at the Harwell Laboratory on a prototype low enrichment MTR fuel plate. The measurements were intended to indicate the potential of two different techniques for improving quality control in plate production. Pulse Video Thermography (PVT) is being considered as an alternative to ultrasound transmission measurements for the detection and sizing of lack of thermal bonding between the fuel and the clad layers, either to verify the indications from the established ultrasonic methods before destroying the plate or as a replacement method of inspection. High frequency pulse-echo ultrasonics is being considered for providing maps of clad layer thickness on each side of the plate. The measurements have indicated the potential for both methods, but more work is required, using a test plate containing controlled defects, to establish their capability. (orig.)

  13. First nondestructive measurements of power MOSFET single event burnout cross sections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oberg, D.L.; Wert, J.L.

    1987-01-01

    A new technique to nondestructively measure single event burnout cross sections for N-channel power MOSFETs is presented. Previous measurements of power MOSFET burnout susceptibility have been destructive and thus not conducive to providing statistically meaningful burnout probabilities. The nondestructive technique and data for various device types taken at several accelerators, including the LBL Bevalac, are documented. Several new phenomena are observed

  14. Eddy current and ultrasonic fuel channel inspection at Karachi Nuclear Power Plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mayo, W.R.; Alam, M.M.

    1997-01-01

    In November of 1993 and in-service inspection was performed on eight fuel channels in the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP) reactor. The workscope included ultrasonic and eddy current volumetric examinations, and eddy current measurement of pressure-to calandria tube gap. This paper briefly discusses the planning strategy of the ultrasonic and eddy current examinations, and describes the equipment developed to meet the requirements, followed by details of the actual channel inspection campaign. The presented nondestructive examinations assisted in determining fitness for service of KANUPP reactor channels in general, and confirmed that the problems associated with channel G12 were not generic in nature. (author)

  15. Picosecond ultrasonics study of the modification of interfacial bonding by ion implantation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tas, G.; Loomis, J.J.; Maris, H.J.; Bailes, A.A. III; Seiberling, L.E.

    1998-01-01

    We report on experiments in which picosecond ultrasonic techniques are used to investigate the modification of interfacial bonding that results from ion implantation. The bonding is studied through measurements of the acoustic reflection coefficient at the interface. This method is nondestructive and can be used to create a map of the variation of the bonding over the area of the interface. copyright 1998 American Institute of Physics

  16. Computer simulation of ultrasonic testing for aerospace vehicle

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yamawaki, H [National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1, Sengen, 305-0047 Tsukuba (Japan); Moriya, S; Masuoka, T [Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 1 Koganesawa, Kimigawa, 981-1525 Kakuda (Japan); Takatsubo, J, E-mail: yamawaki.hisashi@nims.go.jp [Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, AIST Tsukuba Central 2, 1-1-1 Umezono, 305-8568 Tsukuba (Japan)

    2011-01-01

    Non-destructive testing techniques are developed to secure reliability of aerospace vehicles used repetitively. In the case of cracks caused by thermal stress on walls in combustion chambers of liquid-fuel rockets, it is examined by ultrasonic waves visualization technique developed in AIST. The technique is composed with non-contact ultrasonic generation by pulsed-laser scanning, piezoelectric transducer for the ultrasonic detection, and image reconstruction processing. It enables detection of defects by visualization of ultrasonic waves scattered by the defects. In NIMS, the condition of the detection by the visualization is investigated using computer simulation for ultrasonic propagation that has capability of fast 3-D calculation. The simulation technique is based on finite-difference method and two-step elastic wave equations. It is reported about the investigation by the calculation, and shows availability of the simulation for the ultrasonic testing technique of the wall cracks.

  17. Nondestructive testing of concrete structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rufino, Randy R.; Relunia, Estrella

    1999-01-01

    Nondestructive testing of concrete is highly inhomogeneous which makes it cumbersome to setup experimental procedures and analyze experimental data. However, recent research and development activities have discovered the different methods of NDT, like the electromagnetic method, ultrasonic pulse velocity test, pulse echo/impact echo test, infrared thermography, radar or short pulse radar techniques, neutron and gamma radiometry, radiography, carbonation test and half-cell potential method available for NDT of concrete structures. NDT of concrete is emerging as a useful tool for quality control and assurance. This papers also describes the more common NDT methods discussed during the two-week course on 'Nondestructive Testing of Concrete Structures', held at the Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology Research (MINT) in Malaysia, which was jointly organized by MINT and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

  18. The reliability of ultrasonic inspection and the critical defect size

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vasilchenko, G.S.; Bely, V.E.; Ovchinnikov, A.V.; Rivkin, E.Yu.

    1991-01-01

    The ability to detect fabrication and service-induced defects in the welded joints of components and pipelines in nuclear power stations by ultrasonic inspection when this is conducted by using standard instruments and procedures appears to be insufficient. This fact was confirmed by the research carried out in PISC program and other studies. In order to increase the accuracy of measurement and to obtain the additional information on the character of any defect in ultrasonic testing as well as the validity of applying nondestructive testing data to strength calculation, scientific researches have been promoted and carried out in the USSR in a program under the guidance of NPO CNIITMASH. The reliability of the ultrasonic control of welded joints and the ways and means for its improvement are discussed. The presentation of the parameters realized by the ultrasonic inspection of defects in the form of schema for the use in strength calculation is explained. The calculation of stress intensity factor, the estimation of critical defect size, and the estimation of acceptable defect size are reported. (K.I.)

  19. Ultrasonic phased arrays for nondestructive inspection of forgings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wuestenberg, H.; Rotter, B.; Klanke, H.P.; Harbecke, D.

    1993-01-01

    Ultrasonic examinations on large forgings like rotor shafts for turbines or components for nuclear reactors are carried out at various manufacturing stages and during in-service inspections. During the manufacture, most of the inspections are carried out manually. Special in-service conditions, such as those at nuclear pressure vessels, have resulted in the development of mechanized scanning equipment. Ultrasonic probes have improved, and well-adapted sound fields and pulse shapes and based on special imaging procedures for the representation of the reportable reflectors have been applied. Since the geometry of many forgings requires the use of a multitude of angles for the inspections in-service and during manufacture, phased-array probes can be used successfully. The main advantages of the phased-array concept, e.g. the generation of a multitude of angles with the typical increase of redundancy in detection and quantitative evaluation and the possibility to produce pictures of defect situations, will be described in this contribution

  20. The real defect and its nondestructive characterization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Licht, H.

    1982-01-01

    Nondestructive test techniques to evaluate defect severity and component degradation are typically based on transmission of energy into the material to be inspected. The capabilities of such techniques are controlled by physical phenomena which generally do not coincide with inspection requirements. This paper reviews several recent developments (mainly in ultrasonic and eddy current testing) which highlight the state of the art

  1. Ultrasonic system for NDE of fruits and vegetables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jhang, Kyung Young; Jung, Gyoo Hong; Kim, Man Soo

    1999-01-01

    The nondestructive internal quality evaluation of agricultural products has been strongly required from the needs for individual inspection. In recent, ultrasonic wave has been considered as a solution for this problem. This study is to construct the ultrasonic inspection system for fruits and vegetables on the basis of pre-knowledge that general frequency band(higher than 100 kHz) ultrasonic waves do not transmitted well due to severe attenuation. Our system includes ultrasonic pulser and receiver, transducers(50 kHz), acoustic hem, pneumatic controller and signal processing units (PC). In order to confirm the performance, several samples (apple, pear, persimmon, kiwi fruit, potato and radish) were tested, and the results showed sufficient possibility to apply to NDE of fruits and vegetables.

  2. Phased Array Ultrasonic Evaluation of Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) Nozzle Weld

    Science.gov (United States)

    James, Steve; Engel, J.; Kimbrough, D.; Suits, M.; Hopson, George (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    This viewgraph presentation gives an overview of the phased array ultrasonic evaluation of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) nozzle weld. Details are given on the nondestructive testing evaluation approach, conventional shear wave and phased array techniques, and an x-ray versus phased array risk analysis. The field set-up was duplicated to the greatest extent possible in the laboratory and the phased array ultrasonic technique was developed and validated prior to weld evaluation. Results are shown for the phased array ultrasonic evaluation and conventional ultrasonic evaluation results.

  3. Numerical and Experimental Characterization of a Composite Secondary Bonded Adhesive Lap Joint Using the Ultrasonics method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, M. R.; Ghosh, A.; Karuppannan, D.

    2018-05-01

    The construction of aircraft using advanced composites have become very popular during the past two decades, in which many innovative manufacturing processes, such as cocuring, cobonding, and secondary bonding processes, have been adopted. The secondary bonding process has become less popular than the other two ones because of nonavailability of process database and certification issues. In this article, an attempt is made to classify the quality of bonding using nondestructive ultrasonic inspection methods. Specimens were prepared and tested using the nondestructive ultrasonic Through Transmission (TT), Pulse Echo (PE), and air coupled guided wave techniques. It is concluded that the ultrasonic pulse echo technique is the best one for inspecting composite secondary bonded adhesive joints.

  4. Correlation of mechanical properties with nondestructive evaluation of babbitt metal/bronze composite interface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ijiri, Y.; Liaw, P. K.; Taszarek, B. J.; Frohlich, S.; Gungor, M. N.

    1988-09-01

    Interfaces of the babbitt metal-bronze composite were examined ultrasonically and were fractured using the Chalmers test method. It was found that the ultrasonic results correlated with the bond strength, the ductility, and the degree of bonding at the tested interface. Specifically, high ultrasonic reflection percentages were associated with low bond strength, low ductility, and low percentages of bonded regions. The fracture mechanism in the bonded area of the babbitt-bronze interface is related to the presence of the intermetallic compound, Cu6Sn5, at the interface. It is suggested that the non-destructive ultrasonic technique can detect the bond integrity of babbitted metals.

  5. Economic importance of non-destructive testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Loebert, P.

    1979-01-01

    On May 21 to 23, 1979, the annual meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Zerstoerungsfreie Pruefung took place in Lindau near the Bodensee lake. About 600 experts from Germany and abroad participated in the meeting, whose general subject was 'The Economic Importance of Non-Destructive Testing'. Theoretical problems and practical investigations were discussed in a number of papers on special subjects. Apart from the 33 papers, there was also a poster show with 53 stands with texts, drawings, diagrams, and figures where the authors informed those interested on the latest state of knowledge in testing. The short papers were read in six sessions under the headings of rentability of non-destructive testing, X-ray methods, electromagnetic methods, and ultrasonic methods 1 and 2. (orig.) [de

  6. Dental hard tissue characterization using laser-based ultrasonics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blodgett, David W.; Massey, Ward L.

    2003-07-01

    Dental health care and research workers require a means of imaging the structures within teeth in vivo. One critical need is the detection of tooth decay in its early stages. If decay can be detected early enough, the process can be monitored and interventional procedures, such as fluoride washes and controlled diet, can be initiated to help re-mineralize the tooth. Currently employed x-ray imaging is limited in its ability to visualize interfaces and incapable of detecting decay at a stage early enough to avoid invasive cavity preparation followed by a restoration. To this end, non-destructive and non-contact in vitro measurements on extracted human molars using laser-based ultrasonics are presented. Broadband ultrasonic waves are excited in the extracted sections by using a pulsed carbon-dioxide (CO2) laser operating in a region of high optical absorption in the dental hard tissues. Optical interferometric detection of the ultrasonic wave surface displacements in accomplished with a path-stabilized Michelson-type interferometer. Results for bulk and surface in-vitro characterization of caries are presented on extracted molars with pre-existing caries.

  7. Aging management of major LWR components with nondestructive evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shah, V.N.; MacDonald, P.E.; Akers, D.W.; Sellers, C.; Murty, K.L.; Miraglia, P.Q.; Mathew, M.D.; Haggag, F.M.

    1997-01-01

    Nondestructive evaluation of material damage can contribute to continued safe, reliable, and economical operation of nuclear power plants through their current and renewed license period. The aging mechanisms active in the major light water reactor components are radiation embrittlement, thermal aging, stress corrosion cracking, flow-accelerated corrosion, and fatigue, which reduce fracture toughness, structural strength, or fatigue resistance of the components and challenge structural integrity of the pressure boundary. This paper reviews four nondestructive evaluation methods with the potential for in situ assessment of damage caused by these mechanisms: stress-strain microprobe for determining mechanical properties of reactor pressure vessel and cast stainless materials, magnetic methods for estimating thermal aging damage in cast stainless steel, positron annihilation measurements for estimating early fatigue damage in reactor coolant system piping, and ultrasonic guided wave technique for detecting cracks and wall thinning in tubes and pipes and corrosion damage to embedded portion of metal containments

  8. Challenges of Non-Destructive Assay Waste Measurement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shull, A.H.

    2003-01-01

    Historically, the Savannah River Site (SRS) routinely produced special nuclear material (SNM), which provided stable measurement conditions for the non-destructive assay (NDA) methods. However, the main mission of SRS has changed from the production of SNM to the processing of waste and material stabilization. Currently, the purpose of processing is to recover the SNM from the waste and stabilization materials, much of which is from other DOE facilities. These missions are usually of a short duration, but require non-destructive assay (NDA) accountability measurements on materials of varying composition and geometric configuration. These missions usually have cost and time constraints, which sometimes require re-application of existing NDA methods to waste measurements. Usually, each new material or re-application of the NDA method to a different SNM campaign requires new standards and timely re-calibration of the method. These constraints provide numerous challenges for the NDA methods, particularly in the area of measurement uncertainty. This paper will discuss the challenges of these situations, mainly from a measurement and statistical point of view and provide some possible solutions to the problems encountered. Specific examples will be discussed for the segmented gamma scanner (SGS), neutron multiplicity counter (NMC) and passive neutron coincidence counter (PNCC), which are some of the most common NDA instruments at SRS

  9. A study on non-contact ultrasonic technique for on-line inspection of CFRP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Seung-Joon; Park, Won-Su; Lee, Joon-Hyun; Byun, Joon-Hyung

    2007-01-01

    The advantages of carbon fiber reinforced plastic materials (CFRP) are: they are light structure materials, they have corrosion resistance, and higher specific strength and elasticity. The recently developed 3-dimentional fiber placement system is able to produce a more complex and various shaped structures due to less limitations of a product shape according to the problem in conventional fabrication process. This fiber placement system stacks the narrow prepreg tape on the mold according to the designed sequence and thickness. Non-destructive evaluation was rquired for these composites to evaluate changes in strength caused by defects such as delamination and porosity. Additionally, the expectent quality should be satisfied for the high cost fabrication process using the fiber placement system. Therefore, an on line non-destructive evaluation system is required and real-time complement is needed when the defects are detected [1]. Defect imaging by the ultrasonic C-scan method is a useful technique for defect detection in CFRP. However, the conventional ultrasonic C-scan technique cannot be applied during the fabrication process because the test piece should be immersed into the water. Therefore, non-contact ultrasonic techniques should be applied during the fabricating process. For the development of non-contact ultrasonic techniques available in non-destructive evaluation of CFRP, a recent laser-generated ultrasonic technique and an air-coupled transducer that transmit and receive ultrasounds in the air are studied [2-3]. In this study, generating and receiving techniques of laser-generated ultrasound and the characteristics of received signals upon the internal defects of CFRO were studied for non-contact inspection

  10. A flow meter for ultrasonically measuring the flow velocity of fluids

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2015-01-01

    The invention regards a flow meter for ultrasonically measuring the flow velocity of fluids comprising a duct having a flow channel with an internal cross section comprising variation configured to generate at least one acoustic resonance within the flow channel for a specific ultrasonic frequency......, and at least two transducers for generating and sensing ultrasonic pulses, configured to transmit ultrasonic pulses at least at said specific ultrasonic frequency into the flow channel such that the ultrasonic pulses propagate through a fluid flowing in the flow channel, wherein the flow meter is configured...

  11. Application of non-destructive liner thickness measurement technique for manufacturing and inspection process of zirconium lined cladding tube

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakazawa, Norio; Fukuda, Akihiro; Fujii, Noritsugu; Inoue, Koichi

    1986-01-01

    Recently, in order to meet the difference of electric power demand owing to electric power situation, large scale load following operation has become necessary. Therefore, the development of the cladding tubes which withstand power variation has been carried out, as the result, zirconium-lined zircaloy 2 cladding tubes have been developed. In order to reduce the sensitivity to stress corrosion cracking, these zirconium-lined cladding tubes require uniform liner thickness over the whole surface and whole length. Kobe Steel Ltd. developed the nondestructive liner thickness measuring technique based on ultrasonic flaw detection technique and eddy current flaw detection technique. These equipments were applied to the manufacturing and inspection processes of the zirconium-lined cladding tubes, and have demonstrated superiority in the control and assurance of the liner thickness of products. Zirconium-lined cladding tubes, the development of the measuring technique for guaranteeing the uniform liner thickness and the liner thickness control in the manufacturing and inspection processes are described. (Kako, I.)

  12. Nonlinear Wave Mixing Technique for Nondestructive Assessment of Infrastructure Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ju, Taeho

    To operate safely, structures and components need to be inspected or monitored either periodically or in real time for potential failure. For this purpose, ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques have been used extensively. Most of these ultrasonic NDE techniques utilize only the linear behavior of the ultrasound. These linear techniques are effective in detecting discontinuities in materials such as cracks, voids, interfaces, inclusions, etc. However, in many engineering materials, it is the accumulation of microdamage that leads to degradation and eventual failure of a component. Unfortunately, it is difficult for linear ultrasonic NDE techniques to characterize or quantify such damage. On the other hand, the acoustic nonlinearity parameter (ANLP) of a material is often positively correlated with such damage in a material. Thus, nonlinear ultrasonic NDE methods have been used in recently years to characterize cumulative damage such as fatigue in metallic materials, aging in polymeric materials, and degradation of cement-based materials due to chemical reactions. In this thesis, we focus on developing a suit of novel nonlinear ultrasonic NDE techniques based on the interactions of nonlinear ultrasonic waves, namely wave mixing. First, a noncollinear wave mixing technique is developed to detect localized damage in a homogeneous material by using a pair of noncollinear a longitudinal wave (L-wave) and a shear wave (S-wave). This pair of incident waves make it possible to conduct NDE from a single side of the component, a condition that is often encountered in practical applications. The proposed noncollinear wave mixing technique is verified experimentally by carrying out measurements on aluminum alloy (AA 6061) samples. Numerical simulations using the Finite Element Method (FEM) are also conducted to further demonstrate the potential of the proposed technique to detect localized damage in structural components. Second, the aforementioned nonlinear

  13. Ultrasonic measurements on residual stress in autofrettged thick walled petroleum pipes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Woias, G.; Mizera, J.

    2008-01-01

    The residual stresses in a component or structure are caused by incompatible permanent deformation and related gradient of plastic/elastic strains. They may be generated or modified at every stage in the components life cycle, from original material production to final disposal. Residual stresses can be measured by non-destructive techniques, including X-ray and neutron diffraction, magnetic and ultrasonic methods. The selection of the optimum measurement technique should take account volumetric resolution, material, geometry and access to the component. For large metallic components neutron diffraction is of prime importance as it provides quantitative information on stresses in relatively large volume of methods disregarding its shape complexity. Residual stresses can play a significant role in explaining or preventing failure of components of industrial installations. One example of residual stresses preventing failure are the ones generated by shot peening, inducing surface compressive stresses that improve the fatigue life. Petroleum refinery piping is generally characterized by large-diameters, operated at elevated temperature and under high pressure. Pipelines of a polyethylene plant working in one of the Polish refineries are subjected to pressures exceeding 300 MPa at temperatures above 200 o C. The pipes considered here were pressurized with pressure of 600 MPa. The wall thickness of the pipes is 27 mm and pipe dimensions are 46 x 100 mm. The material is steel with Re=580 MPa. Due to pressurizing, the components retain compressive stresses at the internal surface. These stresses increase resistance to cracking of the pipes. Over the period of exploitation these stresses diminish due to temperature activated relaxation or creep. The purpose of the project is to verify kinetics of such a relaxation process and calibrate alternative methods of their measurements. To avoid stress relaxation, numerical analysis from Finite Element Modelling (FEM)gave an

  14. Effect of Heat Generation of Ultrasound Transducer on Ultrasonic Power Measured by Calorimetric Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uchida, Takeyoshi; Kikuchi, Tsuneo

    2013-07-01

    Ultrasonic power is one of the key quantities closely related to the safety of medical ultrasonic equipment. An ultrasonic power standard is required for establishment of safety. Generally, an ultrasonic power standard below approximately 20 W is established by the radiation force balance (RFB) method as the most accurate measurement method. However, RFB is not suitable for high ultrasonic power because of thermal damage to the absorbing target. Consequently, an alternative method to RFB is required. We have been developing a measurement technique for high ultrasonic power by the calorimetric method. In this study, we examined the effect of heat generation of an ultrasound transducer on ultrasonic power measured by the calorimetric method. As a result, an excessively high ultrasonic power was measured owing to the effect of heat generation from internal loss in the transducer. A reference ultrasound transducer with low heat generation is required for a high ultrasonic power standard established by the calorimetric method.

  15. Reactor Coolant Temperature Measurement using Ultrasonic Technology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jung, JaeCheon [KEPCO International Nuclear graduate School, Ulsan (Korea, Republic of); Seo, YongSun; Bechue, Nicholas [Krohne Messtechnik GmbH, Duisburg (Germany)

    2016-10-15

    In NPP, the primary piping temperature is detected by four redundant RTDs (Resistance Temperature Detectors) installed 90 degrees apart on the RCS (Reactor Coolant System) piping circumferentially. Such outputs however, if applied to I and C systems would not give balanced results. The discrepancy can be explained by either thermal stratification or improper arrangement of thermo-wells and RTDs. This phenomenon has become more pronounced in the hot-leg piping than in the cold-leg. Normally, the temperature difference among channels is in the range of 1°F in Korean nuclear power Plants. Consequently, a more accurate pipe average temperate measurement technique is required. Ultrasonic methods can be used to measure average temperatures with relatively higher accuracy than RTDs because the sound wave propagation in the RCS pipe is proportional to the average temperature around pipe area. The inaccuracy of RCS temperature measurement worsens the safety margin for both DNBR and LPD. The possibility of this discrepancy has been reported with thermal stratification effect. Proposed RCS temperature measurement system based on ultrasonic technology offers a countermeasure to cope with thermal stratification effect on hot-leg piping that has been an unresolved issue in NPPs. By introducing ultrasonic technology, the average internal piping temperature can be measured with high accuracy. The inaccuracy can be decreased less than ±1℉ by this method.

  16. A PC-based expert system for nondestructive testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shankar, R.; Williams, R.; Smith, C.; Selby, G.

    1991-01-01

    Rule-based decision logic which can emulate problem-solving expertise of humans is being explored for power plant nondestructive evaluation (NDE) applications. This paper describes an effort underway at the EPRI NDE Center to assist in the interpretation of NDE data acquired by automatic systems during ultrasonic weld examination of boiling-water reactors (BWRs). A personal computer (PC) -based expert system shell was used to encode rules and assemble knowledge to address the discrimination of intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) from benign reflectors in the inspection of pipe-to-component welds. The rules attempt to factor in plant inspection history, ultrasonic examination data nd, if available, radiography testing data; a majority of them deal with specific ultrasonic signal temporal and spatial behavior during automatic scanning. The paper describes the efforts in the development of the expert system

  17. Final results of double-shell tank 241-AZ-101 ultrasonic inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    JENSEN, C.E.

    1999-01-01

    This document presents the results and documentation of the nondestructive ultrasonic examination of tank 241-AZ-101. A tank inspection supplier was retained to provide and use an ultrasonic examination system (equipment, procedures, and inspectors) to scan a limited area of double-shell tank 241-AZ-101 primary tank wall and welds. The inspection found one reportable indication of thinning and no reportable pitting, corrosion, or cracking

  18. Further Experiments with Lok-Test and Ultrasonic Test in Relation to Fresh and Hardened Concrete

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jens Kristian Jehrbo

    Lok-test is mainly a non-destructive pull-out test for determination of concrete strength. The method is deseribed in (l) and it is detailed discussed in theory (2). The method is welknown in practice. Ultrasonic is commonly used for investigations of several materials, especially concrete. In a ....... In a project (3) about non-destructive testing of concrete different methods and the relations to concrete are discussed in theory and practice. This paper point out some interesting results from further experiments in this area.......Lok-test is mainly a non-destructive pull-out test for determination of concrete strength. The method is deseribed in (l) and it is detailed discussed in theory (2). The method is welknown in practice. Ultrasonic is commonly used for investigations of several materials, especially concrete...

  19. Feasibility on fiber orientation detection on unidirectional CFRP composite laminates using nondestructive evaluation techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, In-Young; Kim, Ji-Hoon; Cha, Cheon-Seok; Lee, Kil-Sung; Hsu, David K.; Im, Kwang-Hee

    2007-07-01

    In particular, CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastics) composite materials have found wide applicability because of their inherent design flexibility and improved material properties. CFRP composites were manufactured from uni-direction prepreg sheet in this paper. It is important to assess fiber orientation, material properties and part defect in order to ensure product quality and structural integrity of CFRP because strength and stiffness of composites depend on fiber orientation. It is desirable to perform nondestructive evaluation which is very beneficial. An new method for nondestructively determining the fiber orientation in a composite laminate is presented. A one-sided pitch-catch setup was used in the detection and evaluation of flaws and material anomalies in the unidirectional CFRP composite laminates. Two Rayleigh wave transducers were joined head-to-head and used in the pitch-catch mode on the surface of the composites. The pitch-catch signal was found to be more sensitive than normal incidence backwall echo of longitudinal wave to subtle flaw conditions in the composite. Especially, ultrasonic waves were extensively characterized in the CFRP composite laminates both normal to fiber and along to fiber with using a one-sided direction of Rayleigh wave transducers. Also, one-sided ultrasonic measurement was made with using a Rayleigh wave transducers and a conventional scanner was used in an immersion tank for extracting fiber orientation information from the ultrasonic reflection in the unidirectional laminate. Therefore, it is thought that the proposed method is useful to evaluate integrity of CFRP laminates.

  20. Utilization and reliability of nondestructive testing in ordnance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maranhao, M.; Alves, L.E.G.

    1983-01-01

    Information about nondestructive testing used in ordnance are presented. For propellants and breaking load ultrasonic testing and X-ray are used. For skyrocket propellants the X-ray is used to test the continuity of the explosive mass and the burn inhibiting agent. For rupture explosive, the X-ray is used to test the continuity of explosive mass. (E.G.) [pt

  1. Measurement of transitional flow in pipes using ultrasonic flowmeters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zheng-Gang, Liu; Guang-Sheng, Du; Zhu-Feng, Shao; Qian-Ran, He; Chun-Li, Zhou, E-mail: lzhenggang@sdu.edu.cn [School of Energy and Power Engineering, Qian-Fo-shan campus, Shandong University, Jinan City 250061, Shandong Province (China)

    2014-10-01

    The accuracy of an ultrasonic flowmeter depends on the ratio k of average profile velocity of pipe and average velocity of an ultrasonic propagation path. But there is no appropriate method of calculating k for transition flow. In this paper, the velocity field of the transition flow in a pipe is measured by particle image velocimetry. On this basis, the k of U-shaped and V-shaped ultrasonic flowmeter is obtained when Reynolds number is between 2000 and 20 000. It is shown that the k is constant when the Reynolds number is in the range of 2000–2400 and 5400–20 000, and the k decreases with the increasing of Re when the Reynolds number is 2400–5400. The results of study can be used to improve the measurement accuracy of ultrasonic flowmeters when flow is transition flow and can provide help for the study of pipe flow. (paper)

  2. Light scattering by ultrasonically-controlled small particles: system design, calibration, and measurement results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kassamakov, Ivan; Maconi, Göran; Penttilä, Antti; Helander, Petteri; Gritsevich, Maria; Puranen, Tuomas; Salmi, Ari; Hæggström, Edward; Muinonen, Karri

    2018-02-01

    We present the design of a novel scatterometer for precise measurement of the angular Mueller matrix profile of a mm- to µm-sized sample held in place by sound. The scatterometer comprises a tunable multimode Argon-krypton laser (with possibility to set 1 of the 12 wavelengths in visible range), linear polarizers, a reference photomultiplier tube (PMT) for monitoring the beam intensity, and a micro-PMT module mounted radially towards the sample at an adjustable radius. The measurement angle is controlled by a motor-driven rotation stage with an accuracy of 15'. The system is fully automated using LabVIEW, including the FPGA-based data acquisition and the instrument's user interface. The calibration protocol ensures accurate measurements by using a control sphere sample (diameter 3 mm, refractive index of 1.5) fixed first on a static holder followed by accurate multi-wavelength measurements of the same sample levitated ultrasonically. To demonstrate performance of the scatterometer, we conducted detailed measurements of light scattered by a particle derived from the Chelyabinsk meteorite, as well as planetary analogue materials. The measurements are the first of this kind, since they are obtained using controlled spectral angular scattering including linear polarization effects, for arbitrary shaped objects. Thus, our novel approach permits a non-destructive, disturbance-free measurement with control of the orientation and location of the scattering object.

  3. Introduction to non-destructive testing of materials: part II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahmed, M.; Ahmed, B.

    2001-01-01

    Ultrasonic waves are mechanical vibrations that require a medium, which functions as carrier. Ultrasonics are widely used in non-destructive testing of materials in which high frequency sound waves are introduced into the material being inspected. If the frequency of sound waves in within the range 10 to 20,000 Hz, the sound is audible, i.e. the range of hearing, above 20,000 Hz, the sound waves are referred to as Ultrasound or Ultrasonics. Sound waves do not cause any permanent change in material although its transient presence is very noticeable. An energy transport through a sound wave is possible only when constituent particles are connected to each other by elastic forces. Liquids and Gases are also suitable media for the transmission of sound. In vacuum no matter exists and thus no sound transmission is possible. At the end of this article advantages and limitations of ultrasonic testing are also given. (A.B.)

  4. Non-destructive testing of a NPP's metallic equipment during operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brodskij, B.R.; Monina, Eh.F.

    1977-01-01

    Some nondestructive testing methods and facilities currently used in the USSR and overseas to remotely control the quality of a NPPs metallic equipment during operation are reviewed. The ultrasonic and γ scanning devices designed to verify the integrity of nuclear reactor pressure vessels and piping weldments are considered. The acoustic emission techniques, ultrasonic holography and routine ultrasonic fault detection are acknowledged the most promising and safe when applied to reactor vessels. On the other hand, the radiographic methods are pointed out not to quarantee the identification of a flaw. There is also a description of a container designed to maintain and repair a nuclear reactor in the highly radioactive environment. The increased interest of foreign firms towards acoustic emission techniques is stressed

  5. Design - manufacturing and characterization of specific ultrasonic probes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petit, J.

    1985-01-01

    Optimization of ultrasonic examinations requires essentially to determine precisely parameters used for manufacturing of probes and to check characteristics of beams used. The system presented permits an automatic determination of dimensions of beams in conditions which are totally representative of those of their use. In the field of ultrasonic examinations a good estimate or knowledge of sound beams is of great help to solve difficult examination problems. The FRAMATOME's Centre d'Etude et de Recherche en Essais Non Destructifs (CEREND) : (Study and Research Center in Non-Destructive Testing) has developed and elaborated various techniques in order to improve ultrasonic examinations with specific probes. These techniques concern design, manufacturing and characterization of these probes

  6. Characterization of microstructures in austenitic stainless steels by ultrasonics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raj, Baldev; Palanichamy, P.; Jayakumar, T.; Kumar, Anish; Vasudevan, M.; Shankar, P.

    2000-01-01

    Recently, many nondestructive techniques have been considered for microstructural characterization of materials to enable in-situ component assessment for pre-service quality and in-service performance. Ultrasonic parameters have been used for estimation of average grain size, evaluation of recrystallization after cold working, and characterization of Cr2N precipitation during thermal aging in different grades of austenitic stainless steels. Ultrasonic first back wall echo signals were obtained from several specimens of AISI type 316 stainless steel with different grain sizes. Shift in the spectral peak frequency and the change in the full width at half maximum of the autopower spectrum of the first back wall echo are correlated with the grain size in the range 30-150 microns. The advantages of this method are: (i) independence of variation in couplant conditions (ii), applicable even to highly attenuating materials, (iii) direct correlation of the ultrasonic parameters with yield strength and (iv) suitability for shop-floor applications. Recrystallization behavior (temperature range 973-1173 K and time durations 0.5-1000 h) of cold worked titanium modified 316 stainless steel (D9) has been characterized using ultrasonic velocity measurements. A velocity parameter derived using a combination of shear and longitudinal wave velocities is correlated with the degree of recrystallization. These velocity measurement could also identify onset, progress and completion of recrystallization more accurately as compared to hardness and strength measurements. Ultrasonic velocity measurements were performed in thermally aged (at 1123 K for 10 to 2000 h) nuclear grade 316 LN stainless steel. Change in velocity due to thermal aging treatment could be used to reveal the formation of (i) Cr-N clusters associated with high lattice strains, (ii) coherent Cr2N precipitation, (iii) loss of coherency and (iv) growth of incoherent Cr2N precipitates. Microstructural characterization by

  7. Damage detection in composites using nonlinear ultrasonically modulated thermography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malfense Fierro, G.-P.; Dionysopoulos, D.; Meo, M.; Ciampa, F.

    2018-03-01

    This paper proposes a novel nonlinear ultrasonically stimulated thermography technique for a quick and reliable assessment of material damage in carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) composite materials. The proposed nondestructive evaluation (NDE) method requires narrow sweep ultrasonic excitation using contact piezoelectric transducers in order to identify dual excitation frequencies associated with the damage resonance. High-amplitude signals and higher harmonic generation are necessary conditions for an accurate identification of these two input frequencies. Dual periodic excitation using high- and low-frequency input signals was then performed in order to generate frictional heating at the crack location that was measured by an infrared (IR) camera. To validate this concept, an impact damaged CFRP composite panel was tested and the experimental results were compared with traditional flash thermography. A laser vibrometer was used to investigate the response of the material with dual frequency excitation. The proposed nonlinear ultrasonically modulated thermography successfully detected barely visible impact damage in CFRP composites. Hence, it can be considered as an alternative to traditional flash thermography and thermosonics by allowing repeatable detection of damage in composites.

  8. Non-destructive evaluation on mechanical properties of nuclear graphite with porous structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shibata, Taiju; Hanawa, Satoshi; Sumita, Junya; Tada, Tatsuya; Sawa, Kazuhiro; Iyoku, Tatsuo

    2005-01-01

    As a research subjects of 'Research and development for advanced high temperature gas cooled reactor fuels and graphite components,' we started the study of development of non-destructive evaluation methods for mechanical properties of graphite components. The micro-indentation and ultrasonic wave methods are focused to evaluate the degradation of graphite components in VHTR core. For the micro-indentation method, the test apparatus was designed for the indentation test on graphite specimens with some stress levels. It is expected the stress condition is evaluated by the indentation load-depth characteristics and hardness. For the ultrasonic wave method, ultrasonic wave testing machine and probes were prepared for experiments. It is expected that the stress and inner porous conditions are evaluated by the wave propagation characteristics with wave-pore interaction model. R and D plan to develop the non-destructive evaluation method for graphite is presented in this paper. (This study is the result of contract research in the fiscal year of 2004, Research and development for advanced high temperature gas cooled reactor fuels and graphite components,' which is entrusted to the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.) (author)

  9. Development of non-destructive testing. Turkey

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-01-01

    A National Scheme for the qualification and certification of Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) personnel in various methods has been established as the first stage of implementation. Systematic training in such methods as radiography (RT), ultrasonics (UT), magnetic particles (MT), liquid penetrant (PT) and eddy currents (ET) at levels I, II and some at III has been initiated and should be continued. Direct link with the industry and continuous effort to extend practical applications is strongly recommended

  10. New technologies in electromagnetic non-destructive testing

    CERN Document Server

    Huang, Songling

    2016-01-01

    This book introduces novel developments in the field of electromagnetic non-destructive testing and evaluation (NDT/E). The topics include electromagnetic ultrasonic guided wave testing, pulsed eddy current testing, remote field eddy current testing, low frequency eddy current testing, metal magnetic memory testing, and magnetic flux leakage testing. Considering the increasing concern about the safety maintenance of critical structures in various industries and everyday life, these topics presented here will be of particular interest to the readers in the NDT/E field. This book covers both theoretical researches and the engineering applications of the electromagnetic NDT technology. It could serve as a valuable reference for college students and relevant NDT technicians. It is also a useful material for qualification training and higher learning for nondestructive testing professionals.

  11. Final results of double-shell tank 241-AY-102 ultrasonic inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    JENSEN, C.E.

    1999-01-01

    This document presents the results and documentation of the nondestructive ultrasonic examination of tank 241-AY-102. A tank inspection supplier was retained to provide and use an ultrasonic examination system (equipment, procedures, and inspectors) to scan a limited area of double-shell tank 241-AY-102 primary tank wall and welds. The inspection found some indication of insignificant general and local wall thinning with no cracks detected

  12. Final results of double-shell tank 241-AN-105 ultrasonic inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    JENSEN, C.E.

    1999-01-01

    This document presents the results and documentation of the nondestructive ultrasonic examination of tank 241-AN-105. A tank inspection supplier was retained to provide and use an ultrasonic examination system (equipment, procedures, and inspectors) to scan a limited area of double-shell tank 241-AN-105 primary tank wall primary knuckle, and secondary tank bottom. The inspection found some indication of general and local wall thinning with no cracks detected

  13. Noncontact ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation/inspection using laser generation and air coupled transducer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jhang, Kyung Young; Kim, Hong Joon; Cemiglia, Donatella; Djordjevic, Boro

    2001-01-01

    Ultrasonic MDE/I methods have been demonstrated as very effective tool in characterization of cracks and structural defects such as bond-line failures. Most of the ultrasonic testing is performed using conventional contact ultrasonic transducers that cannot be readily adapted to automation and field application. However, for large area inspection contact type is time consuming and as a result, it is important to develop a rapid and more efficient ultrasonic technique. In this paper, laser generation and air-coupled detection of ultrasound is proposed as a solution of non-contact method with no requirement of a coupling medium, and the bond quality of adhesively bonded and riveted aluminum lap splice joints is investigated as an application. A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser and a periodic transmission mask are used to generate a selected Lamb mode. The experimental show that multi-line laser source produces significant directed ultrasound and that the presence of defects can be detected reliably from the attenuation of signal amplitude. These results demonstrate that the proposed technique is well suitable and flexible for non-contact NDE/I applications.

  14. Application of positron annihilation techniques in non-destructive testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zeng Hui; Chen Zhiqiang; Jiang Jing; Xue Xudong; Wu Yichu; Liang Jianping; Liu Xiangbing; Wang Rongshan

    2014-01-01

    Background: The investigation of the material damage state is very important for industrial application. Most mechanical damage starts with a change in the microstructure of the material. Positron annihilation techniques are very sensitive probes for detecting defects and damage on an atomic scale in materials, which are of great concern in the engineering applications. Additionally they are apparatus of non-destruction, high-sensitivity and easy-use. Purpose: Our goal is to develop a system to exploit new non-destructive testing (NDT) methods using positron annihilation spectroscopy, a powerful tool to detect vacancy-type defects and their chemical environment. Methods: A positron NDT system was designed and constructed by modifying the 'sandwich structure' of sample-source-sample in conventional Doppler broadening and positron lifetime spectrometers. Doppler broadening and positron lifetime spectra of a single sample can be measured and analyzed by subtracting the contribution of a reference sample. Results: The feasibility and reliability of positron NDT system have been tested by analyzing nondestructively deformation and damage caused by mechanical treatment or by irradiation of metal alloys. This system can be used for detecting defects and damage in thick or large-size samples, as well as for measuring the two-dimension distribution of defects in portable, sensitive, fast way. Conclusion: Positron NDT measurement shows changes in real atomic-scale defects prior to changes in the mechanical properties, which are detectable by other methods of NDT, such as ultrasonic testing and eddy current testing. This system can be developed for use in both the laboratory and field in the future. (authors)

  15. A Portable Ultrasonic Nondestructive Inspection System for Metal Matrix Composite Track Shoes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mi Bao; Zhao Xiaoliang; Qian Tao; Stevenson, Mark; Kwan, Chiman; Owens, Steven E.; Royer, Roger L. Jr.; Tittmann, Bernhard R.; Raju, Basavaraju B.

    2007-01-01

    Cast aluminum track shoes reinforced with metal matrix composite (MMC) inserts at heavy loading areas such as center splines and sprocket windows are light in weight, and can resist high temperature and wear. Various defects such as disbonds at the insert-substrate interface, cracks and porosity in the MMC layer, etc. can be introduced during the manufacturing process and/or in service. This paper presents a portable ultrasonic system to automatically inspect tank track shoes for disbond. Ultrasonic pulse/echo inspection has shown good reliability for disbond detection. A prototype sensor array fixture has been designed and fabricated to prove the feasibility. Good agreements between the sensor fixture results and ultrasonic C-scan images were obtained

  16. Nondestructive evaluation of creep-fatigue damage: an interim report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nickell, R.E.

    1977-02-01

    In view of the uncertainties involved in designing against creep-fatigue failure and the consequences of such failures in Class 1 nuclear components that operate at elevated temperature, the possibility of intermittent or even continuous non-destructive examination of these components has been considered. In this interim report some preliminary results on magnetic force and ultrasonic evaluation of creep-fatigue damage in an LMFBR steam generator material are presented. These results indicate that the non-destructive evaluation of pure creep damage will be extremely difficult. A set of biaxial creep-fatigue tests that are designed to discriminate between various failure theories is also described

  17. Fatigue crack growth monitoring: fracture mechanics and non-destructive testing requirements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Williams, S.; Mudge, P.J.

    1982-01-01

    If a fatigue crack is found in a component in service, two options exist if plant integrity is to be maintained: first, the plant can be removed from service and repairs effected or replacements fitted; second, the growth of the crack can be monitored non-destructively until it is either considered to be too large to tolerate, in which case it must be repaired, or until a convenient down time when repair can be effected. The second option has obvious benefits for plant operators, but in such a situation it is essential that errors of the non-destructive estimate of defect size, which will undoubtedly exist, and uncertainties in the fatigue crack growth laws in operation must both be allowed for if a safe extension of service life is to be obtained; i.e. without failure by leakage or fast fracture arising from the fatigue crack. This paper analyses the accuracy required of non-destructive crack measurement techniques to permit the safe monitoring of crack growth by periodic inspection. It then demonstrates that it is possible to achieve adequate crack monitoring using conventional ultrasonic techniques. (author)

  18. Analysis of Ultrasonic Resonance Signal in Multi-Layered Structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Jae Hoon; Kim, Dong Ryun

    2012-01-01

    Ultrasonic testing are far superior to other nondestructive tests for detecting the disbond interface which occurred in adhesive interface. However, a solid rocket motor consisting of a steel case, rubber insulation, liner, and propellant poses many difficulties for analyzing ultrasonic waves because of the superposition of reflected waves and large differences in acoustic impedance of various materials. Therefore, ultrasonic tests for detecting the disbond interface in solid rocket motor have been applied in very limited areas between the steel case and rubber insulation using an automatic C-scan system. The existing ultrasonic test cannot detect the disbond interface between the liner and propellant of a solid rocket motor because most of the ultrasonic waves are absorbed in the rubber material which has low acoustic impedance. This problem could be overcome by analyzing the resonance frequency from the frequency spectrum using the ultrasonic resonance method. In this paper, a new technique to detect the disbond interface between the liner and propellant using ultrasonic resonance characteristics is discussed in detail.

  19. Analysis of Ultrasonic Resonance Signal in Multi-Layered Structure

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Jae Hoon [Dept. of Mechanical Design Engineering, Chungnam National University, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Dong Ryun [Agency for Defense Development, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2012-08-15

    Ultrasonic testing are far superior to other nondestructive tests for detecting the disbond interface which occurred in adhesive interface. However, a solid rocket motor consisting of a steel case, rubber insulation, liner, and propellant poses many difficulties for analyzing ultrasonic waves because of the superposition of reflected waves and large differences in acoustic impedance of various materials. Therefore, ultrasonic tests for detecting the disbond interface in solid rocket motor have been applied in very limited areas between the steel case and rubber insulation using an automatic C-scan system. The existing ultrasonic test cannot detect the disbond interface between the liner and propellant of a solid rocket motor because most of the ultrasonic waves are absorbed in the rubber material which has low acoustic impedance. This problem could be overcome by analyzing the resonance frequency from the frequency spectrum using the ultrasonic resonance method. In this paper, a new technique to detect the disbond interface between the liner and propellant using ultrasonic resonance characteristics is discussed in detail.

  20. Guidebook on non-destructive testing of concrete structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    The International Atomic Energy Agency has been active in the promotion of non-destructive testing (NDT) technology for many years. NDT is an important component of a number of IAEA regional projects. This guidebook deals with NDT of concrete. This book covers a wide range of NDT methods including industrial radiography, ultrasonic testing, electromagnetic testing, infrared thermography, etc. Codes, standards, specifications and procedures are also covered

  1. Experimental investigations of two-phase flow measurement using ultrasonic sensors

    OpenAIRE

    Abbagoni, Baba Musa

    2016-01-01

    This thesis presents the investigations conducted in the use of ultrasonic technology to measure two-phase flow in both horizontal and vertical pipe flows which is important for the petroleum industry. However, there are still key challenges to measure parameters of the multiphase flow accurately. Four methods of ultrasonic technologies were explored. The Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) was first applied to the ultrasound signals of air-water flow on horizontal flow for measur...

  2. Do's and dont's of nondestructive assay measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Menlove, H.O.

    Some of the problem areas and recommended procedures in the application of nondestructive analysis (NDA) instrumentation are discussed. To limit the scope of the present guide, only radiometric NDA techniques employing neutron and gamma signatures are considered. Thus, measurement techniques which primarily make use of alpha particles, beta particles, muonic x rays, heat signatures, etc., are not included. (U.S.)

  3. Pulsed infrared thermography for assessment of ultrasonic welds

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGovern, Megan E.; Rinker, Teresa J.; Sekol, Ryan C.

    2018-03-01

    Battery packs are a critical component in electric vehicles. During pack assembly, the battery cell tab and busbar are ultrasonically welded. The properties of the welds ultimately affect battery pack durability. Quality inspection of these welds is important to ensure durable battery packs. Pack failure is detrimental economically and could also pose a safety hazard, such as thermal runaway. Ultrasonic welds are commonly checked by measuring electrical resistance or auditing using destructive mechanical testing. Resistance measurements are quick, but sensitive to set-up changes. Destructive testing cannot represent the entire weld set. It is possible for a weak weld to satisfy the electrical requirement check, because only sufficient contact between the tabs and busbar is required to yield a low resistance measurement. Laboratory techniques are often not suitable for inline inspection, as they may be time-consuming, use couplant, or are only suitable for coupons. The complex surface geometry also poses difficulties for conventional nondestructive techniques. A method for inspection of ultrasonic welds is proposed using pulsed infrared thermography to identify discrepant welds in a manufacturing environment. Thermal measurements of welds were compared to electrical and mechanical measurements. The heat source distribution was calculated to obtain thermal images with high temporal and spatial resolution. All discrepant welds were readily identifiable using two thermographic techniques: pixel counting and the gradient image. A positive relationship between pixel count and mechanical strength was observed. The results demonstrate the potential of pulsed thermography for inline inspection, which can complement, or even replace, conventional electrical resistance measurements.

  4. Qualifying program on Non-Destructive Testing, Visual Inspection of the welding (level 2)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shafee, M. A.

    2011-01-01

    Nondestructive testing is a wide group of analysis technique used in science and industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage. Common Non-Destructive Testing methods include ultrasonic, magnetic-particle, liquid penetrate, radiographic, visual inspection and eddy-current testing. AAEA put the new book of the Non-Destructive Testing publication series that focused on Q ualifying program on Non-Destructive Testing, visual inspection of welding-level 2 . This book was done in accordance with the Arab standard certification of Non-Destructive Testing (ARAB-NDT-CERT-002) which is agreeing with the ISO-9712 (2005) and IAEA- TEC-DOC-487. It includes twenty one chapters dealing with engineering materials used in industry, the mechanical behavior of metals, metal forming equipments, welding, metallurgy, testing of welds, introduction to Non-Destructive Testing, defects in metals, welding defects and discontinuities, introduction to visual inspection theory, properties and tools of visual testing, visual testing, quality control regulations, standards, codes and specifications, procedures of welding inspections, responsibility of welding test inspector, qualification of Non-Destructive Testing inspector and health safety during working.

  5. Ultrasonic transverse velocity calibration of standard blocks for use in non-destructive testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, C E R; Braz, D S; Maggi, L E; Felix, R P B Costa

    2015-01-01

    Standard blocks are employed in the verification of the equipment used in Ultrasound Non-Destructive Testing. To assure the metrology reliability of all the measurement process, it is necessary to calibrate or certify these Standard blocks. In this work, the transverse wave velocity and main dimensions were assessed according to the specifications ISO Standards. For transverse wave velocity measurement, a 5 MHz transverse wave transducer, a waveform generator, an oscilloscope and a computer with a program developed in LabVIEW TM were used. Concerning the transverse wave velocity calibration, only two Standard blocks of the 4 tested is in accordance with the standard

  6. Measurements of the gap/displacement and development of the ultrasonic temperature measuring system applied to severe accidents research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koo, Kil Mo; Kang, Kyung Ho; Cho, Young Ro; Park, Rae Jun; Kim, Sang Baik; Sim, Chul Moo

    2001-02-01

    This report, in order to measure quantitative LAVA experimental results, focuses on measuring the gap formed on the lower head vessel using a ultrasonic pulse echo method and neutron radiography, measuring displacement of the lower head vessel using capacitance method, building a measuring system and developing high temperature measurement system using ultrasonic method. The scope of gap measurement and system development using the ultrasonic method is 2-dimensional image processing using tomographical B scan method and 2- and 3-dimensional image processing using C scan methods based on the one dimensional time domain A scan signal. For some test specimen, the gap size is quantitative represented apply C scan methods. The important ultrasonic image processing technique is on the development of accurate position control system. The requirements of the position control system are a contact technique on the test specimen and a fine moving technique. Since the specimen is hemispherical, the contact technique is very difficult. Therefore, the gap measurement using the ultrasonic pulse echo method was applied developing the position controlling scanner system. Along with the ultrasonic method, neutron radiography method using KAERI's neutron source was attempted 4 times and the results are compared. The fine displacement of the hemispherical specimen was measured using a capacitive displacement sensor. The requirements for this measuring technique are fixing of the capacitance sensor to the experimental facilities and a remote control position varying system. This remote control position varying system was manufactured with a electrical motor. The development of a high temperature measuring system using a ultrasonic method the second year plan, is performed with developing a sensor which can measure up to 2300 deg C

  7. An Ultrasonic Wireless Sensor Network for Data Communication and Structural Health Monitoring, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Typical Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) uses embedded ultrasonic transducers exclusively for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) purposes, whereas data transfer is...

  8. Ultrasonic evaluation of local human skin anisotropy

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Tokar, Daniel; Převorovský, Zdeněk; Hradilová, Jana

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 19, č. 12 (2014) ISSN 1435-4934. [European Conference on Non-Destructive Testing (ECNDT 2014) /11./. Praha, 06.10.2014-10.10.2014] Institutional support: RVO:61388998 Keywords : anisotropy * ultrasonic testing * human skin in-vivo * fabric-fiber composite * signal processing Subject RIV: BI - Acoustics http://www.ndt.net/events/ECNDT2014/app/content/Paper/324_Tokar.pdf

  9. Laser-Ultrasonic Testing and its Applications to Nuclear Reactor Internals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ochiai, M.; Miura, T.; Yamamoto, S.

    2008-02-01

    A new nondestructive testing technique for surface-breaking microcracks in nuclear reactor components based on laser-ultrasonics is developed. Surface acoustic wave generated by Q-switched Nd:YAG laser and detected by frequency-stabilized long pulse laser coupled with confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer is used to detect and size the cracks. A frequency-domain signal processing is developed to realize accurate sizing capability. The laser-ultrasonic testing allows the detection of surface-breaking microcrack having a depth of less than 0.1 mm, and the measurement of their depth with an accuracy of 0.2 mm when the depth exceeds 0.5 mm including stress corrosion cracking. The laser-ultrasonic testing system combined with laser peening system, which is another laser-based maintenance technology to improve surface stress, for inner surface of small diameter tube is developed. The generation laser in the laser-ultrasonic testing system can be identical to the laser source of the laser peening. As an example operation of the system, the system firstly works as the laser-ultrasonic testing mode and tests the inner surface of the tube. If no cracks are detected, the system then changes its work mode to the laser peening and improves surface stress to prevent crack initiation. The first nuclear industrial application of the laser-ultrasonic testing system combined with the laser peening was completed in Japanese nuclear power plant in December 2004.

  10. A Unilateral Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Sensor for Nondestructive Wood Moisture Measurements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    YU Deng-jie

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available An unilateral nuclear magnetic resonance (UMR sensor was designed to measure wood moisture nondestructively. The sensor consisted of a unilateral magnet, an anti-eddy current module, a radiofrequency (RF coil and an impedance matching and tuning circuit. The sensor produced a static magnetic field of 71.1 mT (resonant frequency:3.027 MHz in a 50 mm×50 mm plane locating 75 mm above the sensor's surface. Preliminary nondestructive measurement of wood moisture was carried out with the sensor. The moisture distribution in the radical direction of a cylindrical wood sample was scanned. Variations in transverse relaxation time (T2 from the bark to core were obtained. Evaporation of moisture during wood drying was also measured with the UMR sensor. Experimental results showed that:the peak of long T2 component in the T2 spectrum moved to left and the peak integral area decreased gradually during drying. The integral area was proportional to the moisture content of the sample. The work presents a portable UMR device for wood research which may potentially be used for nondestructive moisture measurement on living trees in situ.

  11. Feasibility of using ultrasonic pulse velocity to measure the bond between new and old concrete

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fareed Hameed Majeed

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Connecting new and old concrete is required in many practical situations, such as repairing, strengthening or extending existing reinforced concrete buildings or members. In addition to using this technique at construction joints. It is obvious the practical difficulties to measure the bond attained at the interface surface between the new and old concrete. Doing the destructive shear test at the interface surface is not an option in most practical cases due to its destructive character. So, this paper aims to study the feasibility of using the nondestructive ultrasonic pulse velocity to evaluate the bond attained at the interface surface between new and old concrete. An experimental work has been done to 24 specimens of normal and high strength concrete, with and without using an epoxy bonding agent at the interface that connect the two materials. The results of experiments clearly shown that this method can be used to evaluate the acquired bond between the new and old concrete.

  12. Neutron and ultrasonic determination of residual stress in an aluminum ring-plug

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prask, H.J.; Gnaeupel-Herold, T.; Clark, A.V.; Hehman, C.S.; Nguyen, T.N.

    2000-01-01

    Stress is a principal cause of material failure. This has been a well-recognized problem for decades, yet--in general--neutron diffraction remains the only way to measure sub-surface residual stresses without destroying the component. A field-portable ultrasonic strain-meter is being developed at NIST (Boulder) to determine residual stresses in engineering specimens, nondestructively. To test this and other techniques an array of stress-measurement standards are being prepared. These will be characterized by neutron diffraction and then used to evaluate, quantitatively, the potential of new methods. The first standard specimen produced for this purpose is a large shrink-fit ring-plug of 2024 aluminum (305 mm OD, 25.4 mm thick, 101.6 mm diameter plug). Because of large grain size, a sample-rotation averaging technique was developed to make reliable neutron measurements possible. A comparison of the neutron diffraction and ultrasonic results for this specimen will be presented, along with strain gauge results

  13. Use of Ultrasonic Technology for Soil Moisture Measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, J.; Metzl, R.; Aggarwal, M. D.; Belisle, W.; Coleman, T.

    1997-01-01

    In an effort to improve existing soil moisture measurement techniques or find new techniques using physics principles, a new technique is presented in this paper using ultrasonic techniques. It has been found that ultrasonic velocity changes as the moisture content changes. Preliminary values of velocities are 676.1 m/s in dry soil and 356.8 m/s in 100% moist soils. Intermediate values can be calibrated to give exact values for the moisture content in an unknown sample.

  14. Using Ultrasonic Lamb Waves To Measure Moduli Of Composites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kautz, Harold E.

    1995-01-01

    Measurements of broad-band ultrasonic Lamb waves in plate specimens of ceramic-matrix/fiber and metal-matrix/fiber composite materials used to determine moduli of elasticity of materials. In one class of potential applications of concept, Lamb-wave responses of specimens measured and analyzed at various stages of thermal and/or mechanical processing to determine effects of processing, without having to dissect specimens. In another class, structural components having shapes supporting propagation of Lamb waves monitored ultrasonically to identify signs of deterioration and impending failure.

  15. Ultrasonic Examination of Double-Shell Tank 241-AY-101 Examination Completed August 2003

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pardini, Allan F.; Posakony, Gerald J.

    2003-01-01

    COGEMA Engineering Corporation (COGEMA), under a contract from CH2M Hill Hanford Group (CH2M Hill), has performed an ultrasonic nondestructive examination of selected portions of Double-Shell Tank 241-AY-101. The purpose of this examination was to provide information that could be used to evaluate the integrity of the wall of the secondary tank. The requirements for the ultrasonic examination of Tank 241-AY-101 were to detect, characterize (identify, size, and locate), and record measurements made of any wall thinning or pitting that might be present in the wall of the secondary tank. Any measurements that exceed the requirements set forth in the Engineering Task Plan (ETP), RPP--11832 (Jensen 2002) and summarized on page 1 of this document, are reported to CH2M Hill and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for further evaluation. Under the contract with CH2M Hill, all data is to be recorded on disk and paper copies of all measurements are provided to PNNL for third-party evaluation. PNNL is responsible for preparing a report that describes the results of the COGEMA ultrasonic examinations

  16. Ultrasonic Examination of Double-Shell Tank 241-AP-104. Examination Completed August 2004

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pardini, Allan F.; Posakony, Gerald J.

    2004-01-01

    COGEMA Engineering Corporation (COGEMA), under a contract from CH2M Hill Hanford Group (CH2M Hill), has performed an ultrasonic nondestructive examination of selected portions of Double-Shell Tank 241-AP-104. The purpose of this examination was to provide information that could be used to evaluate the integrity of the wall of the primary tank. The requirements for the ultrasonic examination of Tank 241-AP-104 were to detect, characterize (identify, size, and locate), and record measurements made of any wall thinning, pitting, or cracks that might be present in the wall of the primary tank. Any measurements that exceed the requirements set forth in the Engineering Task Plan (ETP), RPP-17750 (Jensen 2003) and summarized on page 1 of this document, are reported to CH2M Hill and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for further evaluation. Under the contract with CH2M Hill, all data is to be recorded on disk and paper copies of all measurements are provided to PNNL for third-party evaluation. PNNL is responsible for preparing a report that describes the results of the COGEMA ultrasonic examinations

  17. Ultrasonic Examination of Double-Shell Tank 241-SY-103. Examination completed February 2004

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pardini, Allan F.; Posakony, Gerald J.

    2004-01-01

    COGEMA Engineering Corporation (COGEMA), under a contract from CH2M Hill Hanford Group (CH2M Hill), has performed an ultrasonic nondestructive examination of selected portions of Double-Shell Tank 241-SY-103. The purpose of this examination was to provide information that could be used to evaluate the integrity of the wall of the primary tank. The requirements for the ultrasonic examination of Tank 241-SY-103 were to detect, characterize (identify, size, and locate), and record measurements made of any wall thinning, pitting, or cracks that might be present in the wall of the primary tank. Any measurements that exceed the requirements set forth in the Engineering Task Plan (ETP), RPP-17750 (Jensen 2003) and summarized on page 1 of this document, are reported to CH2M Hill and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for further evaluation. Under the contract with CH2M Hill, all data is to be recorded on disk and paper copies of all measurements are provided to PNNL for third-party evaluation. PNNL is responsible for preparing a report that describes the results of the COGEMA ultrasonic examinations

  18. Ultrasonic Examination of Double-Shell Tank 241-AZ-102 Examination Completed August 2003

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pardini, Allan F.; Posakony, Gerald J.

    2003-01-01

    COGEMA Engineering Corporation (COGEMA), under a contract from CH2M Hill Hanford Group (CH2M Hill), has performed an ultrasonic nondestructive examination of selected portions of Double-Shell Tank 241-AZ-102. The purpose of this examination was to provide information that could be used to evaluate the integrity of the wall of the primary tank. The requirements for the ultrasonic examination of Tank 241-AZ-102 were to detect, characterize (identify, size, and locate), and record measurements made of any wall thinning, pitting, or cracks that might be present in the wall of the primary tank. Any measurements that exceed the requirements set forth in the Engineering Task Plat (ETP), RPP-11832 (Jensen 2002) and summarized on page 1 of this document, are reported to CH2M Hill and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for further evaluation. Under the contract with CH2M Hill, all data is to be recorded on disk and paper copies of all measurements are provided to PNNL for third-party evaluation. PNNL is responsible for preparing a report that describes the results of the COGEMA ultrasonic examinations

  19. Cement-based materials' characterization using ultrasonic attenuation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Punurai, Wonsiri

    The quantitative nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of cement-based materials is a critical area of research that is leading to advances in the health monitoring and condition assessment of the civil infrastructure. Ultrasonic NDE has been implemented with varying levels of success to characterize cement-based materials with complex microstructure and damage. A major issue with the application of ultrasonic techniques to characterize cement-based materials is their inherent inhomogeneity at multiple length scales. Ultrasonic waves propagating in these materials exhibit a high degree of attenuation losses, making quantitative interpretations difficult. Physically, these attenuation losses are a combination of internal friction in a viscoelastic material (ultrasonic absorption), and the scattering losses due to the material heterogeneity. The objective of this research is to use ultrasonic attenuation to characterize the microstructure of heterogeneous cement-based materials. The study considers a real, but simplified cement-based material, cement paste---a common bonding matrix of all cement-based composites. Cement paste consists of Portland cement and water but does not include aggregates. First, this research presents the findings of a theoretical study that uses a set of existing acoustics models to quantify the scattered ultrasonic wavefield from a known distribution of entrained air voids. These attenuation results are then coupled with experimental measurements to develop an inversion procedure that directly predicts the size and volume fraction of entrained air voids in a cement paste specimen. Optical studies verify the accuracy of the proposed inversion scheme. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of using attenuation to measure the average size, volume fraction of entrained air voids and the existence of additional larger entrapped air voids in hardened cement paste. Finally, coherent and diffuse ultrasonic waves are used to develop a direct

  20. A study on Computer-controlled Ultrasonic Scanning Device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huh, H.; Park, C. S.; Hong, S. S.; Park, J. H.

    1989-01-01

    Since the nuclear power plants in Korea have been operated in 1979, the nondestructive testing (NDT) of pressure vessels and/or piping welds plays an important role for maintaining the safety and integrity of the plants. Ultrasonic method is superior to the other NDT method in the viewpoint of the detectability of small flaw and accuracy to determine the locations, sizes, orientations, and shapes. As the service time of the nuclear power plants is increased, the radiation level from the components is getting higher. In order to get more quantitative and reliable results and secure the inspector from the exposure to high radiation level, automation of the ultrasonic equipment has been one of the important research and development(R and D) subject. In this research, it was attempted to visualize the shape of flaws presented inside the specimen using a Modified C-Scan technique. In order to develop Modified C-Scan technique, an automatic ultrasonic scanner and a module to control the scanner were designed and fabricated. IBM-PC/XT was interfaced to the module to control the scanner. Analog signals from the SONIC MARK II were digitized by Analog-Digital Converter(ADC 0800) for Modified C-Scan display. A computer program has been developed and has capability of automatic data acquisition and processing from the digital data, which consist of maximum amplitudes in each gate range and locations. The data from Modified C-Scan results was compared with shape from artificial defects using the developed system. Focal length of focused transducer was measured. The automatic ultrasonic equipment developed through this study is essential for more accurate, reliable, and repeatable ultrasonic experiments. If the scanner are modified to meet to appropriate purposes, it can be applied to automation of ultrasonic examination of nuclear power plants and helpful to the research on ultrasonic characterization of the materials

  1. Development of automatic ultrasonic testing system and its application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oh, Sang Hong; Matsuura, Toshihiko; Iwata, Ryusuke; Nakagawa, Michio; Horikawa, Kohsuke; Kim, You Chul

    1997-01-01

    The radiographic testing (RT) has been usually applied to a nondestructive testing, which is carried out on purpose to detect internal defects at welded joints of a penstock. In the case that RT could not be applied to, the ultrasonic testing (UT) was performed. UT was generally carried out by manual scanning and the inspections data were recorded by the inspector in a site. So, as a weak point, there was no objective inspection records correspond to films of RT. It was expected that the automatic ultrasonic testing system by which automatic scanning and automatic recording are possible was developed. In this respect, the automatic ultrasonic testing system was developed. Using newly developed the automatic ultrasonic testing system, test results to the circumferential welded joints of the penstock at a site were shown in this paper.

  2. Gas ultrasonic flow rate measurement through genetic-ant colony optimization based on the ultrasonic pulse received signal model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hou, Huirang; Zheng, Dandan; Nie, Laixiao

    2015-04-01

    For gas ultrasonic flowmeters, the signals received by ultrasonic sensors are susceptible to noise interference. If signals are mingled with noise, a large error in flow measurement can be caused by triggering mistakenly using the traditional double-threshold method. To solve this problem, genetic-ant colony optimization (GACO) based on the ultrasonic pulse received signal model is proposed. Furthermore, in consideration of the real-time performance of the flow measurement system, the improvement of processing only the first three cycles of the received signals rather than the whole signal is proposed. Simulation results show that the GACO algorithm has the best estimation accuracy and ant-noise ability compared with the genetic algorithm, ant colony optimization, double-threshold and enveloped zero-crossing. Local convergence doesn’t appear with the GACO algorithm until -10 dB. For the GACO algorithm, the converging accuracy and converging speed and the amount of computation are further improved when using the first three cycles (called GACO-3cycles). Experimental results involving actual received signals show that the accuracy of single-gas ultrasonic flow rate measurement can reach 0.5% with GACO-3 cycles, which is better than with the double-threshold method.

  3. Image-based overlay measurement using subsurface ultrasonic resonance force microscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamer, M. S.; van der Lans, M. J.; Sadeghian, H.

    2018-03-01

    Image Based Overlay (IBO) measurement is one of the most common techniques used in Integrated Circuit (IC) manufacturing to extract the overlay error values. The overlay error is measured using dedicated overlay targets which are optimized to increase the accuracy and the resolution, but these features are much larger than the IC feature size. IBO measurements are realized on the dedicated targets instead of product features, because the current overlay metrology solutions, mainly based on optics, cannot provide sufficient resolution on product features. However, considering the fact that the overlay error tolerance is approaching 2 nm, the overlay error measurement on product features becomes a need for the industry. For sub-nanometer resolution metrology, Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) is widely used, though at the cost of very low throughput. The semiconductor industry is interested in non-destructive imaging of buried structures under one or more layers for the application of overlay and wafer alignment, specifically through optically opaque media. Recently an SPM technique has been developed for imaging subsurface features which can be potentially considered as a solution for overlay metrology. In this paper we present the use of Subsurface Ultrasonic Resonance Force Microscopy (SSURFM) used for IBO measurement. We used SSURFM for imaging the most commonly used overlay targets on a silicon substrate and photoresist. As a proof of concept we have imaged surface and subsurface structures simultaneously. The surface and subsurface features of the overlay targets are fabricated with programmed overlay errors of +/-40 nm, +/-20 nm, and 0 nm. The top layer thickness changes between 30 nm and 80 nm. Using SSURFM the surface and subsurface features were successfully imaged and the overlay errors were extracted, via a rudimentary image processing algorithm. The measurement results are in agreement with the nominal values of the programmed overlay errors.

  4. Ultrasonic downcomer flow measurements for recirculating steam generators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Janzen, Victor, E-mail: Victor.Janzen@cnl.ca [Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Chalk River, ON, Canada K0 J 1J0 (Canada); Luloff, Brian [Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Chalk River, ON, Canada K0 J 1J0 (Canada); Sedman, Ken [Nuclear Safety Analysis & Support Department, Bruce Power, Toronto, ON, Canada M5G 1X6 (Canada)

    2015-08-15

    Highlights: • Measuring recirculating flow in nuclear steam generators provides useful information. • Flow measurements shed light on component performance and degradation mechanisms. • Commonly used ultrasonic technology and application methods are described. • Results of measurements at several power reactors are summarized. • Potential improvements in reliability and flexibility of application are suggested. - Abstract: Measurements of downcomer flow in nuclear steam generators can provide unique fitness for service and performance indicators related to overall thermalhydraulic performance, safety related secondary-side setpoints and certain forms of degradation. This paper reviews the benefits of downcomer-flow measurements to nuclear power–plant operators, and describes methods that are commonly used. It summarizes the history and state-of-the-art of the most widely used technology, non-intrusive ultrasonic systems, including field applications at several nuclear power plants. It also describes the technical challenges that remain, and summarizes recent technical developments and future improvements.

  5. Ultrasonic Measurement of Interfacial Layer Thickness of Sub-Quarter-Wavelength

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, No Hyu; Lee, Sang Soon [Korea University of Technology and Education, Cheonan (Korea, Republic of)

    2003-12-15

    This paper describes a new technique for thickness measurement of a very thin layer less than one-quarter of the wavelength of ultrasonic wave used in the ultrasonic pulse-echo measurements. The technique determines the thickness of a thin layer in a tapered medium from constructive interference of multiple reflection waves. The interference characteristics are derived and investigated in theoretical and experimental approaches. Modified total reflection wave g(t) defined as difference between total and first reflection waves increases in amplitude as the interfacial layer thickness decreases down to zero. A layer thickness less than one-tenth of the ultrasonic wavelength is measured using the maximum amplitude of g(t) with a good accuracy and sensitivity. The method also requires no inversion process to extract the thickness information from the waveforms of reflected waves, so that it makes possible to have the on-line thickness measurement of a thin layer such as a lubricating oil film in thrust bearings and journal bearings during manufacturing process

  6. Ultrasonic Measurement of Interfacial Layer Thickness of Sub-Quarter-Wavelength

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, No Hyu; Lee, Sang Soon

    2003-01-01

    This paper describes a new technique for thickness measurement of a very thin layer less than one-quarter of the wavelength of ultrasonic wave used in the ultrasonic pulse-echo measurements. The technique determines the thickness of a thin layer in a tapered medium from constructive interference of multiple reflection waves. The interference characteristics are derived and investigated in theoretical and experimental approaches. Modified total reflection wave g(t) defined as difference between total and first reflection waves increases in amplitude as the interfacial layer thickness decreases down to zero. A layer thickness less than one-tenth of the ultrasonic wavelength is measured using the maximum amplitude of g(t) with a good accuracy and sensitivity. The method also requires no inversion process to extract the thickness information from the waveforms of reflected waves, so that it makes possible to have the on-line thickness measurement of a thin layer such as a lubricating oil film in thrust bearings and journal bearings during manufacturing process

  7. Study on Method of Ultrasonic Gas Temperature Measure Based on FPGA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wen, S H; Xu, F R [Institute of Electrical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, 066004 (China)

    2006-10-15

    It is always a problem to measure instantaneous temperature of high-temperature and high-pressure gas. There is difficulty for the conventional method of measuring temperature to measure quickly and exactly, and the measuring precision is low, the ability of anti-jamming is bad, etc. So the article introduces a method of measuring burning gas temperature using ultrasonic based on Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The mathematic model of measuring temperature is built with the relation of velocity of ultrasonic transmitting and gas Kelvin in the ideal gas. The temperature can be figured out by measuring the difference of ultrasonic frequency {delta}f. FPGA is introduced and a high-precision data acquisition system based on digital phase-shift technology is designed. The feasibility of proposed above is confirmed more by measuring pressure of burning gas timely. Experimental result demonstrates that the error is less than 12.. and the precision is heightened to 0.8%.

  8. Bullet Ultrasonic Obstruction Detection & Distance Measurement Using AVR Microcontroller

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Satish Pandey

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the practical implementation of a short range ultrasonic obstruction detection and distance measurement device. By employing an ultrasonic transducer pair for producing ultrasonic sounds and sensing the reflected sound waves, the obstructions are detected. The hardware interface uses an Atmel ATmega8 AVR microcontroller to facilitate the generation of 40 kHz signal burst which is used in the transmitter circuit, and also to process the received signal for measuring the time of flight of reflected waves and exact distance of the obstruction. The program for this device is developed in WinAVR, and the code generated is dumped into microcontroller using AVR Studio. Educational aspects of this project include the mastery of a programming language and corresponding tools, the design of a functional and intuitive embedded application, and the development of appropriate hardware to build the device.

  9. Development of non-destructive Young's modulus measurement techniques in non-oriented CeF$_{3}$ crystals

    CERN Document Server

    Pietroni, P; Lebeau, M; Majni, G; Rinaldi, D

    2005-01-01

    For a reliable mechanical assembly of scintillating crystals for the application to radiographic systems such as Positron Emission Tomographer (PET) and high-energy physics calorimeters (e.g. in CMS at CERN LHC), the evaluation of the monocrystal elastic constant (Young's modulus) is needed. Its knowledge is also essential in the photoelastic analysis for the determination of residual stresses. In this work non-destructive techniques based on elastic wave propagation are tested. They differ in the mechanical excitation device: instrumented hammer, traditional ultrasonic probes and laser- generated ultrasound. We have analysed three non-oriented cerium fluoride crystal samples produced for scintillation applications. Finally, we have validated the experimental results comparing them with the elastic constant calculated by using the stiffness matrix.

  10. Development of non-destructive Young's modulus measurement techniques in non-oriented CeF3 crystals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pietroni, P.; Paone, N.; Lebeau, M.; Majni, G.; Rinaldi, D.

    2005-01-01

    For a reliable mechanical assembly of scintillating crystals for the application to radiographic systems such as Positron Emission Tomographer (PET) and high-energy physics calorimeters (e.g. in CMS at CERN LHC), the evaluation of the monocrystal elastic constant (Young's modulus) is needed. Its knowledge is also essential in the photoelastic analysis for the determination of residual stresses. In this work non-destructive techniques based on elastic wave propagation are tested. They differ in the mechanical excitation device: instrumented hammer, traditional ultrasonic probes and laser-generated ultrasound. We have analysed three non-oriented cerium fluoride crystal samples produced for scintillation applications. Finally, we have validated the experimental results comparing them with the elastic constant calculated by using the stiffness matrix

  11. Microwave Detection of Laser Ultrasonic for Non-Destructive Testing, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — In this proposal, we describe a program to develop a high-performance, cost-effective and robust microwave receiver prototype for multi-purpose Non-Destructive...

  12. Laser induced ultrasonic phased array using full matrix capture data acquisition and total focusing method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stratoudaki, Theodosia; Clark, Matt; Wilcox, Paul D

    2016-09-19

    Laser ultrasonics is a technique where lasers are employed to generate and detect ultrasound. A data collection method (full matrix capture) and a post processing imaging algorithm, the total focusing method, both developed for ultrasonic arrays, are modified and used in order to enhance the capabilities of laser ultrasonics for nondestructive testing by improving defect detectability and increasing spatial resolution. In this way, a laser induced ultrasonic phased array is synthesized. A model is developed and compared with experimental results from aluminum samples with side drilled holes and slots at depths of 5 - 20 mm from the surface.

  13. An Ultrasonic Pattern Recognition Approach to Welding Defect Classification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Song, Sung Jin

    1995-01-01

    Classification of flaws in weldments from their ultrasonic scattering signals is very important in quantitative nondestructive evaluation. This problem is ideally suited to a modern ultrasonic pattern recognition technique. Here brief discussion on systematic approach to this methodology is presented including ultrasonic feature extraction, feature selection and classification. A stronger emphasis is placed on probabilistic neural networks as efficient classifiers for many practical classification problems. In an example probabilistic neural networks are applied to classify flaws in weldments into 3 classes such as cracks, porosity and slag inclusions. Probabilistic nets are shown to be able to exhibit high performance of other classifiers without any training time overhead. In addition, forward selection scheme for sensitive features is addressed to enhance network performance

  14. Nondestructive controls and testings: the new developments and their applications; Controles et examens non destructifs: les developpements recents et leurs applications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Recolin, P [Centre d' Etude des Structures et Materiaux Navals (CESMAN), DCN Propulsion, 44 - La Montagne (France); Bremnes, O; Chassignole, B; Schumm, A; Chassignole, B; Doudet, L; Dupond, O; Fouquet, T; Richard, B; Delnondedieu, M [Electricite de France (EDF/RD), 92 - Clamart (France); Calmon, P; Mahaut, S; Sollier, T; Haiat, G; Leberre, S; Benoist, Ph; Casula, O [CEA Saclay Dir. de la Recherche Technologique, 91 - Gif sur Yvette (France); Lasserre, F; Pasquier, T; Legrandjacques, L [FRAMATOME ANP/Intercontrole, 94 - Rungis (France); Lutsen, M [Electricite de France (EDF CEIDRE), 93 - Saint-Denis (France); Levy, R [AREVA/Intercontrole, 75 - Paris (France); Piriou, M; Glass, B; Chanussot, J M [FRAMATOME ANP, 92 - Paris-La-Defence (France); Cattiaux, G [Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (IRSN), 92 - Clamart (France); Fleury, G [IMASONIC, 25 - Besancon (France); Thiery, Ch [CEA Bruyeres-le-Chatel, 91 (France); COFREND, 75 - Paris [France; Breysse, D [Bordeaux-1 Univ., 33 (France); Abraham, O [Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees (ENPC), Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussees (LCPC), 75 - Paris (France)

    2005-07-01

    This document provides the proceedings of the conference on nondestructive controls and testings, held at Paris the 18 November 2004. Ten presentations were discussed on the following topics: the nondestructive testing of shipbuilding, the nondestructive evaluation simulation, the ultrasonic testing of austenitic stainless steels joints, qualification of the PWR vessels control, evaluation of the nuclear power plants materials aging, automation of the PWR primary coolant circuit testing, the photothermal imaging facing the liquid penetrant testing, geometry control with adaptative transducers, industrial tomography developments, nondestructive evaluation of the reinforced concretes structures. (A.L.B.)

  15. Certain strength test of concrete with ultrasonic waves by better evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roethig, H.

    1978-01-01

    As a result of the increasing demands put to the quality control of buildings and concrete assembly units, ultrasonic testing has found an internationally ever wider application in building industries and facilities in recent years. The ultrasonic method is in its nature analogous to the application with metallic materials, particularly suitable for recognizing defects and poor quality concrete and an increased application in this direction is most promising. However, it is equally important for concrete plants and building sites to certify the specified concrete quality or a required degree of hardness which can be determined by the pressure resistance of a test cube according to the valid specifications. Therefore the non-destructive pressure resistance determination of concrete is of great practical interest and ultrasonic testing is at present, above all being used for this purpose. It is very suitable in many cases for calibration on cubes of the same concrete as the assembly units or buildings to be tested. The quality of the calibration gives a ruling determination of the accuracy and reliability of the non-destructively determined pressure resistance values. (orig./RW) [de

  16. Nondestructive testing of the low-level radioactive waste drums for uni-axial compressive strength and free liquid content

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu Geping; Chang Mingyu; Wang Yeajeng; Chu, David S.L.; Ju Yihzen

    1992-01-01

    This paper summarizes the nondestructive test to determine the uni-axial compressive strength and free water content of solidified low level radioactive waste. The uni-axial compressive strength is determined by ultrasonic wave propagation speed, and the results are compared with those of compressive tests. Three methods of detecting the surface free water by ultrasonic testing are established, the ultrasonic wave speed, wave form and pulse height are used to determine the existence and amount of the surface free liquid. Possible difficulties are discussed. (author)

  17. Air-Coupled Low Frequency Ultrasonic Transducers and Arrays with PMN-32%PT Piezoelectric Crystals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rymantas J. Kazys

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Air-coupled ultrasonic techniques are being increasingly used for material characterization, non-destructive evaluation of composite materials using guided waves as well as for distance measurements. Application of those techniques is mainly limited by the big losses of ultrasonic signals due to attenuation and mismatch of the acoustic impedances of ultrasonic transducers and air. One of the ways to solve this problem is by application of novel more efficient piezoelectric materials like lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate (PMN-PT type crystals. The objective of this research was the development and investigation of low frequency (<50 kHz wide band air-coupled ultrasonic transducers and arrays with an improved performance using PMN-32%PT crystals. Results of finite element modelling and experimental investigations of the developed transducers and arrays are presented. For improvement of the performance strip-like matching elements made of low acoustic impedance, materials such as polystyrene foams were applied. It allowed to achieve transduction losses for one single element transducer −11.4 dB, what is better than of commercially available air-coupled ultrasonic transducers. Theoretical and experimental investigations of the acoustic fields radiated by the eight element ultrasonic array demonstrated not only a good performance of the array in a pulse mode, but also very good possibilities to electronically focus and steer the ultrasonic beam in space.

  18. Contribution to the improved ultrasonic testing of glass fiber-reinforced polymers based on analytic modeling; Beitrag zur Verbesserung der Ultraschallpruefung glasfaserverstaerkter Polymere auf der Grundlage analytischer Modellierung

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gripp, S.

    2001-04-01

    The non-destructive testing of acoustic anisotropic materials like fiber composites has been evaluated. Modelling enabled predictions about wave deflection, direction of wave propagation, and refractive angle of ultrasonic waves in these media. Thus, measurements could be carried out using unidirectional glass-fiber composites.

  19. Emerging nondestructive inspection methods for aging aircraft

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Beattie, A; Dahlke, L; Gieske, J [and others

    1994-01-01

    This report identifies and describes emerging nondestructive inspection (NDI) methods that can potentially be used to inspect commercial transport and commuter aircraft for structural damage. The nine categories of emerging NDI techniques are: acoustic emission, x-ray computed tomography, backscatter radiation, reverse geometry x-ray, advanced electromagnetics, including magnetooptic imaging and advanced eddy current techniques, coherent optics, advanced ultrasonics, advanced visual, and infrared thermography. The physical principles, generalized performance characteristics, and typical applications associated with each method are described. In addition, aircraft inspection applications are discussed along with the associated technical considerations. Finally, the status of each technique is presented, with a discussion on when it may be available for use in actual aircraft maintenance programs. It should be noted that this is a companion document to DOT/FAA/CT-91/5, Current Nondestructive Inspection Methods for Aging Aircraft.

  20. Design and development of an ultrasonic pulser-receiver unit for non-destructive testing of materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Patankar, V.H.; Joshi, V.M.

    2002-11-01

    The pulser/receiver constitutes the most vital part of an ultrasonic flaw detector or an ultrasonic imaging system used for inspection of materials. The ultrasonic properties of the material and resolution requirements govern the choice of the frequency of ultrasound that can be optimally used. The pulser/receiver in turn decides the efficiency of excitation of the transducer and the overall signal to noise ratio of the system for best sensitivity and resolution. A variety of pulsers are used in the ultrasonic instruments employed for materials inspection. This report describes a square wave type of an ultrasonic pulser-receiver unit developed at Ultrasonic Instrumentation Section, Electronics Division, BARC. It has been primarily designed for excitation of the transducer that is used with a multi-channel ultrasonic imaging system ULTIMA 100M targeted for inspection of SS403 billets, which are in turn used as the base material for fabrication of end fittings for coolant channels of pressurized heavy water nuclear reactors (PHWRs). The design of the pulser is based upon very fast MOSFETs, configured as electronic switches. The pulser is operated with a linear bipolar H.V. supply (+/- 500V max.). The receiver provides a 60 dB gain with a -3 dB BW of 40 MHz. This pulser/receiver unit has been successfully interfaced with a 4 channel ULTIMA 100 M4 multichannel ultrasonic C-scan imaging system, also designed and developed by the authors at Ultrasonic Instrumentation Section (Electronics Division, BARC) and supplied to Centre for Design and Manufacturer - CDM, BARC. This system is being regularly used in C-scan imaging mode for volumetric inspection of SS403 billets for end fittings of 500 MWe PHWRs. (author)

  1. Ultrasonication and food technology: A review

    OpenAIRE

    Ishrat Majid; Gulzar Ahmad Nayik; Vikas Nanda

    2015-01-01

    With increasing consumers demand and tightening of food and environmental regulations, traditional food-processing techniques have lost their optimum performance which gave rise to new and powerful technologies. Ultrasonic is a one of the fast, versatile, emerging, and promising non-destructive green technology used in the food industry from last few years. The ultrasound is being carried out in various areas of food technology namely crystallization, freezing, bleaching, degassing, extractio...

  2. Ultrasonic Technique for Density Measurement of Liquids in Extreme Conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazys, Rymantas; Sliteris, Reimondas; Rekuviene, Regina; Zukauskas, Egidijus; Mazeika, Liudas

    2015-01-01

    An ultrasonic technique, invariant to temperature changes, for a density measurement of different liquids under in situ extreme conditions is presented. The influence of geometry and material parameters of the measurement system (transducer, waveguide, matching layer) on measurement accuracy and reliability is analyzed theoretically along with experimental results. The proposed method is based on measurement of the amplitude of the ultrasonic wave, reflected from the interface of the solid/liquid medium under investigation. In order to enhance sensitivity, the use of a quarter wavelength acoustic matching layer is proposed. Therefore, the sensitivity of the measurement system increases significantly. Density measurements quite often must be performed in extreme conditions at high temperature (up to 220 °C) and high pressure. In this case, metal waveguides between piezoelectric transducer and the measured liquid are used in order to protect the conventional transducer from the influence of high temperature and to avoid depolarization. The presented ultrasonic density measurement technique is suitable for density measurement in different materials, including liquids and polymer melts in extreme conditions. A new calibration algorithm was proposed. The metrological evaluation of the measurement method was performed. The expanded measurement uncertainty Uρ = 7.4 × 10−3 g/cm3 (1%). PMID:26262619

  3. Ultrasonic Technique for Density Measurement of Liquids in Extreme Conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazys, Rymantas; Sliteris, Reimondas; Rekuviene, Regina; Zukauskas, Egidijus; Mazeika, Liudas

    2015-08-07

    An ultrasonic technique, invariant to temperature changes, for a density measurement of different liquids under in situ extreme conditions is presented. The influence of geometry and material parameters of the measurement system (transducer, waveguide, matching layer) on measurement accuracy and reliability is analyzed theoretically along with experimental results. The proposed method is based on measurement of the amplitude of the ultrasonic wave, reflected from the interface of the solid/liquid medium under investigation. In order to enhance sensitivity, the use of a quarter wavelength acoustic matching layer is proposed. Therefore, the sensitivity of the measurement system increases significantly. Density measurements quite often must be performed in extreme conditions at high temperature (up to 220 °C) and high pressure. In this case, metal waveguides between piezoelectric transducer and the measured liquid are used in order to protect the conventional transducer from the influence of high temperature and to avoid depolarization. The presented ultrasonic density measurement technique is suitable for density measurement in different materials, including liquids and polymer melts in extreme conditions. A new calibration algorithm was proposed. The metrological evaluation of the measurement method was performed. The expanded measurement uncertainty Uρ = 7.4 × 10(-3) g/cm(3) (1%).

  4. Ultrasonic Technique for Density Measurement of Liquids in Extreme Conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rymantas Kazys

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available An ultrasonic technique, invariant to temperature changes, for a density measurement of different liquids under in situ extreme conditions is presented. The influence of geometry and material parameters of the measurement system (transducer, waveguide, matching layer on measurement accuracy and reliability is analyzed theoretically along with experimental results. The proposed method is based on measurement of the amplitude of the ultrasonic wave, reflected from the interface of the solid/liquid medium under investigation. In order to enhance sensitivity, the use of a quarter wavelength acoustic matching layer is proposed. Therefore, the sensitivity of the measurement system increases significantly. Density measurements quite often must be performed in extreme conditions at high temperature (up to 220 °C and high pressure. In this case, metal waveguides between piezoelectric transducer and the measured liquid are used in order to protect the conventional transducer from the influence of high temperature and to avoid depolarization. The presented ultrasonic density measurement technique is suitable for density measurement in different materials, including liquids and polymer melts in extreme conditions. A new calibration algorithm was proposed. The metrological evaluation of the measurement method was performed. The expanded measurement uncertainty Uρ = 7.4 × 10−3 g/cm3 (1%.

  5. Status report on the destructive and non-destructive examinations of U-bends removed from Trojan steam generator D

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aspden, R.G.

    1981-01-01

    The last status report on the non-destructive examination of U-bends removed from Trojan steam generator D was dated July 7, 1980. As part of this activity, the measurement of wall thicknesses on selected U-bends was planned using an ultrasonic gage. These readings were not made because reproducible results could not be obtained using water as the coupling fluid which was necessary to avoid contamination. Three tubes from the same heat were selected for destructive examination at Westinghouse: one leaking U-bend (R1-C6) and two tubes with no indications (R1-C10 and R1-C22). Results of the examination procedure are presented. The non-destructive examination results from the July 7, 1980 report for 29 U-bends are included

  6. Directivity measurements in aluminum using a laser ultrasonics system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakamoto, J M S; Pacheco, G M; Tittmann, B R; Baba, A

    2011-01-01

    A laser ultrasonics system was setup to measure the directivity (angular dependence pattern) of the amplitude of ultrasonic waves generated in aluminum samples. A pulsed Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064 nm optical wavelength, with typical pulse width (FWHM) of 8 ns, and energy per pulse of 450 mJ, was used to generate the ultrasound waves in the samples. The laser detection system was a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with typical noise-limited resolution of 0.25 nm (rms), frequency range from 50 kHz to 20 MHz, and measurement range from -75 nm/V to +75 nm/V. Two different optical spot sizes of the Nd:YAG laser were used to generate waves in the ablation regime: one was focused and the other was unfocused. Using the obtained data, the directivity graphics were drawn and compared with the theoretical curves, showing a good agreement. The experiments showed the directivity as a function of the optical spot size. For a point ultrasonic source (or focused optical spot), the directivity shows that the longitudinal waves present considerable amplitude in all directions. For a larger ultrasonic source (or an unfocused optical spot) the directivity shows that the longitudinal waves are generated with the higher amplitudes inside angles around ±10 0 .

  7. Gas ultrasonic flow rate measurement through genetic-ant colony optimization based on the ultrasonic pulse received signal model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hou, Huirang; Zheng, Dandan; Nie, Laixiao

    2015-01-01

    For gas ultrasonic flowmeters, the signals received by ultrasonic sensors are susceptible to noise interference. If signals are mingled with noise, a large error in flow measurement can be caused by triggering mistakenly using the traditional double-threshold method. To solve this problem, genetic-ant colony optimization (GACO) based on the ultrasonic pulse received signal model is proposed. Furthermore, in consideration of the real-time performance of the flow measurement system, the improvement of processing only the first three cycles of the received signals rather than the whole signal is proposed. Simulation results show that the GACO algorithm has the best estimation accuracy and ant-noise ability compared with the genetic algorithm, ant colony optimization, double-threshold and enveloped zero-crossing. Local convergence doesn’t appear with the GACO algorithm until –10 dB. For the GACO algorithm, the converging accuracy and converging speed and the amount of computation are further improved when using the first three cycles (called GACO-3cycles). Experimental results involving actual received signals show that the accuracy of single-gas ultrasonic flow rate measurement can reach 0.5% with GACO-3 cycles, which is better than with the double-threshold method. (paper)

  8. Fast Lamb wave energy shift approach using fully contactless ultrasonic system to characterize concrete structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ham, Suyun; Popovics, John S.

    2015-03-01

    Ultrasonic techniques provide an effective non-destructive evaluation (NDE) method to monitor concrete structures, but the need to perform rapid and accurate structural assessment requires evaluation of hundreds, or even thousands, of measurement datasets. Use of a fully contactless ultrasonic system can save time and labor through rapid implementation, and can enable automated and controlled data acquisition, for example through robotic scanning. Here we present results using a fully contactless ultrasonic system. This paper describes our efforts to develop a contactless ultrasonic guided wave NDE approach to detect and characterize delamination defects in concrete structures. The developed contactless sensors, controlled scanning system, and employed Multi-channel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) signal processing scheme are reviewed. Then a guided wave interpretation approach for MASW data is described. The presence of delamination is interpreted by guided plate wave (Lamb wave) behavior, where a shift in excited Lamb mode phase velocity, is monitored. Numerically simulated and experimental ultrasonic data collected from a concrete sample with simulated delamination defects are presented, where the occurrence of delamination is shown to be associated with a mode shift in Lamb wave energy.

  9. Study of Lamb Waves for Non-Destructive Testing Behind Screens

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kauffmann, P.; Ploix, M.-A.; Chaix, J.-F.; Gueudré, C.; Corneloup, G.; Baqué, F. AF(; )

    2018-01-01

    The inspection and control of sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFR) is a major issue for the nuclear industry. Ultrasonic solutions are under study because of the opacity of liquid sodium. In this paper, the use of leaky Lamb waves is considered for non-destructive testing (NDT) on parallel and immersed structures assimilated as plates. The first phase of our approach involved studying the propagation properties of leaky Lamb waves. Equations that model the propagation of Lamb waves in an immersed plate were solved numerically. The phase velocity can be experimentally measured using a two dimensional Fourier transform. The group velocity can be experimentally measured using a short-time Fourier transform technique. Attenuation of leaky Lamb waves is mostly due to the re-emission of energy into the surrounding fluid, and it can be measured by these two techniques.

  10. An HDF5-based framework for the distribution and analysis of ultrasonic concrete data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prince, Luke; Clayton, Dwight; Santos-Villalobos, Hector

    2017-02-01

    There are many commercial ultrasonic tomography devices (UTDs) available for use in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of reinforced concrete structures. These devices emit, measure, and store ultrasonic signals typically in the 25 kHz to 5 MHz frequency range. UTDs are characterized by a composition of multiple transducers, also known as a transducer array or phased array. Often, UTDs data are in a proprietary format. Consequently, NDE research data is limited to those who have prior non-disclosure agreements or the appropriate licenses. Thus, there is a need for a proper universal data framework to exist such that proprietary file datasets for different concrete specimens can be converted, organized, and stored with relative metadata for individual or collaborative NDE research. Building upon the Hierarchical Data Format (HDF5) model, we have developed a UTD data management framework and Graphic User Interface (GUI) to promote the algorithmic reconstruction of ultrasonic data in a controlled environment for easily reproducible and publishable results.

  11. Monitoring of soluble starch hydrolysis induced by α-amylase from Aspergillus oryzae using ultrasonic spectroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sierra, Carlos; Resa, Pablo; Buckin, Vitaly; Elvira, Luis

    2012-05-01

    The online monitoring of enzymatic starch hydrolysis is an important issue for several industrial sectors, mainly in the alimentary industry. Ultrasonic non-invasive methods based on the detection of wave velocity and amplitude changes can be used to study this enzymatic reaction. These wave propagating changes are result of physicalchemical modifications produced in the media by the starch hydrolysis. In this work the starch hydrolysis induced by the enzyme α-amylase from Aspergillus oryzae is studied. This biochemical reaction has been monitored using a high-resolution ultrasonic spectroscopy (HR-US) which is non-invasive and nondestructive. The measured time profiles o of ultrasonic velocity are explained in terms of the starch hydrolysis and the subsequent production of oligosaccharides as a consequence of the enzymatic action. The obtained results have been compared to a conventional off-line technique used in biochemistry, the iodine-starch reaction, a spectrophotometric method to quantify the amount of starch remaining in the medium. The combination of these two types of measurement provides more complete information about the biochemical processes occurred during hydrolysis.

  12. Contribution of expert systems to data processing in non-destructive control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Augendre, H.; Perron, M.C.

    1990-01-01

    The increase of non-destructive control in industrial applications requires the development of new data processing methods. The expert system approach is able to provide signal modelling means which are closer to the human behaviour. Such methods used in more traditional programs lead to substantial improvements. These investigations come within our design to apply sophisticated methods to industrial non-destructive control. For defect characterization purposes in ultrasonic control, various supervised learning methods have been investigated in an experimental study. The traditional approach is concerned with statistics based methods, whereas the second one lies in learning logical decision rules valid within a numerical description space [fr

  13. Nondestructive techniques for the control of conditioned radioactive wastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Delprato, U.

    1987-01-01

    The final product of the radwaste conditioning process must satisfy certain requirments and physico-chemical properties in order to assure its safe long-term behaviour. Of course, the foreseen quality assurance and quality control should be conducted by means of non-destructive techniques. This work presents an over-view of various applicable non-destructive methods of analysis, showing their fields of investigation in testing waste packages, together with some arising practical problems. The most promising methods, such as eddy current testing, ultrasonic testing, γ-scanning, γ-spectroscopy, neutron counting and computerized tomography, are treated more deeply and some applications are presented. Particular attention is devoted to the development of a device based on computerized tomography; its essential components are reported and some design problems are also discussed

  14. Nondestructive characterization of materials (ultrasonic and micromagnetic techniques) for strength and toughness prediction and the detection of early creep damage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dobmann, G.; Kroening, M.; Theiner, W.; Willems, H.; Fiedler, U.

    1995-01-01

    In recent years, nondestructive testing techniques for materials characterization have been developed in Germany under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Research and Development, as part of the Reactor Safety Research Programme, in order to provide techniques for PSI and ISI that are sensitive and reliable, in particular with respect to the prediction of strength and toughness. As ferritic steels (pressure vessels and pipelines in the primary circuit) are of special interest, R and D was concentrated on micromagnetic techniques which are sensitive to the microstructure and its changes under service and/or repair conditions. In order to characterize microstructural states superimposed by residual stresses in an unambiguous way, numerical modelling was applied using advanced tools of mathematical approximation theory, i.e. multiregression algorithms and neural networks.For the detection of early creep damage in fossil power plant applications, i.e. micropores and their subsequent development to linked pores and microcracks, besides the micromagnetic techniques an ultrasonic technique was also applied and optimized for in situ applications on components such as pipe bends. Whereas the ultrasonic technique is sensitive to pore concentrations as small as about 0.2%, the parameters of the micromagnetic techniques are mainly influenced by temperature- and load-induced microstructural changes occurring in service, dependent on the steel quality. The techniques are applied at two pipe bends (steel grades 14MoV63 and X20CrMoV121) loaded under near practical conditions during seven inspection intervals between 2048h and 21000h to evaluate the progress of damage. (orig.)

  15. Educational ultrasound nondestructive testing laboratory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genis, Vladimir; Zagorski, Michael

    2008-09-01

    The ultrasound nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of materials course was developed for applied engineering technology students at Drexel University's Goodwin College of Professional Studies. This three-credit, hands-on laboratory course consists of two parts: the first part with an emphasis on the foundations of NDE, and the second part during which ultrasound NDE techniques are utilized in the evaluation of parts and materials. NDE applications are presented and applied through real-life problems, including calibration and use of the latest ultrasonic testing instrumentation. The students learn engineering and physical principles of measurements of sound velocity in different materials, attenuation coefficients, material thickness, and location and dimensions of discontinuities in various materials, such as holes, cracks, and flaws. The work in the laboratory enhances the fundamentals taught during classroom sessions. This course will ultimately result in improvements in the educational process ["The greater expectations," national panel report, http://www.greaterexpectations.org (last viewed February, 2008); R. M. Felder and R. Brent "The intellectual development of Science and Engineering Students. Part 2: Teaching to promote growth," J. Eng. Educ. 93, 279-291 (2004)] since industry is becoming increasingly reliant on the effective application of NDE technology and the demand on NDE specialists is increasing. NDE curriculum was designed to fulfill levels I and II NDE in theory and training requirements, according to American Society for Nondestructive Testing, OH, Recommended Practice No. SNT-TC-1A (2006).

  16. Measurement and Modeling of Narrowband Channels for Ultrasonic Underwater Communications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco J. Cañete

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Underwater acoustic sensor networks are a promising technology that allow real-time data collection in seas and oceans for a wide variety of applications. Smaller size and weight sensors can be achieved with working frequencies shifted from audio to the ultrasonic band. At these frequencies, the fading phenomena has a significant presence in the channel behavior, and the design of a reliable communication link between the network sensors will require a precise characterization of it. Fading in underwater channels has been previously measured and modeled in the audio band. However, there have been few attempts to study it at ultrasonic frequencies. In this paper, a campaign of measurements of ultrasonic underwater acoustic channels in Mediterranean shallow waters conducted by the authors is presented. These measurements are used to determine the parameters of the so-called κ-μ shadowed distribution, a fading model with a direct connection to the underlying physical mechanisms. The model is then used to evaluate the capacity of the measured channels with a closed-form expression.

  17. A study on the development of a real-time intelligent system for ultrasonic flaw classification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Song, Sung Jin; Kim, Hak Joon; Lee, Hyun; Lee, Seung Seok

    1998-01-01

    In spite of significant progress in research on ultrasonic pattern recognition it is not widely used in many practical field inspection in weldments. For the convenience of field application of this methodology, following four key issues have to be suitably addressed; 1) a software where the ultrasonic pattern recognition algorithm is efficiently implemented, 2) a real-time ultrasonic testing system which can capture the digitized ultrasonic flaw signal so the pattern recognition software can be applied in a real-time fashion, 3) database of ultrasonic flaw signals in weldments, which is served as a foundation of the ultrasonic pattern recognition algorithm, and finally, 4) ultrasonic features which should be invariant to operational variables of the ultrasonic test system. Presented here is the recent progress in the development of a real-time ultrasonic flaw classification by the novel combination of followings; an intelligent software for ultrasonic flaw classification in weldments, a computer-base real-time ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation system, database of ultrasonic flaw signals, and invariant ultrasonic features called 'normalized features.'

  18. Investigation of PVC physical ageing in field test specimens using ultrasonic and dielectric measurements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Demcenko, A.; Ravanan, M.; Visser, Roy; Loendersloot, Richard; Akkerman, Remko

    2013-01-01

    Physical ageing in PVC is studied using two techniques: a) non-linear ultrasonic measurements based on the non-collinear wave interaction theory and b) dielectric measurements. The ultrasonic measurement results are compared with dielectric measurement results. The comparison shows that the used

  19. An optical, electrical and ultrasonic layered single sensor for ingredient measurement in liquid

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kimoto, A; Kitajima, T

    2010-01-01

    In this paper, an optical, electrical and ultrasonic layered single sensor is proposed as a new, non-invasive sensing method for the measurement of ingredients in liquid, particularly in the food industry. In the proposed sensor, the photo sensors and the PVDF films with the transparent conductive electrode are layered and the optical properties of the liquid are measured by a light emitting diode (LED) and a phototransistor (PT). In addition, the electrical properties are measured by indium tin oxide (ITO) film electrodes as the transparent conductive electrodes of PVDF films arranged on the surfaces of the LED and PT. Moreover, the ultrasonic properties are measured by PVDF films. Thus, the optical, electrical and ultrasonic properties in the same space of the liquid can be simultaneously measured at a single sensor. To test the sensor experimentally, three parameters of the liquid—such as concentrations of yellow color, sodium chloride (NaCl) and ethanol in distilled water—were estimated using the measurement values of the optical, electrical and ultrasonic properties obtained with the proposed sensor. The results suggested that it is possible to estimate the three ingredient concentrations in the same space of the liquid from the optical, electrical and ultrasonic properties measured by the proposed single sensor, although there are still some problems such as measurement accuracy that must be solved

  20. Ultrasonic guided wave inspection of Inconel 625 brazed lap joints

    Science.gov (United States)

    Comot, Pierre; Bocher, Philippe; Belanger, Pierre

    2016-04-01

    The aerospace industry has been investigating the use of brazing for structural joints, as a mean of reducing cost and weight. There therefore is a need for a rapid, robust, and cost-effective non-destructive testing method for evaluating the structural integrity of the joints. The mechanical strength of brazed joints depends mainly on the amount of brittle phases in their microstructure. Ultrasonic guided waves offer the possibility of detecting brittle phases in joints using spatio-temporal measurements. Moreover, they offer the opportunity to inspect complex shape joints. This study focused on the development of a technique based on ultrasonic guided waves for the inspection of Inconel 625 lap joints brazed with BNi-2 filler metal. A finite element model of a lap joint was used to optimize the inspection parameters and assess the feasibility of detecting the amount of brittle phases in the joint. A finite element parametric study simulating the input signal shape, the center frequency, and the excitation direction was performed. The simulations showed that the ultrasonic guided wave energy transmitted through, and reflected from, the joints was proportional to the amount of brittle phases in the joint.

  1. Nondestructive measurement of environmental radioactive strontium

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saiba Shuntaro

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident was triggered by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The main radioactivity concerns after the accident are I-131 (half-life: 8.0 days, Cs-134 (2.1 years, Cs-137 (30 years, Sr-89 (51 days, and Sr-90 (29 years. We are aiming to establish a new nondestructive measurement and detection technique that will enable us to realize a quantitative evaluation of strontium radioactivity without chemical separation processing. This technique is needed to detect radiation contained in foods, environmental water, and soil, to prevent us from undesired internal exposure to radiation.

  2. Measurement of absolute displacement-amplitude of ultrasonic wave using piezo-electric detection method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, Seong Hyun; Kim, Jong Beom; Jhang, Kyung Young [Hanyang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2017-02-15

    A nonlinear ultrasonic parameter is defined by the ratio of displacement amplitude of the fundamental frequency component to that of the second-order harmonic frequency component. In this study, the ultrasonic displacement amplitude of an SUS316 specimen was measured via a piezo-electric-based method to identify the validity of piezo-electric detection method. For comparison, the ultrasonic displacement was also determined via a laser-based Fabry-Pérot interferometer. The experimental results for both measurements were in good agreement. Additionally, the stability of the repeated test results from the piezo-electric method exceeded that of the laser-interferometric method. This result indicated that the piezo-electric detection method can be utilized to measure a nonlinear ultrasonic parameter due to its excellent stability although it involves a complicated process.

  3. Measurement of absolute displacement-amplitude of ultrasonic wave using piezo-electric detection method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Seong Hyun; Kim, Jong Beom; Jhang, Kyung Young

    2017-01-01

    A nonlinear ultrasonic parameter is defined by the ratio of displacement amplitude of the fundamental frequency component to that of the second-order harmonic frequency component. In this study, the ultrasonic displacement amplitude of an SUS316 specimen was measured via a piezo-electric-based method to identify the validity of piezo-electric detection method. For comparison, the ultrasonic displacement was also determined via a laser-based Fabry-Pérot interferometer. The experimental results for both measurements were in good agreement. Additionally, the stability of the repeated test results from the piezo-electric method exceeded that of the laser-interferometric method. This result indicated that the piezo-electric detection method can be utilized to measure a nonlinear ultrasonic parameter due to its excellent stability although it involves a complicated process

  4. Ultrasonic Examination of Double-Shell Tank 214-AW-102 Knuckle Region. Examination completed February 2003

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pardini, Allan F.; Posakony, Gerald J.

    2003-01-01

    COGEMA Engineering Corporation (COGEMA), under a contract from CH2M Hill Hanford Group (CH2M Hill), has performed an ultrasonic examination of the knuckle region of Double-Shell Tank 241-AW-102 utilizing the Remotely Operated Nondestructive Examination (RONDE) system. The purpose of this examination was to provide information that could be used to evaluate the integrity of the knuckle region of the primary tank. The requirements for the ultrasonic examination of Tank 241-AW-102 were to detect, characterize (identify, size, and locate), and record measurements made of any circumferentially oriented cracks that might be present in the knuckle area of the primary tank. Any measurements that exceed the requirements set forth in the Engineering Task Plan (ETP), RPP-7869, are reported to CH2M Hill and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for further evaluation. Under the contract with CH2M Hill, all data is to be recorded on disk and paper copies of all measurements are provided t o PNNL for third-party evaluation. PNNL is responsible for preparing a report(s) that describes the results of the COGEMA ultrasonic examinations

  5. Opportunities and applications of medical imaging and image processing techniques for nondestructive testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Song, Samuel Moon Ho; Cho, Jung Ho; Son, Sang Rock; Sung, Je Jonng; Ahn, Hyung Keun; Lee, Jeong Soon

    2002-01-01

    Nondestructive testing (NDT) of structures strives to extract all relevant data regarding the state of the structure without altering its form or properties. The success enjoyed by imaging and image processing technologies in the field of modem medicine forecasts similar success of image processing related techniques both in research and practice of NDT. In this paper, we focus on two particular instances of such applications: a modern vision technique for 3-D profile and shape measurement, and ultrasonic imaging with rendering for 3-D visualization. Ultrasonic imaging of 3-D structures for nondestructive evaluation purposes must provide readily recognizable 3-D images with enough details to clearly show various faults that may or may not be present. As a step towards Improving conspicuity and thus detection of faults, we propose a pulse-echo ultrasonic imaging technique to generate a 3-D image of the 3-D object under evaluation through strategic scanning and processing of the pulse-echo data. This three-dimensional processing and display improves conspicuity of faults and in addition, provides manipulation capabilities, such as pan and rotation of the 3-D structure. As a second application, we consider an image based three-dimensional shape determination system. The shape, and thus the three-dimensional coordinate information of the 3-D object, is determined solely from captured images of the 3-D object from a prescribed set of viewpoints. The approach is based on the shape from silhouette (SFS) technique and the efficacy of the SFS method is tested using a sample data set. This system may be used to visualize the 3-D object efficiently, or to quickly generate initial CAD data for reverse engineering purposes. The proposed system potentially may be used in three dimensional design applications such as 3-D animation and 3-D games.

  6. Augmented reality application for training in pipe defects ultrasonic investigation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amza Cătălin Gheorghe

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the development process of an Augmented Reality (AR application used for training operators in using ultrasonic equipment for non-destructive testing (NDT of pipework. The application provides workers useful information regarding the process steps, the main components of ultrasonic equipment and the proper modality of placing, aligning and moving it on pipe and weld. Using tablet or mobile phone device, an operator can see on screen written details and images on standardized working method, thus offering assistance during the training process. Allowing 3D augmented visualization of ultrasonic equipment overlaid on the real-world environment consisting in pipes and welds, the AR application makes the NDT process easier to understand and learn, as the initial evaluation results showed.

  7. Electromagnetic acoustic transducers noncontacting ultrasonic measurements using EMATS

    CERN Document Server

    Hirao, Masahiko

    2017-01-01

    This second edition provides comprehensive information on electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs), from the theory and physical principles of EMATs to the construction of systems and their applications to scientific and industrial ultrasonic measurements on materials. The original version has been complemented with selected ideas on ultrasonic measurement that have emerged since the first edition was released. The book is divided into four parts: PART I offers a self-contained description of the basic elements of coupling mechanisms along with the practical designing of EMATs for various purposes. Several implementations to compensate for EMATs’ low transfer efficiency are provided, along with useful tips on how to make an EMAT. PART II describes the principle of electromagnetic acoustic resonance (EMAR), which makes the most of EMATs’ contactless nature and is the most successful amplification mechanism for precise measurements of velocity and attenuation. PART III applies EMAR to studying physical ...

  8. Factors of Nonlinear-ultrasonic Detection and Its Application to HR3C Fireside Corrosion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    QIN Peng

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Based on the discussion of the factors influencing the nonlinear ultrasonic testing, the feasibility of nondestructive evaluation of HR3C fireside corrosion was investigated using nonlinear ultrasonic testing. The results show that the number of pulse string is no more than 2df/c and the installation of Hanning window is helpful to reduce the disturbance of the system, in addition, the rough surface of the sample has a significant impact on the nonlinear parameter β. The nonlinear coefficient demonstrates a phased growth trend as corrosion time prolongs. At the initial stage of corrosion(within 50h,there are small increments within 20% in the nonlinear coefficient, however,the nonlinear coefficient β is increased obviously with the duration time to 150h. Compared with un-corroded sample, the amplification in the sample corroded for 200h reaches to 260%. The monotonous varieties in nonlinear coefficient are consistent with the aggravation of corrosion damage,hence,it is feasible to nondestructively evaluate HR3C fireside corrosion by means of ultrasonic nonlinear testing.

  9. Geophysical Methods for Non-Destructive Testing in Civil Engineering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niederleithinger, E.

    2013-12-01

    Many non-destructive testing (NDT) methods for civil engineering (e. g. ultrasonics, radar) are similar to geophysical techniques. They just differ in scale, material under investigation and vocabulary used. In spite of the fact that the same principles of physics and mathematics apply to both fields, exchange has been limited in the past. But since a few years more and more geophysical knowledge is used in civil engineering. One of the focal points in research is to improve ultrasonic testing of concrete to be able to image the inside even of large, complex structures and to detect any deterioration as early as possible. One of the main issues is the heterogeneity of concrete, including aggregates, reinforcement, cracks and many other features. Our current research focuses on three points. One is the application of state of the art geophysical migration techniques as Reverse Time Migration (RTM) to image vertical faces or the backside of voids and ducts in thick concrete structures, which isn't possible with conventional techniques used in NDT. Second, we have started to use seismic interferometric techniques to interpolate ultrasonic traces, which can't be measured directly for technical reasons. Third, we are using coda wave interferometry to detect concrete degradation due to load, fatigue, temperature or other influences as early as possible. Practical examples of the application of these techniques are given and potential future research directions will be discussed. It will be shown, how a subset of these techniques can be used for innovative monitoring systems for civil infrastructure. Imaging the interior of a concrete body by ultrasonics and reverse time migration(simulated data).

  10. Nondestructive web thickness measurement of micro-drills with an integrated laser inspection system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chuang, Shui-Fa; Chen, Yen-Chung; Chang, Wen-Tung; Lin, Ching-Chih; Tarng, Yeong-Shin

    2010-09-01

    Nowadays, the electric and semiconductor industries use numerous micro-drills to machine micro-holes in printed circuit boards. The measurement of web thickness of micro-drills, a key parameter of micro-drill geometry influencing drill rigidity and chip-removal ability, is quite important to ensure quality control. Traditionally, inefficiently destructive measuring method is adopted by inspectors. To improve quality and efficiency of the web thickness measuring tasks, a nondestructive measuring method is required. In this paper, based on the laser micro-gauge (LMG) and laser confocal displacement meter (LCDM) techniques, a nondestructive measuring principle of web thickness of micro-drills is introduced. An integrated laser inspection system, mainly consisting of a LMG, a LCDM and a two-axis-driven micro-drill fixture device, was developed. Experiments meant to inspect web thickness of micro-drill samples with a nominal diameter of 0.25 mm were conducted to test the feasibility of the developed laser inspection system. The experimental results showed that the web thickness measurement could achieve an estimated repeatability of ± 1.6 μm and a worst repeatability of ± 7.5 μm. The developed laser inspection system, combined with the nondestructive measuring principle, was able to undertake the web thickness measuring tasks for certain micro-drills.

  11. Comparison of central corneal thickness measured by Lenstar LS900, OrbscanⅡ and ultrasonic pachmetry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hong-Tao Zhang

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available AIM: To investigate the difference of central corneal thickness(CCTmeasured by Lenstar LS900, OrbscahⅡ system and ultrasonic pachmetry, and to evaluate the correlation and consistency of the results for providing a theoretical basis for clinical application.METHODS: The mean value of CCT in 70 eyes of 35 patients measured three times by Lenstar LS900, OrbscahⅡ system and ultrasonic pachmetry underwent statistical analysis. The difference of CCT was compared, and the correlation and consistency of three measurements were analyzed to provide theoretical basis for clinical application. CCT values measured by different methods were analyzed with randomized block variance analysis. LSD-t test was used for pairwise comparison between groups. The correlation of three measurement methods were analyzed by linear correlation analysis, and Bland-Altman was used to analyze the consistency.RESULTS: The mean CCT values measured by Lenstar LS900, OrbscanⅡ and ultrasonic pachmetry were 542.75±40.06, 528.74±39.59, 538.54±40.93μm, respectively. The mean difference of CCT measurement was 4.21±8.78μm between Lenstar LS900 and ultrasonic pachmetry, 14.01±13.39μm between Lenstar LS900 and Orbscan Ⅱ, 9.8±10.57μm between ultrasonic pachmetry and Orbscan Ⅱ. The difference was statistically significant(PP>0.05: There was positive correlation between CCT with Lenstar LS900 and ultrasonic pachmetry(r=0.977, 0.944; PCONCLUSION: There are excellent correlation among Lenstar LS900, Orbscan Ⅱ and ultrasonic pachmetry. Lenstar LS900 can be used as CCT non-contact measurement tool.

  12. Piston cylinder cell for high pressure ultrasonic pulse echo measurements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kepa, M. W., E-mail: mkepa@staffmail.ed.ac.uk; Huxley, A. D. [SUPA, Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions and School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ (United Kingdom); Ridley, C. J.; Kamenev, K. V. [Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions and School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FD (United Kingdom)

    2016-08-15

    Ultrasonic techniques such as pulse echo, vibrating reed, or resonant ultrasound spectroscopy are powerful probes not only for studying elasticity but also for investigating electronic and magnetic properties. Here, we report on the design of a high pressure ultrasonic pulse echo apparatus, based on a piston cylinder cell, with a simplified electronic setup that operates with a single coaxial cable and requires sample lengths of mm only. The design allows simultaneous measurements of ultrasonic velocities and attenuation coefficients up to a pressure of 1.5 GPa. We illustrate the performance of the cell by probing the phase diagram of a single crystal of the ferromagnetic superconductor UGe{sub 2}.

  13. Ultrasonic measurements of undamaged concrete layer thickness in a deteriorated concrete structure

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Demcenko, A.; Visser, Roy; Akkerman, Remko

    2016-01-01

    Ultrasonic wave propagation in deteriorated concrete structures was studied numerically and experimentally. Ultrasonic single-side access immersion pulse-echo and diffuse field measurements were performed in deteriorated concrete structures at 0.5 MHz center frequency. Numerically and experimentally

  14. Measurement of hydroxyl radical production in ultrasonic aqueous solutions by a novel chemiluminescence method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Yufei; Zhang, Zhujun; Yang, Chunyan

    2008-07-01

    Measurement methods for ultrasonic fields are important for reasons of safety. The investigation of an ultrasonic field can be performed by detecting the yield of hydroxyl radicals resulting from ultrasonic cavitations. In this paper, a novel method is introduced for detecting hydroxyl radicals by a chemiluminescence (CL) reaction of luminol-hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-K5[Cu(HIO6)2](DPC). The yield of hydroxyl radicals is calculated directly by the relative CL intensity according to the corresponding concentration of H2O2. This proposed CL method makes it possible to perform an in-line and real-time assay of hydroxyl radicals in an ultrasonic aqueous solution. With flow injection (FI) technology, this novel CL reaction is sensitive enough to detect ultra trace amounts of H2O2 with a limit of detection (3sigma) of 4.1 x 10(-11) mol L(-1). The influences of ultrasonic output power and ultrasonic treatment time on the yield of hydroxyl radicals by an ultrasound generator were also studied. The results indicate that the amount of hydroxyl radicals increases with the increase of ultrasonic output power (< or = 15 W mL(-1)). There is a linear relationship between the time of ultrasonic treatment and the yield of H2O2. The ultrasonic field of an ultrasonic cleaning baths has been measured by calculating the yield of hydroxyl radicals.

  15. Nondestructive methods for quality evaluation of livestock products.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narsaiah, K; Jha, Shyam N

    2012-06-01

    The muscles derived from livestock are highly perishable. Rapid and nondestructive methods are essential for quality assurance of such products. Potential nondestructive methods, which can supplement or replace many of traditional time consuming destructive methods, include colour and computer image analysis, NIR spectroscopy, NMRI, electronic nose, ultrasound, X-ray imaging and biosensors. These methods are briefly described and the research work involving them for products derived from livestock is reviewed. These methods will be helpful in rapid screening of large number of samples, monitoring distribution networks, quick product recall and enhance traceability in the value chain of livestock products. With new developments in the areas of basic science related to these methods, colour, image processing, NIR spectroscopy, biosensors and ultrasonic analysis are expected to be widespread and cost effective for large scale meat quality evaluation in near future.

  16. Ultrasonic assessment of additive manufactured Ti-6Al-4V

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schehl, Norman; Kramb, Vicki; Dierken, Josiah; Aldrin, John; Schwalbach, Edwin; John, Reji

    2018-04-01

    Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes offer the potential for manufacturing cost savings and rapid insertion into service through production of near net shape components for complicated structures. Use of these parts in high reliability applications such as those in the aerospace industry will require nondestructive characterization methods to ensure post-process material quality in as-built condition. Ultrasonic methods can be used for this quality verification. Depending on the application, the service life of AM components can be sensitive to the part surface condition. The surface roughness and layered structure inherent to the electron-beam powder-bed fusion process necessitates new approaches to evaluate subsurface material integrity in its presence. Experimental methods and data analytics may improve the evaluation of as-built additively manufactured materials. This paper discusses the assessment of additively manufactured EBM Ti-6Al-4V panels using ultrasonic methods and the data analytics applied to evaluate material integrity. The assessment was done as an exploratory study as the discontinuities of interest in these test samples were not known when the measurements were performed. Water immersion ultrasonic techniques, including pulse-echo and through transmission with 10 MHz focused transducers, were used to explore the material integrity of as-built plates. Subsequent destructive mechanical tests of specimens extracted from the plates provided fracture locations indicating critical flaws. To further understand the effect of surface-roughness, an evaluation of ultrasonic response in the presence of as-built surfaces and with the surface removed was performed. The assessment of additive manufactured EBM Ti-6Al-4V panels with ultrasonic techniques indicated that ultrasonic energy was attenuated by the as-built surface roughness. In addition, feature detection was shown to be sensitive to experimental ultrasonic parameters and flaw morphology.

  17. Ultrasonic evaluation of heat treatment for stress relief in steel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bittencourt, Marcelo de S.Q.; Lamy, Carlos A.; Goncalves Filho, Orlando J.A.; Payao Filho, Joao da C.

    2000-01-01

    Residual stresses in materials arise due to the manufacturing processes. As a consequence, in the nuclear area some components must suffer a stress relief treatment according to strict criteria. Although these treatments are carefully carried on, concern with nuclear safety is constantly growing. This work proposes a nondestructive ultrasonic method to guarantee the efficiency of the heat treatment. It was used a short peened steel plate with tensile and compressive stresses which was submitted to a stress relief treatment. The results show that the proposed ultrasonic method could be used to confirm the efficiency of the stress relief heat treatment. (author)

  18. Phased array ultrasonic testing of dissimilar metal pipe weld joints

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rajeev, J.; Sankaranarayanan, R.; Sharma, Govind K; Joseph, A.; Purnachandra Rao, B.

    2015-01-01

    Dissimilar metal weld (DMW) joints made of stainless steel and ferritic steel is used in nuclear industries as well as oil and gas industries. These joints are prone to frequent failures which makes the non-destructive testing of dissimilar metal weld joints utmost important for reliable and safe operation of nuclear power plants and oil and gas industries. Ultrasonic inspection of dissimilar metal weld joints is still challenging due to the inherent anisotropic and highly scattering nature. Phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) is an advanced technique and its capability has not been fully explored for the inspection of dissimilar metal welds

  19. Frequency-domain imaging algorithm for ultrasonic testing by application of matrix phased arrays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dolmatov Dmitry

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Constantly increasing demand for high-performance materials and systems in aerospace industry requires advanced methods of nondestructive testing. One of the most promising methods is ultrasonic imaging by using matrix phased arrays. This technique allows to create three-dimensional ultrasonic imaging with high lateral resolution. Further progress in matrix phased array ultrasonic testing is determined by the development of fast imaging algorithms. In this article imaging algorithm based on frequency domain calculations is proposed. This approach is computationally efficient in comparison with time domain algorithms. Performance of the proposed algorithm was tested via computer simulations for planar specimen with flat bottom holes.

  20. Fatigue crack growth studies on a tee junction using ultrasonic non-destructive methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Subramanian, C.V.; Thavasimuthu, M.; Ramesh, A.S.; Jayakumar, T.; Kalyanasundaram, P.; Baldev Raj

    1996-01-01

    Fatigue cracks need to be detected and sized to maintain structural integrity. The significance of cracks detected in service must also be assessed. This paper describes the on-line ultrasonic testing carried out on a Tee joint subjected to fatigue loading. The initiation and growth of the cracks were monitored for every 5,000 cycles up to 40,000 cycles. The study demonstrated the use of ultrasonic testing for fatigue crack growth detection and sizing. (author)

  1. Proceedings of the 5. Pan Pacific conference on nondestructive testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kittmer, C.A.

    1987-03-01

    This is the fifth in the series of Pan Pacific Conference on Nondestructive Testing held once every two years. The honour of hosting the conference is shared among those countries bordering on the Pacific Ocean, this year the responsibility being granted to Canada. The call for papers for this three day conference attracted significant interest. This provided the Technical Program Committee with an extremely difficult task in reducing the overwhelming response to only 46 (plus 10 alternates) for presentation at the conference, and inclusion in these proceedings. The selected papers provide an international perspective on advances in nondestructive techniques such as ultrasonics, eddy current, radiography, magnetic particle and liquid penetrant, as well as their diverse applications in the various countries involved

  2. Proceedings of a specialist meeting on the ultrasonic inspection of reactor components

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1976-01-01

    Beside synthesis of two conferences on nondestructive testing and on inspection, the contributions of this conference are reporting experimental observations and research works on ultrasonic techniques, methods, procedures (pre-service or in-service) and equipment for the inspection of nuclear reactor components (pressure vessels, tubing and piping), generally in stainless steel (often austenitic or ferritic) material or in zirconium alloy. Some contributions are also dealing with the relationship between material microstructure and ultrasonic inspection method and equipment, or with the detection and sizing precision of flaws (cracks)

  3. Performance considerations of ultrasonic distance measurement with well defined properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elmer, Hannes; Schweinzer, Herbert

    2005-01-01

    Conventional ultrasonic distance measurement systems based on narrow bandwidth ultrasonic bursts and amplitude detection are often used because of their low costs and easy implementation. However, the achievable results strongly depend on the actual environments where the system is implemented: in case of well defined objects that are always located near the measurement direction of the system, in general good results are obtained. If arbitrary objects are expected that are moreover located in arbitrary positions in front of the sensor, strongly object dependent areas where objects are detected with decreasing accuracy towards their borders must be taken into account. In previous works we developed an ultrasonic measurement system that provides accurate distance measurement values within a well defined detection area that is independent of the reflection properties of the objects. This measurement system is based on the One Bit Correlation method that is described in the following. To minimise its implementation efforts, it is necessary to examine the influence of the system parameters as e.g. the correlation length to the results that are expected in case of different signal to noise ratios of the received signal. In the following, these examinations are shown and the obtained results are discussed that allow getting a well conditioned system that makes best use of given system resources

  4. Ultrasonic applications for the enhancement of turbulence flow by using the PIV measurement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Y. H.; Choi, W. C.; Koo, J. H.; Song, M. G.; Ju, E. S.

    2000-01-01

    Ultrasonic applications for the enhancement of turbulence flow by using the PIV measurement were carried out according to the angle of the ultrasonic oscillator, materials of the reflector and each section when ultrasonic is reflected several times. Angles of the ultrasonic oscillator such as 30 deg., 45 .deg., 60 .deg., 90 .deg., 120 .deg., 135 .deg. and 150 .deg. were selected, and turbulent intensities were compared at Reynolds No. 2,000 and 4,000. Materials of the reflector such as wood, acryl, iron and glass were selected, and time mean velocity vector and turbulent intensity were compared at Reynolds No. 4,000. The zone which was observed was selected from first section to fourth section when ultrasonic was reflected several times. Every data such as time mean velocity vector and time mean turbulent intensity which was obtained by PIV measurement was examined, compared and discussed at Reynolds No. 2,000 and 4,000 to know the degree of turbulence enhancement in each case

  5. Nondestructive inspection of concrete structures by nonlinear elastic wave spectroscopy methods

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Převorovský, Zdeněk; Krofta, Josef; Kober, Jan; Chlada, Milan

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 19, č. 12 (2014) ISSN 1435-4934. [European Conference on Non-Destructive Testing (ECNDT 2014) /11./. Praha, 06.10.2014-10.10.2014] Institutional support: RVO:61388998 Keywords : civil engineering * nuclear * power plant * structural health monitoring (SHM) * signal processing * other medhods * ultrasonic testing (UT) Subject RIV: BI - Acoustics http://www.ndt.net/events/ECNDT2014/app/content/Slides/642_Prevorovsky_Rev1.pdf

  6. Hydrogen attack evaluation of boiler tube using ultrasonic wave

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Won, Soon Ho; Hyun, Yang Ki; Lee, Jong O; Cho, Kyung Shik; Lee, Jae Do

    2001-01-01

    The presence of hydrogen in industrial plants is a source of damage. Hydrogen attack is one such form of degradation and often causing large tube ruptures that necessitate an immediate shutdown. Hydrogen attack may reduce the fracture toughness as well as the strength of steels. This reduction is caused partially by the presence of cavities and microcracks at the grain boundaries. In the past several techniques have been used with limited results. This paper describes the application of an ultrasonic velocity, attenuation and backscatter techniques for detecting the presence of hydrogen damage in utility boiler tubes. Ultrasonic tests showed a decrease in wave velocity and an increase in attenuation. Such results demonstrate the potential for ultrasonic nondestructive testing to quantify damage. Based on this study, recommendations are that both velocity and attenuation be used to detect hydrogen attack in steels.

  7. Guidance on meeting DOE order requirements for traceable nondestructive assay measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-05-01

    Purpose of this guide is to facilitate accuracy and precision of nondestructive assay measurements through improvement of the materials and process of traceability. This document provides DOE and its contractor facilities with guidance to establish traceability to the national measurement base for site-prepared NDA working reference materials

  8. Ultrasound propagation in steel piping at electric power plant using clamp-on ultrasonic pulse doppler velocity-profile flowmeter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tezuka, Kenichi; Mori, Michitsugu; Wada, Sanehiro; Aritomi, Masanori; Kikura, Hiroshige

    2008-01-01

    Venturi nozzles are widely used to measure the flow rates of reactor feedwater. This flow rate of nuclear reactor feedwater is an important factor in the operation of nuclear power reactors. Some other types of flowmeters have been proposed to improve measurement accuracy. The ultrasonic pulse Doppler velocity-profile flowmeter is expected to be a candidate method because it can measure the flow profiles across the pipe cross sections. For the accurate estimation of the flow velocity, the incidence angle of ultrasonic entering the fluid should be carefully estimated by the theoretical approach. However, the evaluation of the ultrasound propagation is not straightforward for the several reasons such as temperature gradient in the wedge or mode conversion at the interface between the wedge and pipe. In recent years, the simulation code for ultrasound propagation has come into use in the nuclear field for nondestructive testing. This article analyzes and discusses ultrasound propagation in steel piping and water, using the 3D-FEM simulation code and the Kirchhoff method, as it relates to the flow profile measurements in power plants with the ultrasonic pulse Doppler velocity-profile flowmeter. (author)

  9. Characterization of the alumina-zirconia ceramic system by ultrasonic velocity measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carreon, Hector; Ruiz, Alberto; Medina, Ariosto; Barrera, Gerardo; Zarate, Juan

    2009-01-01

    In this work an alumina-zirconia ceramic composites have been prepared with α-Al 2 O 3 contents from 10 to 95 wt.%. The alumina-zirconia ceramic system was characterized by means of precise ultrasonic velocity measurements. In order to find out the factors affecting the variation in wave velocity, the ceramic composite have been examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and (SEM) scanning electron microscopy. It was found that the ultrasonic velocity measurements changed considerably with respect to the ceramic composite composition. In particular, we studied the behavior of the physical material property hardness, an important parameter of the ceramic composite mechanical properties, with respect to the variation in the longitudinal and shear wave velocities. Shear wave velocities exhibited a stronger interaction with microstructural and sub-structural features as compared to that of longitudinal waves. In particular, this phenomena was observed for the highest α-Al 2 O 3 content composite. Interestingly, an excellent correlation between ultrasonic velocity measurements and ceramic composite hardness was observed.

  10. Ultrasonic preliminary measurements of oenological malolactic fermentation parameters in red wine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novoa-Díaz, D. F.; Puig-Pujol, A.; García-Álvarez, J.; Chávez, J. A.; Turó, A.; Mínguez, S.; García-Hernández, M. J.; Bertran, E.; Salazar, J.

    2012-12-01

    In the winemaking process, the malolactic fermentation is an essential process in the production of high quality red wines which concerns the conversion of malate into lactate. In this work, the ultrasonic velocity through wine samples with different concentrations of malate and lactate was measured using the pulse echo technique with 1 MHz tone burst signals. The evolution of these concentrations during malolactic fermentation was taken into account in order to determine the ratio between concentrations of malate and lactate of the different samples. These preliminary results have revealed that the ultrasonic velocity increases during the conversion of malate to lactate. In addition, measurements have been conducted to quantify the influence of variations in turbidity and temperature on test samples. Therefore, these results show the possibility of using ultrasonic velocity measurements for on-line monitoring the malolactic fermentation of red wine and may help to improve and contribute to the development of the winemaking process.

  11. Ultrasonic preliminary measurements of oenological malolactic fermentation parameters in red wine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Novoa-Díaz, D F; García-Álvarez, J; Chávez, J A; Turó, A; García-Hernández, M J; Salazar, J; Puig-Pujol, A; Mínguez, S; Bertran, E

    2012-01-01

    In the winemaking process, the malolactic fermentation is an essential process in the production of high quality red wines which concerns the conversion of malate into lactate. In this work, the ultrasonic velocity through wine samples with different concentrations of malate and lactate was measured using the pulse echo technique with 1 MHz tone burst signals. The evolution of these concentrations during malolactic fermentation was taken into account in order to determine the ratio between concentrations of malate and lactate of the different samples. These preliminary results have revealed that the ultrasonic velocity increases during the conversion of malate to lactate. In addition, measurements have been conducted to quantify the influence of variations in turbidity and temperature on test samples. Therefore, these results show the possibility of using ultrasonic velocity measurements for on-line monitoring the malolactic fermentation of red wine and may help to improve and contribute to the development of the winemaking process.

  12. Measurement of liquid level in a natural circulation circuit using an ultrasonic technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barbosa, Amanda Cardozo; Su, Jian

    2017-01-01

    The measurement by an ultrasonic technique of the water level in the expansion tank of the Natural Circulation Circuit (NCC) of the Experimental Thermo-Hydraulic Laboratory of the Institute of Nuclear Engineering is presented. In the single-phase NCC operation the water level in the expansion tank is stable. However, during the two-phase operation, oscillations occur in the water level due to temperature and vacuum fraction variations. Thus, the development of a technique that allows the measurement of these oscillations, will allow an estimation of the variation of the vacuum fraction of the circuit over time. The experimental set - up was performed on a test bench, using an ultrasonic transducer. The ultrasonic technique used is pulse-echo, in which the same transducer is the transmitter and receiver of the signal. The transducer-shoe assembly is part of an ultrasonic system consisting of an ultrasonic signal generating plate, transducers and a computer (PC) with a program in LabView to control the system. The program is able to calculate the transit time that the ultrasonic signals take to cross the tank base wall, the layer (level) of liquid and return to the transducer. Knowing the speed of the ultrasound in the wall and in the liquid it is possible to calculate the thickness of the wall and the height of the liquid. Measurements were made by filling the tank with a known volume of water and under varying temperature conditions, from room temperature to 90 deg C. The liquid heights are determined and the volume of water calculated by measuring the temperature with a digital thermometer. The volumes measured were highly accurate when compared to the known volumes

  13. A computer-controlled electronic system for the ultrasonic NDT of components for nuclear power stations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rehrmann, M.; Harbecke, D.

    1987-01-01

    The paper describes an automatic ultrasonic testing system combined with a computer-controlled electronics system, called IMPULS I, for the non-destructive testing of components of nuclear reactors. The system can be used for both in-service inspection and for inspection during the manufacturing process. IMPUL I has more functions and less components than conventional ultrasonic systems, and the system gives good reproducible test results and is easy to operate. (U.K.)

  14. Contact and non-contact ultrasonic measurement in the food industry: a review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohd Khairi, Mohd Taufiq; Ibrahim, Sallehuddin; Md Yunus, Mohd Amri; Faramarzi, Mahdi

    2016-01-01

    The monitoring of the food manufacturing process is vital since it determines the safety and quality level of foods which directly affect the consumers’ health. Companies which produce high quality products will gain trust from consumers. This factor helps the companies to make profits. The use of efficient and appropriate sensors for the monitoring process can also reduce cost. The food assessing process based on an ultrasonic sensor has attracted the attention of the food industry due to its excellent capabilities in several applications. The utilization of low or high frequencies for the ultrasonic transducer has provided an enormous benefit for analysing, modifying and guaranteeing the quality of food. The contact and non-contact ultrasonic modes for measurement also contributed significantly to the food processing. This paper presents a review of the application of the contact and non-contact mode of ultrasonic measurement focusing on safety and quality control areas. The results from previous researches are shown and elaborated. (topical review)

  15. Contact and non-contact ultrasonic measurement in the food industry: a review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taufiq Mohd Khairi, Mohd; Ibrahim, Sallehuddin; Yunus, Mohd Amri Md; Faramarzi, Mahdi

    2016-01-01

    The monitoring of the food manufacturing process is vital since it determines the safety and quality level of foods which directly affect the consumers’ health. Companies which produce high quality products will gain trust from consumers. This factor helps the companies to make profits. The use of efficient and appropriate sensors for the monitoring process can also reduce cost. The food assessing process based on an ultrasonic sensor has attracted the attention of the food industry due to its excellent capabilities in several applications. The utilization of low or high frequencies for the ultrasonic transducer has provided an enormous benefit for analysing, modifying and guaranteeing the quality of food. The contact and non-contact ultrasonic modes for measurement also contributed significantly to the food processing. This paper presents a review of the application of the contact and non-contact mode of ultrasonic measurement focusing on safety and quality control areas. The results from previous researches are shown and elaborated.

  16. The state of the art in non destructive testing of nuclear fuel cladding tubes using ultrasonic rotary systems; on line computer and statistics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rauscher, Rudolf

    Nondestructive evaluation of nuclear fuel cladding by ultrasonic tests is described. Ultrasonic transducers for detection of flaws and dimensions are built in a rotary system with a speed of 8000 rpm. The testing system is adapted to a configuration consisting of two microcomputers connected to each other

  17. Early detection of fatigue cracks by means of nondestructive testing, NDT; Tidig detektering av utmattningssprickor genom ofoerstoerande provning, OFP

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Broddegaard, Mattias [Siemens Industrial Turbines, Finspaang (Sweden)

    2004-12-01

    Components in gas turbines, steam turbines and boilers are subjected to both high and low cycle fatigue. The lifetime of components is established by calculations based on conservative assumptions and safety factors, which means that most components will have a real life far exceeding the calculated. Conventional nondestructive testing is aimed at detecting macroscopic defects, such as cracks, inclusions and other discontinuities in the material. By having the possibility of detecting damage at a microscopic level, the risk of fractures in components subjected to fatigue can be reduced and the interval between testing occasions can be extended. The project goal has been to establish knowledge about possibilities and limitations for early detection of low and high cycle fatigue damage, by a literature survey and by practical experiments on low cycle fatigue specimens in 12% Cr-steel, for the following nondestructive testing methods: MWM (Meandering Winding Magnetometer) eddy current testing; and Nonlinear ultrasonics, both classical (second harmonic) and non-classical (crack closure). The project started with a literature survey. This resulted in a proposal for specimen design and selection of testing techniques and project partners. Manufacturing of specimens in 12% Cr-steel, designation X22CrMoV12-1, and low cycle fatigue testing at 300 deg C testing temperature was carried out at Siemens Industrial Turbines in Finspaang. Specimens with 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% consumed life, based on the number of cycles to presence of macroscopic cracks, were produced. MWM eddy current testing was carried out by Jentek Sensors Inc. in the USA. Measurements with nonlinear ultrasonics were carried out by Siemens Corporate Technology in Munich and at Blekinge Univ. The specimens were finally examined in SEM and light optical microscope in Finspaang. In the literature, results showing that early detection of fatigue damage by nondestructive testing is possible, can be found. By

  18. Babcock experience of automated ultrasonic non-destructive testing of PWR pressure vessels during manufacture

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dikstra, B.J.; Farley, J.M.; Scruton, G.

    1990-01-01

    Major developments in ultrasonic techniques, equipment and systems for automated inspection have lead, over a period of about ten years, to the regular application of sophisticated computer-controlled systems during the manufacture of nuclear reactor pressure vessels. Ten years ago the use of procedures defined in a code such as ASME XI might have been considered sufficient, but it is now necessary, as was demonstrated by the results of the UKAEA defect detection trials and the PISC II trials, to apply more comprehensive arrays of probes and higher test sensitivities. The ultrasonic techniques selected are demonstrated to be adequate by modelling or test-block exercises, the automated systems applied are subject to stringent quality assurance testing, and very rigorous inspection procedures are used in conjunction with a high degree of automation to ensure reproducibility of inspection quality. The state-of-the-art in automated ultrasonic testing of pressure vessels by Babcock is described. Current developments by the company, including automated flaw recognition, integrated modelling of inspection capability, and the use of electronically scanned variable-angle probes are reviewed. Examples quoted include the automated ultrasonic inspections of the Sizewell B pressurized water reactor vessel. (author)

  19. A Gaussian beam method for ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacquet, O.; Leymarie, N.; Cassereau, D.

    2018-05-01

    The propagation of high-frequency ultrasonic body waves can be efficiently estimated with a semi-analytic Dynamic Ray Tracing approach using paraxial approximation. Although this asymptotic field estimation avoids the computational cost of numerical methods, it may encounter several limitations in reproducing identified highly interferential features. Nevertheless, some can be managed by allowing paraxial quantities to be complex-valued. This gives rise to localized solutions, known as paraxial Gaussian beams. Whereas their propagation and transmission/reflection laws are well-defined, the fact remains that the adopted complexification introduces additional initial conditions. While their choice is usually performed according to strategies specifically tailored to limited applications, a Gabor frame method has been implemented to indiscriminately initialize a reasonable number of paraxial Gaussian beams. Since this method can be applied for an usefully wide range of ultrasonic transducers, the typical case of the time-harmonic piston radiator is investigated. Compared to the commonly used Multi-Gaussian Beam model [1], a better agreement is obtained throughout the radiated field between the results of numerical integration (or analytical on-axis solution) and the resulting Gaussian beam superposition. Sparsity of the proposed solution is also discussed.

  20. Experimental investigation by laser ultrasonics for high speed train axle diagnostics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cavuto, A; Martarelli, M; Pandarese, G; Revel, G M; Tomasini, E P

    2015-01-01

    The present paper demonstrates the applicability of a laser-ultrasonic procedure to improve the performances of train axle ultrasonic inspection. The method exploits an air-coupled ultrasonic probe that detects the ultrasonic waves generated by a high-power pulsed laser. As a result, the measurement chain is completely non-contact, from generation to detection, this making it possible to considerably speed up inspection time and make the set-up more flexible. The main advantage of the technique developed is that it works in thermo-elastic regime and it therefore can be considered as a non-destructive method. The laser-ultrasonic procedure investigated has been applied for the inspection of a real high speed train axle provided by the Italian railway company (Trenitalia), on which typical fatigue defects have been expressly created according to standard specifications. A dedicated test bench has been developed so as to rotate the axle with the angle control and to speed up the inspection of the axle surface. The laser-ultrasonic procedure proposed can be automated and is potentially suitable for regular inspection of train axles. The main achievements of the activity described in this paper are: – the study of the effective applicability of laser-ultrasonics for the diagnostic of train hollow axles with variable sections by means of a numerical FE model, – the carrying out of an automated experiment on a real train axle, – the analysis of the sensitivity to experimental parameters, like laser source – receiving probe distance and receiving probe angular position, – the demonstration that the technique is suitable for the detection of surface defects purposely created on the train axle. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. A study on the ultrasonic measurement for damage evaluation of power plant bearing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Sang Guk

    2004-01-01

    For the purpose of monitoring by ultrasonic test of the ball bearing conditions in rotating machinery, a system for their diagnosis was developed. Ultrasonic technique is used to detect abnormal conditions in the bearing system. And various data such as frequency spectrum, energy and amplitude of ultrasonic signals, and ultrasonic parameters were acquired during experiments with the simulated ball bearing system. Based on the above results and practical application for power plant, algorithms and judgement criteria for diagnosis system was established. Bearing diagnosis system is composed of four parts as follows : sensing part for ultrasonic sensor and preamplifier, signal processing part for measuring frequency spectrum, energy and amplitude, interface part for connecting ultrasonic signal to PC using A/D converter, graphic display and software part for display of bearing condition and for managing of diagnosis program

  2. Research and realization of ultrasonic gas flow rate measurement based on ultrasonic exponential model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Dandan; Hou, Huirang; Zhang, Tao

    2016-04-01

    For ultrasonic gas flow rate measurement based on ultrasonic exponential model, when the noise frequency is close to that of the desired signals (called similar-frequency noise) or the received signal amplitude is small and unstable at big flow rate, local convergence of the algorithm genetic-ant colony optimization-3cycles may appear, and measurement accuracy may be affected. Therefore, an improved method energy genetic-ant colony optimization-3cycles (EGACO-3cycles) is proposed to solve this problem. By judging the maximum energy position of signal, the initial parameter range of exponential model can be narrowed and then the local convergence can be avoided. Moreover, a DN100 flow rate measurement system with EGACO-3cycles method is established based on NI PCI-6110 and personal computer. A series of experiments are carried out for testing the new method and the measurement system. It is shown that local convergence doesn't appear with EGACO-3cycles method when similar-frequency noises exist and flow rate is big. Then correct time of flight can be obtained. Furthermore, through flow calibration on this system, the measurement range ratio is achieved 500:1, and the measurement accuracy is 0.5% with a low transition velocity 0.3 m/s. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Highly accurate adaptive TOF determination method for ultrasonic thickness measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Lianjie; Liu, Haibo; Lian, Meng; Ying, Yangwei; Li, Te; Wang, Yongqing

    2018-04-01

    Determining the time of flight (TOF) is very critical for precise ultrasonic thickness measurement. However, the relatively low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the received signals would induce significant TOF determination errors. In this paper, an adaptive time delay estimation method has been developed to improve the TOF determination’s accuracy. An improved variable step size adaptive algorithm with comprehensive step size control function is proposed. Meanwhile, a cubic spline fitting approach is also employed to alleviate the restriction of finite sampling interval. Simulation experiments under different SNR conditions were conducted for performance analysis. Simulation results manifested the performance advantage of proposed TOF determination method over existing TOF determination methods. When comparing with the conventional fixed step size, and Kwong and Aboulnasr algorithms, the steady state mean square deviation of the proposed algorithm was generally lower, which makes the proposed algorithm more suitable for TOF determination. Further, ultrasonic thickness measurement experiments were performed on aluminum alloy plates with various thicknesses. They indicated that the proposed TOF determination method was more robust even under low SNR conditions, and the ultrasonic thickness measurement accuracy could be significantly improved.

  4. A portable nondestructive assay measurement control system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Palmer, M.E.

    1984-01-01

    Portable nondestructive assay (NDA) of plutonium processing hoods, solvent extraction columns, glove boxes, filters, and other items is required for both nuclear materials accountability and criticality control purposes. The Plutonium Finishing Plant has hundreds of such items that require routine portable NDA measurement. Previous recordkeeping of NDA measurements consisted of boxes of papers containing results and notebooks containing notes for each item to be measured. If the notes for any item were lost, new measurement parameters had to be calculated for that item. As a result, subsequent measurements could no longer be directly compared with previous results for that item due to possible changes in measurement parameters. The new portable NDA management system keeps all the necessary information in a computerized data base. Technicians are provided with a computer-generated drawing of each item to be measured, which also contains comments, measurement points, measurement parameters, and a form for filling in the raw data. After the measurements are made, the technician uses the computer to calculate and print out the results

  5. Non-destructive testing of the MEGAPIE target

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dai, Y., E-mail: yong.dai@psi.ch; Wohlmuther, M.; Boutellier, V.; Hahl, S.; Lagotzki, A.; Leu, H.; Linder, H.P.; Schwarz, R.; Spahr, A.; Zanini, L.; Kuster, D.; Gavillet, D.; Wagner, W.

    2016-01-15

    Non-destructive testing (NDT) is one important part of the post-irradiation examination (PIE) of the MEGAPIE target. It includes visual inspection and ultrasonic measurement of the beam window of the T91 LBE container and gamma mapping of the beam window of the AlMg{sub 3} safety-container. The visual inspection showed no visible failure in the proton beam window area of the T91 LBE container. The ultrasonic measurement demonstrated no detectable change in the wall thickness of the T91 beam window, which implies no severe corrosion effect induced by flowing LBE during the four-month irradiation period. The gamma mapping provided the distribution of {sup 22}Na, a spallation product, in the proton beam window area of the AlMg{sub 3} safety-container. The result was used to evaluate the accumulated proton fluence distribution profile, the input data for determining irradiation parameters. A maximum proton fluence of 1.9 × 10{sup 25} p/m2 was deduced. The corresponding displacement damage degree in the T91 beam window was 7.1 dpa. - Highlights: • MEGAPIE is to design, build, operate and explore a liquid lead–bismuth (LBE) spallation target for 1 MW of beam power. • NDT of the target components exposed to high fluxes of high-energy protons and spallation neutrons was conducted. • There are no evident failures and corrosion effect of LBE in the T91 steel liquid metal container after irradiation to 7.1 dpa.

  6. Nondestructive materials evaluation and imaging by higher harmonics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kawashima, Koichiro

    2012-01-01

    Nondestructive detection of material anormalities, degradation and tight cracks, in which the acoustic impedance mismatch is low, is rather difficult by conventional ultrasonic testing. A novel nonlinear ultrasonic technique, in particular, higher harmonic technique, utilizes the waveform distortion, which results from the interaction between anormalities and large amplitude tone-burst waves. This technique is not affected by acoustic impedance mismatch, therefore, it has possibility to detect such anormalities, degradation and tight cracks. A novel higher harmonic imaging technique is proposed and applied to detect and visualize local plastic deformation of SUS 304 plates, plastic zone in front of crack tip, weld bond contour of carbon steel, small inclusions in ODS steel fuel tubes, pitting damage of SUS 316 plates in mercury, shallow fatigue cracks of SUS 316 plates introduced by thermal fatigue, and inter-granular stress corrosion cracking, IGSCC, in welded plates simulated safe-ends for bonding dissimilar metals. (author)

  7. Numeric ultrasonic image processing method: application to non-destructive testing of stainless austenitic steel welds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Corneloup, G.

    1988-09-01

    A bibliographic research on the means used to improve the ultrasonic inspection of heterogeneous materials such as stainless austenitic steel welds has shown, taking into account the first analysis, a signal assembly in the form of an image (space, time) which carries an original solution to fault detection in highly noisy environments. A numeric grey-level ultrasonic image processing detection method is proposed based on the research of a certain determinism, in the way which the ultrasonic image evolves in space and time in the presence of a defect: the first criterion studies the horizontal stability of the gradients in the image and the second takes into account the time-transient nature of the defect echo. A very important rise in the signal-to-noise ratio obtained in welding inspections evidencing defects (real and artificial) is shown with the help of a computerized ultrasonic image processing/management system, developed for this application [fr

  8. Image based EFIT simulation for nondestructive ultrasonic testing of austenitic steel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakahata, Kazuyuki; Hirose, Sohichi; Schubert, Frank; Koehler, Bernd

    2009-01-01

    The ultrasonic testing (UT) of an austenitic steel with welds is difficult due to the acoustic anisotropy and local heterogeneity. The ultrasonic wave in the austenitic steel is skewed along crystallographic directions and scattered by weld boundaries. For reliable UT, a straightforward simulation tool to predict the wave propagation is desired. Here a combined method of elastodynamic finite integration technique (EFIT) and digital image processing is developed as a wave simulation tool for UT. The EFIT is a grid-based explicit numerical method and easily treats different boundary conditions which are essential to model wave propagation in heterogeneous materials. In this study, the EFIT formulation in anisotropic and heterogeneous materials is briefly described and an example of a two dimensional simulation of a phased array UT in an austenitic steel bar is demonstrated. In our simulation, a picture of the surface of the steel bar with a V-groove weld is scanned and fed into the image based EFIT modeling. (author)

  9. Stress measurement and bolt tensioning by ultrasonic methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, J.F.; Greiner, J.D.

    1980-01-01

    In the past decade, a new technique has been developed for measuring tensile stresses in solids. This ultrasonic technique has been used thus far primarily for measuring fastener tension. The precision of measurement is routinely to 2-3% and, with special care, to approx. 1%. The method is insensitive to the frictional losses which plague tensioning by torque wrench. Though the approach is relatively new, it promises a wide range of applicability

  10. Stress Measurement and Bolt Tensioning by Ultrasonic Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, J. F.; Greiner, John D.

    1980-07-01

    In the past decade, a new technique has been developed for measuring tensile stresses in solids. This ultrasonic technique has been used thus far primarily for measuring fastener tension. The precision of measurement is routinely to 2-3% and, with special care, to ˜1%. The method is insensitive to the frictional losses which plague tensioning by torque wrench. Though the approach is relatively new, it promises a wide range of applicability.

  11. Comparative study of linear and nonlinear ultrasonic techniques for evaluation thermal damage of tube like structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Weibin; Cho, Younho; Li, Xianqiang

    2013-01-01

    Ultrasonic guided wave techniques have been widely used for long range nondestructive detection in tube like structures. The present paper investigates the ultrasonic linear and nonlinear parameters for evaluating the thermal damage in aluminum pipe. Specimens were subjected to thermal loading. Flexible polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) comb transducers were used to generate and receive the ultrasonic waves. The second harmonic wave generation technique was used to check the material nonlinearity change after different heat loadings. The conventional linear ultrasonic approach based on attenuation was also used to evaluate the thermal damages in specimens. The results show that the proposed experimental setup is viable to assess the thermal damage in an aluminum pipe. The ultrasonic nonlinear parameter is a promising candidate for the prediction of micro damages in a tube like structure

  12. An ultrasonic technique for predicting tensile strength of southern pine lumber

    Science.gov (United States)

    D. Rajeshwar; D.A. Bender; D.E. Bray; K.A. McDonald

    1997-01-01

    The goal of this research was to develop nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technology to enhance mechanical stress rating of lumber. An ultrasonic NDE technique was developed that is sensitive to grain angle and edge knots in lumber - two primary determinants of lumber strength. The presence of edge knots increased the acoustic wave travel time and selectively...

  13. Real-time nondestructive monitoring of the gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) process by combined airborne acoustic emission and non-contact ultrasonics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Lu; Basantes-Defaz, Alexandra-Del-Carmen; Abbasi, Zeynab; Yuhas, Donald; Ozevin, Didem; Indacochea, Ernesto

    2018-03-01

    Welding is a key manufacturing process for many industries and may introduce defects into the welded parts causing significant negative impacts, potentially ruining high-cost pieces. Therefore, a real-time process monitoring method is important to implement for avoiding producing a low-quality weld. Due to high surface temperature and possible contamination of surface by contact transducers, the welding process should be monitored via non-contact transducers. In this paper, airborne acoustic emission (AE) transducers tuned at 60 kHz and non-contact ultrasonic testing (UT) transducers tuned at 500 kHz are implemented for real time weld monitoring. AE is a passive nondestructive evaluation method that listens for the process noise, and provides information about the uniformity of manufacturing process. UT provides more quantitative information about weld defects. One of the most common weld defects as burn-through is investigated. The influences of weld defects on AE signatures (time-driven data) and UT signals (received signal energy, change in peak frequency) are presented. The level of burn-through damage is defined by using single method or combine AE/UT methods.

  14. High temperature flexible ultrasonic transducers for structural health monitoring and NDT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shih, J.L. [McGill Univ., Montreal, PQ (Canada). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Kobayashi, M.; Jen, C.K.; Tatibouet, J. [National Research Council of Canada, Boucherville, PQ (Canada). Industrial Materials Inst.; Mrad, N. [Department of National Defence, Ottawa, ON (Canada). Air Vehicles Research Station

    2009-07-01

    Ultrasonic techniques are often used for non-destructive testing (NDT) and structural health monitoring (SHM) of pipes in nuclear and fossil fuel power plants, petrochemical plants and other structures as a method to improve safety and extend the service life of the structure. In such applications, ultrasonic transducers (UTs) must be able to operate at high temperature, and must come in contact with structures that have surfaces with different curvatures. As such, flexible UTs (FUTs) are most suitable because they ensure self-alignment to the object's surface. The purpose of this study was to develop FUTs that have high flexibility similar to commercially available polyvinylidene fluoride PVDF FUTs, but which can operate at up to at least 150 degrees C and have a high ultrasonic performance comparable to commercial broadband UTs. The fabrication of the FUT consisted of a sol-gel based sensor fabrication process. The substrate was a 75 {mu}m thick titanium (Ti) membrane, a piezoelectric composite with a thickness larger than 85 {mu}m and a top electrode. The ultrasonic performance of the FUT in terms of signal strength was found to be at least as good as commercially available broadband ultrasonic transducers at room temperature. Onsite gluing and brazing installation techniques which bond the FUTs onto steel pipes for SHM and NDT purposes up to 100 and 150 degrees C were developed, respectively. The best thickness measurement accuracy of FUT at 150 degrees C was estimated to be 26 {mu}m. 18 refs., 2 tabs., 6 figs.

  15. Ultrasonic characterization of GRC with high percentage of fly ash substitution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genovés, V; Gosálbez, J; Miralles, R; Bonilla, M; Payá, J

    2015-07-01

    New applications of non-destructive techniques (NDT) with ultrasonic tests (attenuation and velocity by means of ultrasonic frequency sweeps) have been developed for the characterization of fibre-reinforced cementitious composites. According to new lines of research on glass-fibre reinforced cement (GRC) matrix modification, two similar GRC composites with high percentages of fly ash and different water/binder ratios will be studied. Conventional techniques have been used to confirm their low Ca(OH)(2) content (thermogravimetry), fibre integrity (Scanning Electron Microscopy), low porosity (Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry) and good mechanical properties (compression and four points bending test). Ultrasound frequency sweeps allowed the estimation of the attenuation and pulse velocity as functions of frequency. This ultrasonic characterization was correlated successfully with conventional techniques. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Ultrasonic measurements and technologies

    CERN Document Server

    Kočiš, Štefan

    1996-01-01

    An impulse for writing this book has originated from the effort to sum­ marize and publicise the acquired results of a research team at the De­ partment of Automation of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and In­ formatics, Slovak Technical University in Bratislava. The research team has been involved for a long time with control problems for machine production mechanisms and, in recent (approximately 15) years, its effort was aimed mostly at the control of electrical servosystems of robots. Within this scope, the members of the authors' staff solved the State Re­ search Task Ultrasonic sensing of the position of a robot hand, which was coordinated by the Institute of Technical Cybernetics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. The problem was solved in a complex way, i.e. from a conceptual de­ sign of the measurement, through the measurement and evaluation sys­ tem, up to connection to the control system of a robot. Compensation of the atmospheric influence on the precision of measurement,...

  17. Ultrasonic characterization of pork fat crystallization during cold storage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corona, Edith; García-Pérez, José V; Santacatalina, Juan V; Ventanas, Sonia; Benedito, José

    2014-05-01

    In this work, the feasibility of using ultrasonic velocity measurements for characterizing and differentiating the crystallization pattern in 2 pork backfats (Montanera and Cebo Iberian fats) during cold storage (0 °C, 2 °C, 5 °C, 7 °C, and 10 °C) was evaluated. The fatty acid profile, thermal behavior, and textural properties (hardness) of fat were also determined. Both fats became harder during cold storage (average hardness increase for both fats, 11.5 N, 8 N, and 1.8 N at 0, °C 2 °C, and 5 °C , respectively), showing a 2-step pattern related with the separate crystallization of the different existing triacylglycerols, which was well described using a modified Avrami equation (explained variance > 99%). Due to a greater content of saturated triacylglycerols, Cebo fat (45.1%) was harder than Montanera (41.8%). The ultrasonic velocity followed a similar 2-step pattern to hardness during cold storage, being found an average increase for both fats of 184, 161, and 150 m/s at 0 °C 2 °C, and 5 °C, respectively. Thus, ultrasonic measurements were useful both to characterize the textural changes taking place during cold storage and to differentiate between fats with different composition. The cold storage of dry-cured meat products during their distribution and retail sale exert an important effect on their textural properties and consumers' acceptance due to the crystallization of the fat fraction, which is greatly influenced by the type of fat. In this work, a nondestructive ultrasonic technique was used to identify the textural changes provoked by the crystallization during cold storage, and to differentiate between fats, which could be used for quality control purposes. © 2014 Institute of Food Technologists®

  18. The use of computers for the performance and analysis of non-destructive testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Edelmann, X.; Pfister, O.

    1988-01-01

    Examples of the use of computers in non-destructive testing are related. Ultrasonic testing is especially addressed. The employment of computers means improvements for the user, the possibility of registering the reflector position, storage of test data and help with documentation. The test can be automated. The introduction of expert systems is expected for the future. 8 figs., 12 refs

  19. Application of focus-variation Technique in Measurements of Ultrasonic Vibrations of Grinding pins

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wdowik Roman

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the application of focus-variation technique in measurements of ultrasonic vibrations of grinding pins. Ultrasonic vibrations of tools are applied in ultrasonic assisted grinding. Their measurements are significant for development of this hybrid machining process. Alumina and zirconia ceramic materials in the final fired state were machined in experiments which are known as scratch tests. Diamond grinding pin was used as a tool to machine scratches. Marks of diamond grains, left on the surface of workpieces after machining process, were investigated using The Infinite Focus Real 3D optical microscope. Focus-variation is the principle of operation of this microscope. Investigations concerned possibilities of measurements of an amplitude of axial and radial vibrations in the case of two ceramic materials. Results of performed measurements are presented and discussed for selected machining parameters.

  20. Ultrasonic NDE Simulation for Composite Manufacturing Defects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leckey, Cara A. C.; Juarez, Peter D.

    2016-01-01

    The increased use of composites in aerospace components is expected to continue into the future. The large scale use of composites in aerospace necessitates the development of composite-appropriate nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods to quantitatively characterize defects in as-manufactured parts and damage incurred during or post manufacturing. Ultrasonic techniques are one of the most common approaches for defect/damage detection in composite materials. One key technical challenge area included in NASA's Advanced Composite's Project is to develop optimized rapid inspection methods for composite materials. Common manufacturing defects in carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites include fiber waviness (in-plane and out-of-plane), porosity, and disbonds; among others. This paper is an overview of ongoing work to develop ultrasonic wavefield based methods for characterizing manufacturing waviness defects. The paper describes the development and implementation of a custom ultrasound simulation tool that is used to model ultrasonic wave interaction with in-plane fiber waviness (also known as marcelling). Wavefield data processing methods are applied to the simulation data to explore possible routes for quantitative defect characterization.

  1. An improved technique for non-destructive measurement of the stem ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    It was concluded that the standard volume model based on the non-destructive measurement technique meets the requirements for precision in forest surveys. The precision of the standard volume model for L. gmelinii (a coniferous tree) was superior to that of the model for P. tomentosa (a broad-leaved tree). The electronic ...

  2. Finite-element model of ultrasonic NDE [nondestructive evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lord, W.

    1989-07-01

    An understanding of the way in which ultrasound interacts with defects in materials is essential to the development of improved nondestructive testing procedures for the inspection of critical power plant components. Traditionally, the modeling of such phenomena has been approached from an analytical standpoint in which appropriate assumptions are made concerning material properties, geometrical constraints and defect boundaries in order to arrive at closed form solutions. Such assumptions, by their very nature, tend to inhibit the development of complete input/output NDT system models suitable for predicting realistic piezoelectric transducer signals from the interaction of pulsed, finite-aperture ultrasound with arbitrarily shaped defects in the kinds of materials of interest to the utilities. The major thrust of EPRI Project RP 2687-2 is to determine the feasibility of applying finite element analysis techniques to overcome these problems. 85 refs., 64 figs., 3 tabs

  3. Development of a multi-beam laser ultrasonic inspection system and its application on flaw sizing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chivavibul, Pornthep; Lin, Shan; Fukutomi, Hiroyuki; Higuchi, Sadao; Ogata, Takashi; Fukuchi, Tetsuo

    2006-01-01

    Laser ultrasonic technique is a powerful tool for non-contact, nondestructive testing of materials. It is expected to apply to where the conventional ultrasonic technique is not applicable. However, this technique suffers from low sensitivity. In order to overcome this shortcoming, a multi-beam laser ultrasonic system was developed to increase signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and steer beam direction. The system consisted of eight pulsed Nd:YAG lasers used for ultrasonic generation, and a two-wave mixing interferometer with a long-pulsed Nd:YAG used for ultrasonic detection. Spatial and temporal control of the firing of the individual lasers permitted the generation of both phased array single pulse and narrow-band ultrasonic signals. The performance of developed system was verified using aluminum specimens with the wave generation in a slight ablation mode. A significant increase in sensitivity was obtained, with an increase in signal amplitude with no change in noise level. In the narrow band case, tone bursts were successfully generated in both surface and bulk waves. Beam steering of bulk waves was also performed, and the directivity was confirmed by visualization using a conventional transducer. The developed system was applied to flaw sizing using two techniques: shadow and short-path of diffraction (SPOD), using aluminum specimens with 2-mm, 5-mm, 8-mm slit depths. The shadow technique accurately measured the 5- and 8-mm slits, but not the 2-mm slit. The SPOD technique, carried out using a 5-MHz normal longitudinal transducer as a detector instead of TWN interferometer, accurately measured slits in all specimens with an error less than 0.5 mm. (author)

  4. Ultrasonic testing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Song, Sung Jin [Sungkwunkwan Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Jeong, Hyun Jo [Wonkwang Univ., Iksan (Korea, Republic of)

    2004-02-15

    For the proper performance of ultrasonic testing of steel welded joints, and anisotropic material it is necessary to have sound understanding on the underlying physics. To provide such an understanding, it is beneficial to have simulation tools for ultrasonic testing. In order to address such a need, we develop effective approaches to simulate angle beam ultrasonic testing with a personal computer. The simulation is performed using ultrasonic measurement models based on the computationally efficient multi-Gaussian beams. This reach will describe the developed ultrasonic testing models together with the experimental verification of their accuracy.

  5. An intelligent stand-alone ultrasonic device for monitoring local structural damage: implementation and preliminary experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pertsch, Alexander; Kim, Jin-Yeon; Wang, Yang; Jacobs, Laurence J

    2011-01-01

    Continuous structural health monitoring has the potential to significantly improve the safety management of aged, in-service civil structures. In particular, monitoring of local damage growth at hot-spot areas can help to prevent disastrous structural failures. Although ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation (NDE) has proved to be effective in monitoring local damage growth, conventional equipment and devices are usually bulky and only suitable for scheduled human inspections. The objective of this research is to harness the latest developments in embedded hardware and wireless communication for developing a stand-alone, compact ultrasonic device. The device is directed at the continuous structural health monitoring of civil structures. Relying on battery power, the device possesses the functionalities of high-speed actuation, sensing, signal processing, and wireless communication. Integrated with contact ultrasonic transducers, the device can generate 1 MHz Rayleigh surface waves in a steel specimen and measure response waves. An envelope detection algorithm based on the Hilbert transform is presented for efficiently determining the peak values of the response signals, from which small surface cracks are successfully identified

  6. Estimating adipose tissue in the chest wall using ultrasonic and alternate 40K and biometric measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, A.L.; Campbell, G.W.; Singh, M.S.

    1982-01-01

    The percentage of adipose (fat) tissue in the chest wall must be known to accurately measure Pu in the human lung. Correction factors of 100% or more in X-ray detection efficiency are common in a normal population of individuals of differing body composition and have been determined in the past by means of elaborate and costly ultrasonic measurements of the subject's chest. Methods using simple 40 K and biometric measurement techniques have been investigated to determine the adipose content in the human chest wall. These methods compare favorably with ultrasonic measurements and allow laboratories not possessing ultrasonic equipment to make appropriate corrections for x-ray detection efficiency. These methods predict adipose content to within 15% of the absolute ultrasonic value. (author)

  7. Modelling of ultrasonic nondestructive testing in anisotropic materials - Rectangular crack

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bostroem, A.

    2001-12-01

    Nondestructive testing with ultrasound is a standard procedure in the nuclear power industry when searching for defects, in particular cracks. To develop and qualify testing procedures extensive experimental work on test blocks is usually required. This can take a lot of time and therefore be quite costly. A good mathematical model of the testing situation is therefore of great value as it can reduce the experimental work to a great extent. A good model can be very useful for parametric studies and as a pedagogical tool. A further use of a model is as a tool in the qualification of personnel. In anisotropic materials, e.g. austenitic welds, the propagation of ultrasound becomes much more complicated as compared to isotropic materials. Therefore, modelling is even more useful for anisotropic materials, and it in particular has a greater pedagogical value. The present project has been concerned with a further development of the anisotropic capabilities of the computer program UTDefect, which has so far only contained a strip-like crack as the single defect type for anisotropic materials. To be more specific, the scattering by a rectangular crack in an anisotropic component has been studied and the result is adapted to include transmitting and receiving ultrasonic probes. The component under study is assumed to be anisotropic with arbitrary anisotropy. On the other hand, it is assumed to be homogeneous, and this in particular excludes most welds, where it is seldom an adequate approximation to assume homogeneity. The anisotropy may be arbitrarily oriented and the same is true of the rectangular crack. The crack may also be located near a backside of the component. To solve the scattering problem for the crack an integral equation method is used. The probe model has been developed in an earlier project and to compute the signal response in the receiving probe an electromechanical reciprocity argument is employed. As a rectangle is a truly 3D scatterer the sizes of the

  8. Ultrasonic thermometry system for measuring very high temperatures in reactor safety experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlson, G.A.; Sullivan, W.H.; Plein, H.G.; Kerley, T.M.

    1979-06-01

    Ultrasonic thermometry has many potential applications in reactor safety experiments, where extremely high temperatures and lack of visual access may preclude the use of conventional diagnostics. This report details ultrasonic thermometry requirements for one such experiment, the molten fuel pool experiment. Sensors, transducers, and signal processing electronics are described in detail. Axial heat transfer in the sensors is modelled and found acceptably small. Measurement errors, calculations of their effect, and ways to minimize them are given. A rotating sensor concept is discussed which holds promise of alleviating sticking problems at high temperature. Applications of ultrasonic thermometry to three in-core experiments are described. In them, five 10-mm-length sensor elements were used to measure axial temperatures in a UO 2 or UO 2 -steel system fission-heated to about 2860 0 C

  9. Detection of defects in multi-layered aramid composites by ultrasonic IR thermography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pracht, Monika; Swiderski, Waldemar

    2017-10-01

    In military applications, laminates reinforced with aramid, carbon, and glass fibers are used for the construction of protection products against light ballistics. Material layers can be very different by their physical properties. Therefore, such materials represent a difficult inspection task for many traditional techniques of non-destructive testing (NDT). Defects which can appear in this type of many-layered composite materials usually are inaccuracies in gluing composite layers and stratifications or delaminations occurring under hits of fragments and bullets. IR thermographic NDT is considered as a candidate technique to detect such defects. One of the active IR thermography methods used in nondestructive testing is vibrothermography. The term vibrothermography was created in the 1990s to determine the thermal test procedures designed to assess the hidden heterogeneity of structural materials based on surface temperature fields at cyclical mechanical loads. A similar procedure can be done with sound and ultrasonic stimulation of the material, because the cause of an increase in temperature is internal friction between the wall defect and the stimulation mechanical waves. If the cyclic loading does not exceed the flexibility of the material and the rate of change is not large, the heat loss due to thermal conductivity is small, and the test object returns to its original shape and temperature. The most commonly used method is ultrasonic stimulation, and the testing technique is ultrasonic infrared thermography. Ultrasonic IR thermography is based on two basic phenomena. First, the elastic properties of defects differ from the surroundings, and acoustic damping and heating are always larger in the damaged regions than in the undamaged or homogeneous areas. Second, the heat transfer in the sample is dependent on its thermal properties. In this paper, both modelling and experimental results which illustrate the advantages and limitations of ultrasonic IR

  10. Non-linear ultrasonic time-reversal mirrors in NDT

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Převorovský, Zdeněk

    -, č. 4 (2012), s. 4-4 [World Conference on Nondestructive Testing /18./. 16.4.2012-20.4.2012, Durban] R&D Projects: GA MPO(CZ) FR-TI1/274; GA MPO(CZ) FR-T1/198; GA ČR(CZ) GAP104/10/1430 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z2076919 Keywords : non-linear ime reversal mirror * ultrasonic techniques * ESAM Subject RIV: BI - Acoustics http://www.academia-ndt.org/Downloads/AcademiaNews4.pdf

  11. Reliability of non-destructive test techniques in the inspection of pipelines used in the oil industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carvalho, A.A.; Rebello, J.M.A.; Souza, M.P.V.; Sagrilo, L.V.S.; Soares, S.D.

    2008-01-01

    The aim of this work is to evaluate the reliability of non-destructive test (NDT) techniques for the inspection of pipeline welds employed in the petroleum industry. Radiography, manual and automatic ultrasonic techniques using pulse-echo and time of flight diffraction (TOFD) were employed. Three classes of defects were analyzed: lack of penetration (LP), lack of fusion (LF) and undercut (UC). The tests were carried out on specimen made from pipelines containing defects, which had been artificially inserted on laying the weld bead. The results showed the superiority of the automatic ultrasonic tests for defect detection compared with the manual ultrasonic and radiographic tests. Additionally, artificial neural networks (ANN) were used in the detection and automatic classification of the defects

  12. Development and applications of a computer-aided phased array assembly for ultrasonic testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schenk, G.; Montag, H.J.; Wuestenberg, H.; Erhard, A.

    1985-01-01

    The use of modern electronic equipment for programmable signal delay increasingly allows transit-time controlled phased arrays to be applied in non-destructive, ultrasonic materials testing. A phased-array assembly is described permitting fast variation of incident angle of acoustic wave and of sonic beam focus, together with numerical evaluation of measured data. Phased arrays can be optimized by adding programmable electronic equipment so that the quality of conventional designs can be achieved. Applications of the new technical improvement are explained, referring to stress corrosion cracking, turbine testing, echo tomography of welded joints. (orig./HP) [de

  13. Ultrasonic Resonance Spectroscopy of Composite Rims for Flywheel Rotors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harmon, Laura M.; Baaklini, George Y.

    2002-01-01

    Flywheel energy storage devices comprising multilayered composite rotor systems are being studied extensively for utilization in the International Space Station. These composite material systems were investigated with a recently developed ultrasonic resonance spectroscopy technique. The ultrasonic system employs a continuous swept-sine waveform and performs a fast Fourier transform (FFT) on the frequency response spectrum. In addition, the system is capable of equalizing the amount of energy at each frequency. Equalization of the frequency spectrum, along with interpretation of the second FFT, aids in the evaluation of the fundamental frequency. The frequency responses from multilayered material samples, with and without known defects, were analyzed to assess the capabilities and limitations of this nondestructive evaluation technique for material characterization and defect detection. Amplitude and frequency changes were studied from ultrasonic responses of thick composite rings and a multiring composite rim. A composite ring varying in thickness was evaluated to investigate the full thickness resonance. The frequency response characteristics from naturally occurring voids in a composite ring were investigated. Ultrasonic responses were compared from regions with and without machined voids in a composite ring and a multiring composite rim. Finally, ultrasonic responses from the multiring composite rim were compared before and after proof spin testing to 63,000 rpm.

  14. Ultrasonic monitoring on the Electron Beam Welding line at Techmeta during manufacturing of the CMS magnet conductor.

    CERN Multimedia

    Benoit CURE

    2002-01-01

    The ultrasonic non-destructive method allows testing the EBW interface high-strength aluminium alloy / high-purity aluminium. The testing technique implemeted by EMPA is a Phased array system amplitude C-scan with immersion pulse-echo-technique.

  15. Nonlinear propagation in ultrasonic fields: measurements, modelling and harmonic imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Humphrey, V F

    2000-03-01

    In high amplitude ultrasonic fields, such as those used in medical ultrasound, nonlinear propagation can result in waveform distortion and the generation of harmonics of the initial frequency. In the nearfield of a transducer this process is complicated by diffraction effects associated with the source. The results of a programme to study the nonlinear propagation in the fields of circular, focused and rectangular transducers are described, and comparisons made with numerical predictions obtained using a finite difference solution to the Khokhlov-Zabolotskaya-Kuznetsov (or KZK) equation. These results are extended to consider nonlinear propagation in tissue-like media and the implications for ultrasonic measurements and ultrasonic heating are discussed. The narrower beamwidths and reduced side-lobe levels of the harmonic beams are illustrated and the use of harmonics to form diagnostic images with improved resolution is described.

  16. Correlation between compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity of high strength concrete incorporating chopped basalt fibre

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shafiq, Nasir; Fadhilnuruddin, Muhd; Elshekh, Ali Elheber Ahmed; Fathi, Ahmed

    2015-07-01

    Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), is considered as the most important test for non-destructive techniques that are used to evaluate the mechanical characteristics of high strength concrete (HSC). The relationship between the compressive strength of HSC containing chopped basalt fibre stands (CBSF) and UPV was investigated. The concrete specimens were prepared using a different ratio of CBSF as internal strengthening materials. The compressive strength measurements were conducted at the sample ages of 3, 7, 28, 56 and 90 days; whilst, the ultrasonic pulse velocity was measured at 28 days. The result of HSC's compressive strength with the chopped basalt fibre did not show any improvement; instead, it was decreased. The UPV of the chopped basalt fibre reinforced concrete has been found to be less than that of the control mix for each addition ratio of the basalt fibre. A relationship plot is gained between the cube compressive strength for HSC and UPV with various amounts of chopped basalt fibres.

  17. Ultrasonic characterization of microstructure in powder metal alloy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tittmann, B. R.; Ahlberg, L. A.; Fertig, K.

    1986-01-01

    The ultrasonic wave propagation characteristics were measured for IN-100, a powder metallurgy alloy used for aircraft engine components. This material was as a model system for testing the feasibility of characterizing the microstructure of a variety of inhomogeneous media including powder metals, ceramics, castings and components. The data were obtained for a frequency range from about 2 to 20 MHz and were statistically averaged over numerous volume elements of the samples. Micrographical examination provided size and number distributions for grain and pore structure. The results showed that the predominant source for the ultrasonic attenuation and backscatter was a dense (approx. 100/cubic mm) distribution of small micropores (approx. 10 micron radius). Two samples with different micropore densities were studied in detail to test the feasibility of calculating from observed microstructural parameters the frequency dependence of the microstructural backscatter in the regime for which the wavelength is much larger than the size of the individual scattering centers. Excellent agreement was found between predicted and observed values so as to demonstrate the feasibility of solving the forward problem. The results suggest a way towards the nondestructive detection and characterization of anomalous distributions of micropores when conventional ultrasonic imaging is difficult. The findings are potentially significant toward the application of the early detection of porosity during the materials fabrication process and after manufacturing of potential sites for stress induced void coalescence leading to crack initiation and subsequent failure.

  18. Integrate models of ultrasonics examination for NDT expertise

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Calmon, P.; Lhemery, A.; Lecoeur-Taibi, I.; Raillon, R.

    1996-01-01

    For several years, the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) has developed a system called CIVA for multiple-technique NDE data acquisition and processing. Modeling tools for ultrasonic non-destructive testing have been developed and implemented within this allowing direct comparison between measured and predicted results. These models are not only devoted to laboratory uses bus also must be usable by ultrasonic operators without special training in simulation techniques. Therefore, emphasis has been on finding the best compromise between as accurate as possible quantitative predictions and ease, simplicity and speed, crucial requirements in the industrial context. This approach has led us to develop approximate models for the different phenomena involved in ultrasonic inspections: radiation, transmission through interfaces, propagation, scattering by defects and boundaries, reception etc. Two main models have been implemented, covering the most commonly encountered NDT configurations. At first, these two models are shortly described. Then, two examples of their applications are shown. Based on the same underlying theories, specific modeling tools are proposed to industrial partners to answer special requirements. To illustrate this, an example is given of a software used a tool to help experts's interpretation during on-site french PWR vessel inspections. Other models can be implemented in CIVA when some assumptions made in the previous models Champ-Sons and Mephisto are not fulfilled, e. g., when less-conventional testing configurations are concerned. We briefly presents as an example a modeling study of echoes arising from cladded steel surfaces achieved in the laboratory. (authors)

  19. Ultrasonic Derivative Measurements of Bone Strain During Exercise, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Luna Innovations, Inc., in collaboration with the SUNY Stony Brook, proposes to extend ultrasonic pulsed phase locked loop (PPLL) derivative measurements to the...

  20. Ultrasonic attenuation measurements and 'glassy' behaviour of neutron irradiated quartz

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laermans, C.; Esteves, V.; Vanelstraete, A.

    1986-01-01

    The ultrasonic attenuation of longitudinal acoustic waves in slightly disordered crystalline quartz has been measured over a temperature range from 1.3 to 300 K, using the pulse-echo technique. Neutron irradiation is demonstrated to increase the ultrasonic attenuation at low temperatures indicating the presence of two-level tunneling systems similar to those of glasses. The present low-temperature acoustic results agree with a frequency independence and a T 3 behaviour for the relaxation process predicted by the two-level tunneling TLS-model where the regime ωT 1 >> 1 holds. (author)

  1. Internal Stress Monitoring of In-Service Structural Steel Members with Ultrasonic Method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zuohua; He, Jingbo; Teng, Jun; Wang, Ying

    2016-03-23

    Internal stress in structural steel members is an important parameter for steel structures in their design, construction, and service stages. However, it is hard to measure via traditional approaches. Among the existing non-destructive testing (NDT) methods, the ultrasonic method has received the most research attention. Longitudinal critically refracted (Lcr) waves, which propagate parallel to the surface of the material within an effective depth, have shown great potential as an effective stress measurement approach. This paper presents a systematic non-destructive evaluation method to determine the internal stress in in-service structural steel members using Lcr waves. Based on theory of acoustoelasticity, a stress evaluation formula is derived. Factor of stress to acoustic time difference is used to describe the relationship between stress and measurable acoustic results. A testing facility is developed and used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method. Two steel members are measured by using the proposed method and the traditional strain gauge method for verification. Parametric studies are performed on three steel members and the aluminum plate to investigate the factors that influence the testing results. The results show that the proposed method is effective and accurate for determining stress in in-service structural steel members.

  2. Internal Stress Monitoring of In-Service Structural Steel Members with Ultrasonic Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zuohua; He, Jingbo; Teng, Jun; Wang, Ying

    2016-01-01

    Internal stress in structural steel members is an important parameter for steel structures in their design, construction, and service stages. However, it is hard to measure via traditional approaches. Among the existing non-destructive testing (NDT) methods, the ultrasonic method has received the most research attention. Longitudinal critically refracted (Lcr) waves, which propagate parallel to the surface of the material within an effective depth, have shown great potential as an effective stress measurement approach. This paper presents a systematic non-destructive evaluation method to determine the internal stress in in-service structural steel members using Lcr waves. Based on theory of acoustoelasticity, a stress evaluation formula is derived. Factor of stress to acoustic time difference is used to describe the relationship between stress and measurable acoustic results. A testing facility is developed and used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method. Two steel members are measured by using the proposed method and the traditional strain gauge method for verification. Parametric studies are performed on three steel members and the aluminum plate to investigate the factors that influence the testing results. The results show that the proposed method is effective and accurate for determining stress in in-service structural steel members. PMID:28773347

  3. Nondestructive hall coefficient measurements using ACPD techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Velicheti, Dheeraj; Nagy, Peter B.; Hassan, Waled

    2018-04-01

    Hall coefficient measurements offer great opportunities as well as major challenges for nondestructive materials characterization. The Hall effect is produced by the magnetic Lorentz force acting on moving charge carriers in the presence of an applied magnetic field. The magnetic perturbation gives rise to a Hall current that is normal to the conduction current but does not directly perturb the electric potential distribution. Therefore, Hall coefficient measurements usually exploit the so-called transverse galvanomagnetic potential drop effect that arises when the Hall current is intercepted by the boundaries of the specimen and thereby produce a measurable potential drop. In contrast, no Hall potential is produced in a large plate in the presence of a uniform normal field at quasi-static low frequencies. In other words, conventional Hall coefficient measurements are inherently destructive since they require cutting the material under tests. This study investigated the feasibility of using alternating current potential drop (ACPD) techniques for nondestructive Hall coefficient measurements in plates. Specifically, the directional four-point square-electrode configuration is investigated with superimposed external magnetic field. Two methods are suggested to make Hall coefficient measurements in large plates without destructive machining. At low frequencies, constraining the bias magnetic field can replace constraining the dimensions of the specimen, which is inherently destructive. For example, when a cylindrical permanent magnet is used to provide the bias magnetic field, the peak Hall voltage is produced when the diameter of the magnet is equal to the diagonal of the square ACPD probe. Although this method is less effective than cutting the specimen to a finite size, the loss of sensitivity is less than one order of magnitude even at very low frequencies. In contrast, at sufficiently high inspection frequencies the magnetic field of the Hall current induces a

  4. A fully automated system for ultrasonic power measurement and simulation accordingly to IEC 61161:2006

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Costa-Felix, R.P.B.; Alvarenga, A.V.; Hekkenberg, R.

    2011-01-01

    The ultrasonic power measurement, worldwide accepted, standard is the IEC 61161, presently in its 2nd edition (2006), but under review. To fulfil its requirements, considering that a radiation force balance is to be used as ultrasonic power detector, a large amount of raw data (mass measurement)

  5. Non-destructive ultrasonic techniques for classifying and reconstructing defects; ALOK, phased arrays, holography-SAFT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoeller, P.; Schmitz, V.; Mueller, W.; Gebhardt, W.; Barbian, O.A.

    1983-01-01

    The only way to achieve ultrasonic testing methods capable of reconstructing defects or inhomogeneities is to measure those data that are related to the geometry of the reflector. These are phase and time-of-flight as a function of the locus of incidence. For this purpose several synthetic aperture methods have been developed in recent years by our institute: ALOK and phased arrays as searching and analysing systems, especially for in-service inspection of nuclear power plants; and holography and SAFT as analysing systems. Their ability to detect, localize, classify and reconstruct defects is discussed. (author)

  6. Federal laboratory nondestructive testing research and development applicable to industry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smith, S.A.; Moore, N.L.

    1987-02-01

    This document presents the results of a survey of nondestructive testing (NDT) and related sensor technology research and development (R and D) at selected federal laboratories. Objective was to identify and characterize NDT activities that could be applied to improving energy efficiency and overall productivity in US manufacturing. Numerous federally supported R and D programs were identified in areas such as acoustic emissions, eddy current, radiography, computer tomography and ultrasonics. A Preliminary Findings Report was sent to industry representatives, which generated considerable interest.

  7. English-Japanese terms in nondestructive testing specifications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-01-01

    For technical development, it is the prerequisite to clarify the terms to be used in various fields and their definition, therefore, in various foreign countries, there are some standards on terms in respective fields, and also as international standards, ISO/TC 135 (Non-destructive testing) organized the SC on terms from the beginning of foundation. In JIS, there is the column for corresponding English (for reference), but there is the problem of English and American English. The English used in ISO, BS or EN and ASTM standards in relation to nondestructive testing were collected in every technical field and put in order, and the corresponding English terms were selected. Moreover at this opportunity, the terms having the definition in these international, national and semi-national standards were classified into eight fields, that is, common (approval, quality assurance, defects and others), radiography, ultrasonic flaw detection, acoustic emission, eddy current flaw detection, magnetic flaw detection, liquid penetrant testing and leak test, and the Japanese translation was stipulated. The draft of this standard was approved by the standardization committee on January 17, 1991. (K.I.)

  8. Non-destructive investigations at the Dionisiac Frieze in the Villa of Mysteries, Pompeii

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cristiano, Luigia; Erkul, Ercan; Jepsen, Kalle; Meier, Thomas; Vanacore, Stefano; Stefani, Grete

    2014-05-01

    The Villa of Mysteries with its Dionisiac Frieze is one of the well-known buildings of ancient Pompeii. It has been excavated in the early 20th century. Since then many initiatives have been taken for its preservation. Currently, the Frieze is investigated in detail and tests have been made to clean the wall paintings. Non-destructive investigations as infrared thermography (IR), Ground penetrating radar (GPR), and ultrasonic measurements have been performed in order to test if these methods are well suited to reveal the walls' and paintings' structure and to identify the detachments or cracks. IR, GPR and ultrasonic measurements have different penetration capabilities and resolution in depths. So, using these three methods simultaneously can improve the knowledge of the investigated structures at several depths from millimetres and centimetres to metres. It has been tested if detachments of the paintings, cracks, or alterations of the paintings can be detected by passive and active IR measurements. 6 passive and 3 active measurements have been conducted on the Dionisiac Frieze. Lateral temperature differences present at the Frieze are mapped by passive measurements. Here, we show that temperature differences up to about 0.3°C are present and detectable. These small changes in temperature may be related to detachments, cracks, or wet areas. By active IR measurements the paintings are artificially heated by about 1°C and the cooling to normal temperature is observed and analyzed. Lateral differences in the heating and cooling behavior are related to variability in the heat absorption properties and in thermal conductivity. It is shown that detachments as well as restorative treatments are associated with changes in the thermal behavior. In order to image the construction and the condition of the investigated walls, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) was measured with a 2 GHz antenna. Each profile was 1.2 m long, the spacing cross-line was 3 cm and in-line 1 mm. The

  9. An advanced ultrasonic technique for slow and void fraction measurements of two-phase flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faccini, J.L.H.; Su, J.; Harvel, G.D.; Chang, J.S.

    2004-01-01

    In this paper, we present a hybrid type counterpropagating transmission ultrasonic technique (CPTU) for flow and time averaging ultrasonic transmission intensity void fraction measurements (TATIU) of air-water two-phase flow, which is tested in the new two-phase flow test section mounted recently onto an existing single phase flow rig. The circular pipe test section is made of 51.2 mm stainless steel, followed by a transparent extruded acrylic pipe aimed at flow visualization. The two-phase flow rig operates in several flow regimes: bubbly, smooth stratified, wavy stratified and slug flow. The observed flow patterns are compared with previous experimental and numerical flow regime map for horizontal two phase flows. These flow patterns will be identified by time averaging transmission intensity ultrasonic techniques which have been developed to meet this particular application. A counterpropagating transmission ultrasonic flowmeter is used to measure the flow rate of liquid phase. A pulse-echo TATIU ultrasonic technique used to measure the void fraction of the horizontal test section is presented. We can draw the following conclusions: 1) the ultrasonic system was able to characterize the 2 flow patterns simulated (stratified and plug flow); 2) the results obtained for water volumetric fraction require more experimental work to determine exactly the technique uncertainties but, a priori, they are consistent with earlier work; and 3) the experimental uncertainties can be reduced by improving the data acquisition system, changing the acquisition time interval from seconds to milliseconds

  10. Ultrasonic Examination of Double-Shell Tank 241-SY-102. Examination Completed June 2004

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pardini, Allan F.; Posakony, Gerald J.

    2004-01-01

    COGEMA Engineering Corporation (COGEMA), under a contract from CH2M Hill Hanford Group (CH2M Hill), has performed an ultrasonic nondestructive examination of selected portions of Double-Shell Tank 241-SY-102. The purpose of this examination was to provide information that could be used to evaluate the integrity of the wall of the primary tank. The requirements for the ultrasonic examination of Tank 241-SY-102 were to detect, characterize (identify, size, and locate), and record measurements made of any wall thinning, pitting, or cracks that might be present in the wall of the primary tank. Any measurements that exceed the requirements set forth in the Engineering Task Plan (ETP), RPP-17750 (Jensen 2003) and/SUMmarized on page 1 of this document, are reported to CH2M Hill and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for further evaluation. Under the contract with CH2M Hill, all data is to be recorded on disk and paper copies of all measurements are provided to PNNL for third-party evaluation. PNNL is responsible for preparing a report that describes the results of the COGEMA

  11. Multivariate data-driven modelling and pattern recognition for damage detection and identification for acoustic emission and acousto-ultrasonics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Torres-Arredondo, M-A; Fritzen, C-P; Tibaduiza, D-A; Mujica, L E; Rodellar, J; McGugan, M; Toftegaard, H; Borum, K-K

    2013-01-01

    Different methods are commonly used for non-destructive testing in structures; among others, acoustic emission and ultrasonic inspections are widely used to assess structures. The research presented in this paper is motivated by the need to improve the inspection capabilities and reliability of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems based on ultrasonic guided waves with focus on the acoustic emission and acousto-ultrasonics techniques. The use of a guided wave based approach is driven by the fact that these waves are able to propagate over relatively long distances, and interact sensitively and uniquely with different types of defect. Special attention is paid here to the development of efficient SHM methodologies. This requires robust signal processing techniques for the correct interpretation of the complex ultrasonic waves. Therefore, a variety of existing algorithms for signal processing and pattern recognition are evaluated and integrated into the different proposed methodologies. As a contribution to solve the problem, this paper presents results in damage detection and classification using a methodology based on hierarchical nonlinear principal component analysis, square prediction measurements and self-organizing maps, which are applied to data from acoustic emission tests and acousto-ultrasonic inspections. At the end, the efficiency of these methodologies is experimentally evaluated in diverse anisotropic composite structures. (paper)

  12. Nondestructive evaluation of nuclear-grade graphite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunerth, D. C.; McJunkin, T. R.

    2012-05-01

    The material of choice for the core of the high-temperature gas-cooled reactors being developed by the U.S. Department of Energy's Next Generation Nuclear Plant Program is graphite. Graphite is a composite material whose properties are highly dependent on the base material and manufacturing methods. In addition to the material variations intrinsic to the manufacturing process, graphite will also undergo changes in material properties resulting from radiation damage and possible oxidation within the reactor. Idaho National Laboratory is presently evaluating the viability of conventional nondestructive evaluation techniques to characterize the material variations inherent to manufacturing and in-service degradation. Approaches of interest include x-ray radiography, eddy currents, and ultrasonics.

  13. Nondestructive assay instrument for measurement of plutonium in solutions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shirk, D.G.; Hsue, F.; Li, T.K.; Canada, T.R.

    1979-01-01

    A nondestructive assay (NDA) instrument that measures the 239 Pu content in solutions, using a passive gamma-ray spectroscopy technique, has been developed and installed in the LASL Plutonium Processing Facility. A detailed evaluation of this instrument has been performed. The results show that the instrument can routinely determine 239 Pu concentrations of 1 to 500 g/l with accuracies of 1 to 5% and assay times of 1 to 2 x 10 3 s

  14. Augmented reality application for industrial non-destructive inspection training

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amza, Catalin Gheorghe; Zapciu, Aurelian; Teodorescu, Octav

    2018-02-01

    Such a technology - Augmented Reality (AR) has great potential of use, especially for training purposes of new operators on using expensive equipment. In this context, the paper presents an augmented reality training system developed for phased-array ultrasonic non-destructive testing (NDT) equipment. The application has been developed using Unity 5.6.0 game-engine platform integrated with Vuforia sdk toolkit for devices with Android operating system. The test results performed by several NDT operators showed good results, thus proving the potential of using the application in the industrial field.

  15. Two Capacitive Micro-Machined Ultrasonic Transducers for Wind Speed Measurement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bui, Gia Thinh; Jiang, Yu-Tsung; Pang, Da-Chen

    2016-06-02

    This paper presents a new wind speed measurement method using a single capacitive micro-machined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT). The CMUT was arranged perpendicular to the direction of the wind flow, and a reflector was set up a short distance away, facing the CMUT. To reduce the size, weight, cost, and power consumption of conventional ultrasonic anemometers this study proposes two CMUT designs for the measurement of wind speed using either the amplitude of the signal or the time of flight (TOF). Each CMUT with a double array element design can transmit and receive signals in five different operation modes. Experiments showed that the two CMUT designs utilizing the TOF were better than those utilizing the amplitude of the signal for wind speed measurements ranging from 1 m/s to 10 m/s, providing a measurement error of less than 0.2 m/s. These results indicate that the sensitivity of the TOF is independent of the five operation modes.

  16. Standard guide for making quality nondestructive assay measurements

    CERN Document Server

    American Society for Testing and Materials. Philadelphia

    2009-01-01

    1.1 This guide is a compendium of Quality Measurement Practices for performing measurements of radioactive material using nondestructive assay (NDA) instruments. The primary purpose of the guide is to assist users in arriving at quality NDA results, that is, results that satisfy the end user’s needs. This is accomplished by providing an acceptable and uniform basis for the collection, analysis, comparison, and application of data. The recommendations are not compulsory or prerequisites to achieving quality NDA measurements, but are considered contributory in most areas. 1.2 This guide applies to the use of NDA instrumentation for the measurement of nuclear materials by the observation of spontaneous or stimulated nuclear radiations, including photons, neutrons, or the flow of heat. Recommended calibration, operating, and assurance methods represent guiding principles based on current NDA technology. The diversity of industry-wide nuclear materials measurement applications and instrumentation precludes disc...

  17. Non-destructive measurement methods for large scale gaseous diffusion process equipment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mayer, R.L.; Hagenauer, R.C.; McGinnis, B.R.

    1994-01-01

    Two measurement methods have been developed to measure non-destructively uranium hold-up in gaseous diffusion plants. These methods include passive neutron and passive γ ray measurements. An additional method, high resolution γ ray spectroscopy, provides supplementary information about additional γ ray emitting isotopes, γ ray correction factors, 235 U/ 234 U ratios and 235 U enrichment. Many of these methods can be used as a general purpose measurement technique for large containers of uranium. Measurement applications for these methods include uranium hold-up, waste measurements, criticality safety and nuclear accountability

  18. Ultrasonic Nondestructive Evaluation of Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (PRSEUS) During Large-Scale Load Testing and Rod Push-Out Testing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, Patrick H.; Juarez, Peter D.

    2016-01-01

    The Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (PRSEUS) is a structural concept developed by the Boeing Company to address the complex structural design aspects associated with a pressurized hybrid wing body (HWB) aircraft configuration. The HWB has long been a focus of NASA's environmentally responsible aviation (ERA) project, following a building block approach to structures development, culminating with the testing of a nearly full-scale multi-bay box (MBB), representing a segment of the pressurized, non-circular fuselage portion of the HWB. PRSEUS is an integral structural concept wherein skins, frames, stringers and tear straps made of variable number of layers of dry warp-knit carbon-fiber stacks are stitched together, then resin-infused and cured in an out-of-autoclave process. The PRSEUS concept has the potential for reducing the weight and cost and increasing the structural efficiency of transport aircraft structures. A key feature of PRSEUS is the damage-arresting nature of the stitches, which enables the use of fail-safe design principles. During the load testing of the MBB, ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation (NDE) was used to monitor several sites of intentional barely-visible impact damage (BVID) as well as to survey the areas surrounding the failure cracks after final loading to catastrophic failure. The damage-arresting ability of PRSEUS was confirmed by the results of NDE. In parallel with the large-scale structural testing of the MBB, mechanical tests were conducted of the PRSEUS rod-to-overwrap bonds, as measured by pushing the rod axially from a short length of stringer.

  19. Study of a new technique for measuring the travel time of ultrasonic waves using the frequency spectrum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santos, Allan Xavier dos

    2010-01-01

    During the operation of a nuclear plant and other industrial plants, the operational time and the exposition to severe working conditions may cause the wear of its components, consequently, compromising the safety and the performance of the installation. The implementation of periodical inspections helps to ensure the safe operation and the best performance of the plant. In this way, the use of ultrasonic techniques for inspection and materials characterization becomes more and more attractive, since they offer quick, precise results and are technically ease to implement. The usual ultrasonic techniques, need to the measure the travelling time of the ultrasonic wave in the material examined in order to extract information useful to characterize it. Thus, the measurement of the travelling time of the ultrasonic wave is the overriding factor in most of the applications made with ultrasound. In this work a new technique was developed for measuring the travelling time of the ultrasonic wave using a Fourier's Fast Transformer (FFT). It will be shown mathematically and experimentally that it is possible to use the ultrasonic signal in the frequency domain to determine the travelling time of the ultrasonic wave. Five experiments were carried out for the experimental validation of this new technique. The materials used were 20 ceramic pastilles with different porosities and 3 aluminum plates of different thicknesses. The obtained results have shown that the new technique proposed in this work was able to determine the travelling time of the ultrasonic wave with the same precision as the conventional technique. It was shown, furthermore, that this new technique is able to measure the travelling time of the ultrasonic wave in situations where the conventional technique cannot be applied greatly expanding the range of application of ultrasonic testing and inspections. (author)

  20. PREFACE: 3rd International Symposium on Laser Ultrasonics and Advanced Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-06-01

    Based on the use of laser as a coherent and intense light source, the photo-acoustics originated from the discovery made by Alexander Graham Bell was extended to laser-ultrasonics (LU), and it has been applied to wide area of ultrasonics, optics, material characterization and nondestructive inspection. In 1996, a research group for LU was started in the Japanese Society for Nondestructive Inspection (JSNDI), and researches on LU and related topics such as noncontact measurements and elastic wave theories were discussed. Similar activities were pursued also in North America and in Europe. The international symposium on LU was started in Montreal, Canada in 2008 by Jean Pierre Monchalin in order to offer a forum for involved with basic researches and industrial applications of LU. In the second symposium in Bordeaux, France nearly 120 papers were presented. It is our honor to have organized the third symposium, LU2013 on 25-28 June in Yokohama, Japan. The articles published here provide a sample of achievements presented there. In LU2013, we focused on the laser generation and/or detection of acoustic waves, application to nondestructive testing, ultrafast-optoacoustics and innovative instruments. Research achievements in biomedical applications, advanced sensing including noncontact, micro/nanoscale or nonlinear measurements, as well as theory and simulation of ultrasound were also included, considering the interdisciplinary nature of this field. We enjoyed very excellent and informative 3 plenary talks, 11 invited talks, 81 oral and 41 poster presentations with 168 attendees. According to requests, we organized a post deadline poster session to give an opportunity to present recent achievements after the deadline. Contributions of the participants, the scientific and organizing committees are highly appreciated. The conference tour was a dinner cruise to the Tokyo bay, and we hope this experience will remain as a pleasant memory in attendees. As decided in the

  1. Nondestructive testing technology for measurement coatings thickness on material

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang Mingtai; Wu Lunqiang; Zhang Lianping

    2008-01-01

    The principle, applicability range, advantage and disadvantage of electromagnetic, eddy current method, β backscatter method and XRF methods for nondestructive testing coating thickness of material have been reviewed. The relevant apparatus and manufacturers have been summarized. And the application and developmental direction of manufacturers for nondestructive testing coatings thickness has been foreshowed. (authors)

  2. Analysis of ultrasound propagation in high-temperature nuclear reactor feedwater to investigate a clamp-on ultrasonic pulse doppler flowmeter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tezuka, Kenichi; Mori, Michitsugu; Wada, Sanehiro; Aritomi, Masanori; Kikura, Hiroshige; Sakai, Yukihiro

    2008-01-01

    The flow rate of nuclear reactor feedwater is an important factor in the operation of a nuclear power reactor. Venturi nozzles are widely used to measure the flow rate. Other types of flowmeters have been proposed to improve measurement accuracy and permit the flow rate and reactor power to be increased. The ultrasonic pulse Doppler system is expected to be a candidate method because it can measure the flow profile across the pipe cross section, which changes with time. For accurate estimation of the flow velocity, the incidence angle of ultrasound entering the fluid should be estimated using Snell's law. However, evaluation of the ultrasound propagation is not straightforward, especially for a high-temperature pipe with a clamp-on ultrasonic Doppler flowmeter. The ultrasound beam path may differ from what is expected from Snell's law due to the temperature gradient in the wedge and variation in the acoustic impedance between interfaces. Recently, simulation code for ultrasound propagation has come into use in the nuclear field for nondestructive testing. This article analyzes and discusses ultrasound propagation, using 3D-FEM simulation code plus the Kirchhoff method, as it relates to flow profile measurement in nuclear reactor feedwater with the ultrasonic pulse Doppler system. (author)

  3. Nondestructive evaluation of a new hydrolytically degradable and photo-clickable PEG hydrogel for cartilage tissue engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neumann, Alexander J; Quinn, Timothy; Bryant, Stephanie J

    2016-07-15

    Photopolymerizable and hydrolytically labile poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels formed from photo-clickable reactions were investigated as cell delivery platforms for cartilage tissue engineering (TE). PEG hydrogels were formed from thiol-norbornene PEG macromers whereby the crosslinks contained caprolactone segments with hydrolytically labile ester linkages. Juvenile bovine chondrocytes encapsulated in the hydrogels were cultured for up to four weeks and assessed biochemically and histologically, using standard destructive assays, and for mechanical and ultrasound properties, as nondestructive assays. Bulk degradation of acellular hydrogels was confirmed by a decrease in compressive modulus and an increase in mass swelling ratio over time. Chondrocytes deposited increasing amounts of sulfated glycosaminoglycans and collagens in the hydrogels with time. Spatially, collagen type II and aggrecan were present in the neotissue with formation of a territorial matrix beginning at day 21. Nondestructive measurements revealed an 8-fold increase in compressive modulus from days 7 to 28, which correlated with total collagen content. Ultrasound measurements revealed changes in the constructs over time, which differed from the mechanical properties, and appeared to correlate with ECM structure and organization shown by immunohistochemical analysis. Overall, non-destructive and destructive measurements show that this new hydrolytically degradable PEG hydrogel is promising for cartilage TE. Designing synthetic hydrogels whose degradation matches tissue growth is critical to maintaining mechanical integrity as the hydrogel degrades and new tissue forms, but is challenging due to the nature of the hydrogel crosslinks that inhibit diffusion of tissue matrix molecules. This study details a promising, new, photo-clickable and synthetic hydrogel whose degradation supports cartilaginous tissue matrix growth leading to the formation of a territorial matrix, concomitant with an

  4. Considerations for ultrasonic testing application for on-orbit NDE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koshti, Ajay M.

    2015-04-01

    The paper addresses some on-orbit nondestructive evaluation (NDE) needs of NASA for International Space Station (ISS). The presentation gives NDE requirements for inspecting suspect damage due to micro-meteoroids and orbital debris (MMOD) impact on the pressure wall of the ISS. This inspection is meant to be conducted from inside of the ISS module. The metallic wall of the module has a fixed wall thickness but also has integral orthogrid ribs for reinforcement. Typically, a single MMOD hit causes localized damage in a small area causing loss of material similar to pitting corrosion, but cracks may be present too. The impact may cause bulging of the wall. Results of the ultrasonic and eddy current demonstration scans on test samples are provided. The ultrasonic technique uses shear wave scans to interrogate the localized damage area from the surrounding undamaged area. The scanning protocol results in multiple scans, each with multiple "vee" paths. A superimposition and mosaic of the three-dimensional ultrasonic data from individual scans is desired to create C-scan images of the damage. This is a new data reduction process which is not currently implemented in state-of-art ultrasonic instruments. Results of ultrasonic scans on the simulated MMOD damage test plates are provided. The individual C-scans are superimposed manually creating mosaic of the inspection. The resulting image is compared with visibly detected damage boundaries, X-ray images, and localized ultrasonic and eddy current scans for locating crack tips to assess effectiveness of the ultrasonic scanning. The paper also discusses developments needed in improving ergonomics of the ultrasonic testing for on-orbit applications.

  5. Statistical analysis of ultrasonic measurements in concrete

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiang, Chih-Hung; Chen, Po-Chih

    2002-05-01

    Stress wave techniques such as measurements of ultrasonic pulse velocity are often used to evaluate concrete quality in structures. For proper interpretation of measurement results, the dependence of pulse transit time on the average acoustic impedance and the material homogeneity along the sound path need to be examined. Semi-direct measurement of pulse velocity could be more convenient than through transmission measurement. It is not necessary to assess both sides of concrete floors or walls. A novel measurement scheme is proposed and verified based on statistical analysis. It is shown that Semi-direct measurements are very effective for gathering large amount of pulse velocity data from concrete reference specimens. The variability of measurements is comparable with that reported by American Concrete Institute using either break-off or pullout tests.

  6. A fully automated system for ultrasonic power measurement and simulation accordingly to IEC 61161:2006

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Costa-Felix, Rodrigo P B; Alvarenga, Andre V; Hekkenberg, Rob

    2011-01-01

    The ultrasonic power measurement, worldwide accepted, standard is the IEC 61161, presently in its 2nd edition (2006), but under review. To fulfil its requirements, considering that a radiation force balance is to be used as ultrasonic power detector, a large amount of raw data (mass measurement) shall be collected as function of time to perform all necessary calculations and corrections. Uncertainty determination demands calculation effort of raw and processed data. Although it is possible to be undertaken in an old-fashion way, using spread sheets and manual data collection, automation software are often used in metrology to provide a virtually error free environment concerning data acquisition and repetitive calculations and corrections. Considering that, a fully automate ultrasonic power measurement system was developed and comprehensively tested. A 0,1 mg of precision balance model CP224S (Sartorius, Germany) was used as measuring device and a calibrated continuous wave ultrasound check source (Precision Acoustics, UK) was the device under test. A 150 ml container filled with degassed water and containing an absorbing target at the bottom was placed on the balance pan. Besides the feature of automation software, a routine of power measurement simulation was implemented. It was idealized as a teaching tool of how ultrasonic power emission behaviour is with a radiation force balance equipped with an absorbing target. Automation software was considered as an effective tool for speeding up ultrasonic power measurement, while allowing accurate calculation and attractive graphical partial and final results.

  7. Dynamic measurement of liquid film thickness in stratified flow by using ultrasonic echo technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Serizawa, A.; Nagane, K.; Kamei, T.; Kawara, Z.; Ebisu, T.; Torikoshi, K.

    2004-01-01

    We developed a technique to measure time-dependent local film thickness in stratified air-water flow over a horizontal plate by using a time of flight of ultrasonic transmission. The ultrasonic echoes reflected at the liquid/air interfaces are detected by a conventional ultrasonic instrumentation, and the signals are analyzed by a personal computer after being digitalized by an A/D converter to give the time of flight for the ultrasonic waves to run over a distance of twice of the film thickness. A 3.8 mm diameter probe type ultrasonic transducer was used in the present work which transmits and receives 10 MHz frequency ultrasonic waves. The estimated spatial resolution with this arrangement is 0.075 mm in film thickness for water. The time resolution, which depends on both the A/D converter and the memory capacity was up to several tens Hz. We also discussed the sensitivity of the method to the inclination angle of the interfaces. (author)

  8. Nondestructive test for estimating strength of concrete in structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nozaki, Yoshitsugu; Soshiroda, Tomozo

    1997-01-01

    Evaluation of the quality of concrete in structures, especially strength estimation is said to be one of the most important problem and needed to establish test method especial tv for non-destructive method in situ. The paper describes the nondestructive test to estimate strength of concrete. From experimental study using full scale model wall, strength estimating equations are proposed by ultra-sonic pulse velocity, rebound hardness of Schmidt hammer and combined with two methods. From statistical study of the results of experiments, errors of estimated strength by the proposed equations are suggested. The validity of the equations are verified by investigation for existing reinforced concrete buildings aged 20 - 50 years. And it was found from the statistical study that the strength estimating equations need to be corrected in applying to tons aged concrete, and correction factor to those squat ions were suggested. Furthermore the corrected proposed equations were verified by applying to buildings investigated the other case.

  9. Measurement of total ultrasonic power using thermal expansion and change in buoyancy of an absorbing target.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubey, P K; Kumar, Yudhisther; Gupta, Reeta; Jain, Anshul; Gohiya, Chandrashekhar

    2014-05-01

    The Radiation Force Balance (RFB) technique is well established and most widely used for the measurement of total ultrasonic power radiated by ultrasonic transducer. The technique is used as a primary standard for calibration of ultrasonic transducers with relatively fair uncertainty in the low power (below 1 W) regime. In this technique, uncertainty comparatively increases in the range of few watts wherein the effects such as thermal heating of the target, cavitations, and acoustic streaming dominate. In addition, error in the measurement of ultrasonic power is also caused due to movement of absorber at relatively high radiated force which occurs at high power level. In this article a new technique is proposed which does not measure the balance output during transducer energized state as done in RFB. It utilizes the change in buoyancy of the absorbing target due to local thermal heating. The linear thermal expansion of the target changes the apparent mass in water due to buoyancy change. This forms the basis for the measurement of ultrasonic power particularly in watts range. The proposed method comparatively reduces uncertainty caused by various ultrasonic effects that occur at high power such as overshoot due to momentum of target at higher radiated force. The functionality of the technique has been tested and compared with the existing internationally recommended RFB technique.

  10. Measurement of total ultrasonic power using thermal expansion and change in buoyancy of an absorbing target

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubey, P. K.; Kumar, Yudhisther; Gupta, Reeta; Jain, Anshul; Gohiya, Chandrashekhar

    2014-05-01

    The Radiation Force Balance (RFB) technique is well established and most widely used for the measurement of total ultrasonic power radiated by ultrasonic transducer. The technique is used as a primary standard for calibration of ultrasonic transducers with relatively fair uncertainty in the low power (below 1 W) regime. In this technique, uncertainty comparatively increases in the range of few watts wherein the effects such as thermal heating of the target, cavitations, and acoustic streaming dominate. In addition, error in the measurement of ultrasonic power is also caused due to movement of absorber at relatively high radiated force which occurs at high power level. In this article a new technique is proposed which does not measure the balance output during transducer energized state as done in RFB. It utilizes the change in buoyancy of the absorbing target due to local thermal heating. The linear thermal expansion of the target changes the apparent mass in water due to buoyancy change. This forms the basis for the measurement of ultrasonic power particularly in watts range. The proposed method comparatively reduces uncertainty caused by various ultrasonic effects that occur at high power such as overshoot due to momentum of target at higher radiated force. The functionality of the technique has been tested and compared with the existing internationally recommended RFB technique.

  11. Measurement of total ultrasonic power using thermal expansion and change in buoyancy of an absorbing target

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dubey, P. K.; Kumar, Yudhisther; Gupta, Reeta; Jain, Anshul; Gohiya, Chandrashekhar

    2014-01-01

    The Radiation Force Balance (RFB) technique is well established and most widely used for the measurement of total ultrasonic power radiated by ultrasonic transducer. The technique is used as a primary standard for calibration of ultrasonic transducers with relatively fair uncertainty in the low power (below 1 W) regime. In this technique, uncertainty comparatively increases in the range of few watts wherein the effects such as thermal heating of the target, cavitations, and acoustic streaming dominate. In addition, error in the measurement of ultrasonic power is also caused due to movement of absorber at relatively high radiated force which occurs at high power level. In this article a new technique is proposed which does not measure the balance output during transducer energized state as done in RFB. It utilizes the change in buoyancy of the absorbing target due to local thermal heating. The linear thermal expansion of the target changes the apparent mass in water due to buoyancy change. This forms the basis for the measurement of ultrasonic power particularly in watts range. The proposed method comparatively reduces uncertainty caused by various ultrasonic effects that occur at high power such as overshoot due to momentum of target at higher radiated force. The functionality of the technique has been tested and compared with the existing internationally recommended RFB technique

  12. Radiographic and ultrasonic testings of welded joints of 6063 aluminium alloy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oliveira e Silva Mury, A.G. de.

    1980-05-01

    A study on evaluation of weld defects in aluminium butt joints was made in a comparative way through the radiographic and ultrasonic testing. This work was conducted with pipes 5 IPS (6,35 mm thickness) of 6063 aluminium alloy, circumferential TIG welded, due to the difficulty on performing non-destructive testing with this schedule. It was concluded thta ultrasonic testing has adequate sensitivity when setting gain adjustment is made with aid of a reference curve constructed by using a Reference Block (among others studied) with 1,5 mm dia. Hole as reference reflector, and a 5 MHz angle beam search-unit. In this case the ultrasonic testing is more accurate than radiographic testing to detect planar defects like lack of fusion and lack of penetration. Defect sizing by ultrasonic methods employed were 6 and 20 dB drop methods. In spite of your observed limitations concerning the establishment of the real size of defects, the procedure applied was precise for locate and define the weld defects that where found in this study. (author) [pt

  13. Ultrasonic Characterization of Microstructural Changes in Ti-10V-4.5Fe-1.5Al β-Titanium Alloy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viswanath, A.; Kumar, Anish; Jayakumar, T.; Purnachandra Rao, B.

    2015-08-01

    due to increased interfacial strain. For the first time, quantitative correlations established between various ultrasonic parameters and the volume fraction of α-phase in a β-titanium alloy are reported in the present paper. The established correlations are useful for estimation of volume fraction of α-phase in heat-treated β-titanium alloy, by nondestructive ultrasonic measurements.

  14. Research on nondestructive examination methods for CANDU fuel channel inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soare, M.; Petriu, F.; Toma, V.; Revenco, V.; Calinescu, A.; Ciocan, R.; Iordache, C.; Popescu, L.; Mihalache, M.; Murgescu, C.

    1995-01-01

    The requirements of the 1994 edition of CAN/CSA-N285.4 Periodic Inspection Standard, which address all known and postulated degradation mechanisms and introduce material surveillance demands, involve a growing need for improved nondestructive examination (NDE) methods and technologies. In order to have a proper technical support in its decisions concerning fuel channel inspections at Cernavoda NPP, the Romanian Power Authority (RENEL) initiated a Research Program regarding the nondestructive characterization of the fuel channels structural integrity. The paper presents the most significant results obtained on this Research Program: the ENDUS experimental system for Laboratory simulation of the fuel channel inspection, ultrasonic Rayleigh-Lamb waves technique for pressure tubes examination, phase analysis technique for near-surface flaws, influence of the metallurgical state of the pressure tube material on the eddy current defectoscopic signals, characterization of plastic deformation and fracture of zirconium alloys by acoustic emission. (author)

  15. Nondestructive inspection of General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) fueled clad girth welds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reimus, M. A. H.; George, T. G.; Lynch, C.; Padilla, M.; Moniz, P.; Guerrero, A.; Moyer, M. W.; Placr, A.

    1998-01-01

    The General-Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) provides power for space missions by transmitting the heat of 238 Pu decay to an array of thermoelectric elements. The GPHS is fabricated using an iridium-alloy to contain the 238 PuO 2 fuel pellet. GPHS capsules will be utilized in the upcoming Cassini mission to explore Saturn and its moons. The physical integrity of the girth weld is important to mission safety and performance. Because past experience had revealed a potential for initiation of small cracks in the girth weld overlap zone, a nondestructive inspection of each capsule weld is required. An ultrasonic method was used to inspect the welds of capsules fabricated for the Galileo mission. The instrument, transducer, and method used were state of the art at the time (early 1980s). The ultrasonic instrumentation and methods used to inspect the Cassini GPHSs was significantly upgraded from those used for the Galileo mission. GPHSs that had ultrasonic reflectors in excess of the reject specification level were subsequently inspected with radiography to provide additional engineering data used to accept/reject the heat source. This paper describes the Galileo-era ultrasonic instrumentation and methods and the subsequent upgrades made to support testing of Cassini GPHSs. Also discussed is the data obtained from radiographic examination and correlation to ultrasonic examination results

  16. Nondestructive inspection of General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) fueled clad girth welds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reimus, M.A.; George, T.G.; Lynch, C.; Padilla, M.; Moniz, P.; Guerrero, A.; Moyer, M.W.; Placr, A.

    1998-01-01

    The General-Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) provides power for space missions by transmitting the heat of 238 Pu decay to an array of thermoelectric elements. The GPHS is fabricated using an iridium-alloy to contain the 238 PuO 2 fuel pellet. GPHS capsules will be utilized in the upcoming Cassini mission to explore Saturn and its moons. The physical integrity of the girth weld is important to mission safety and performance. Because past experience had revealed a potential for initiation of small cracks in the girth weld overlap zone, a nondestructive inspection of each capsule weld is required. An ultrasonic method was used to inspect the welds of capsules fabricated for the Galileo mission. The instrument, transducer, and method used were state of the art at the time (early 1980s). The ultrasonic instrumentation and methods used to inspect the Cassini GPHSs was significantly upgraded from those used for the Galileo mission. GPHSs that had ultrasonic reflectors in excess of the reject specification level were subsequently inspected with radiography to provide additional engineering data used to accept/reject the heat source. This paper describes the Galileo-era ultrasonic instrumentation and methods and the subsequent upgrades made to support testing of Cassini GPHSs. Also discussed is the data obtained from radiographic examination and correlation to ultrasonic examination results. copyright 1998 American Institute of Physics

  17. Ultrasonic inspection of the strength member weld of transit and pioneer heat sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dudley, W.A.

    1975-01-01

    A nondestructive technique was developed which allows ultrasonic inspection of the closure weld for the strength member component in plutonium-238 radioisotopic heat sources. The advantage of the ultrasonic approach, over that of the more commonly used radiographic one, is the recognized superiority of ultrasonic testing for identifying lack-of-weld penetration (LOP) when accompanied by incomplete diffusion bonding. The ultrasonic technique, a transverse mode scan of the weld for detection of LOP, is primarily accomplished by use of a holding fixture which permits the vented heat source to be immersed into an inspection tank. The mechanical portion of the scanning system is a lathe modified with an inspection tank and a manipulator. This scanning system has been used in the past to inspect SNAP-27 heat sources. The analyzer-transducer combination used in the inspection is capable of detecting a channel type flaw with a side wall depth of 0.076 mm (0.003 in.) in a weld standard. (U.S.)

  18. Chaos weak signal detecting algorithm and its application in the ultrasonic Doppler bloodstream speed measuring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, H Y; Lv, J T; Zhang, S Q; Zhang, L G; Li, J

    2005-01-01

    At the present time, the ultrasonic Doppler measuring means has been extensively used in the human body's bloodstream speed measuring. The ultrasonic Doppler measuring means can achieve the measuring of liquid flux by detecting Doppler frequency shift of ultrasonic in the process of liquid spread. However, the detected sound wave is a weak signal that is flooded in the strong noise signal. The traditional measuring method depends on signal-to-noise ratio. Under the very low signal-to-noise ratio or the strong noise signal background, the signal frequency is not measured. This article studied on chaotic movement of Duffing oscillator and intermittent chaotic characteristic on chaotic oscillator of Duffing equation. In the light of the range of the bloodstream speed of human body and the principle of Doppler shift, the paper determines the frequency shift range. An oscillator array including many oscillators is designed according to it. The reflected ultrasonic frequency information can be ascertained accurately by the intermittent chaos quality of the oscillator. The signal-to-noise ratio of -26.5 dB is obtained by the result of the experiment. Compared with the tradition the frequency method compare, the dependence to signal-to-noise ratio is lowered consumedly. The measuring precision of the bloodstream speed is heightened

  19. High speed ultrasonic system to measure bubbles velocities in a horizontal two-phase flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cunha Filho, Jurandyr S.; Jian Su; Farias, Marcos S.; Faccini, Jose L.H.; Lamy, Carlos A.

    2009-01-01

    In this work, a non invasive technique consisting of a high speed ultrasonic multitransducer pulse-echo system was developed to characterize gas-liquid two-phase flow parameters that are important in the study of the primary refrigeration circuit of nuclear reactors. The high speed ultrasonic system consists of two transducers (10 MHz/φ 6.35 mm), a generator/multiplexer board, and software that selects and has a data acquisition system of the ultrasonic signals. The resolutions of the system and the pulse time generated from each transducer are, respectively, 10 ns and 1.06 ms. The system initially was used in the local instantaneous measurement of gas-liquid interface in a circular horizontal pipe test section made of a 5 m long stainless steel pipe of 51.2 mm inner diameter, where the elongated bubbles velocity was measured (Taylor bubbles). The results show that the high speed ultrasonic pulse-echo system provides good results for the determination of elongated bubbles velocities. (author)

  20. Ultrasonic Characterization of Aerospace Composites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leckey, Cara; Johnston, Patrick; Haldren, Harold; Perey, Daniel

    2015-01-01

    Composite materials have seen an increased use in aerospace in recent years and it is expected that this trend will continue due to the benefits of reduced weight, increased strength, and other factors. Ongoing work at NASA involves the investigation of the large-scale use of composites for spacecraft structures (SLS components, Orion Composite Crew Module, etc). NASA is also involved in work to enable the use of composites in advanced aircraft structures through the Advanced Composites Project (ACP). In both areas (space and aeronautics) there is a need for new nondestructive evaluation and materials characterization techniques that are appropriate for characterizing composite materials. This paper will present an overview of NASA's needs for characterizing aerospace composites, including a description of planned and ongoing work under ACP for the detection of composite defects such as fiber waviness, reduced bond strength, delamination damage, and microcracking. The research approaches include investigation of angle array, guided wave, and phase sensitive ultrasonic methods. The use of ultrasonic simulation tools for optimizing and developing methods will also be discussed.

  1. Study of different ultrasonic focusing methods applied to non destructive testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    El Amrani, M.

    1995-01-01

    The work presented in this thesis concerns the study of different ultrasonic focusing techniques applied to Nondestructive Testing (mechanical focusing and electronic focusing) and compares their capabilities. We have developed a model to predict the ultrasonic field radiated into a solid by water-coupled transducers. The model is based upon the Rayleigh integral formulation, modified to take account the refraction at the liquid-solid interface. The model has been validated by numerous experiments in various configurations. Running this model and the associated software, we have developed new methods to optimize focused transducers and studied the characteristics of the beam generated by transducers using various focusing techniques. (author). 120 refs., 95 figs., 4 appends

  2. Implementation of efficient trajectories for an ultrasonic scanner using chaotic maps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almeda, A.; Baltazar, A.; Treesatayapun, C.; Mijarez, R.

    2012-05-01

    Typical ultrasonic methodology for nondestructive scanning evaluation uses systematic scanning paths. In many cases, this approach is time inefficient and also energy and computational power consuming. Here, a methodology for the scanning of defects using an ultrasonic echo-pulse scanning technique combined with chaotic trajectory generation is proposed. This is implemented in a Cartesian coordinate robotic system developed in our lab. To cover the entire search area, a chaotic function and a proposed mirror mapping were incorporated. To improve detection probability, our proposed scanning methodology is complemented with a probabilistic approach of discontinuity detection. The developed methodology was found to be more efficient than traditional ones used to localize and characterize hidden flaws.

  3. New development in nondestructive measurement and verification of irradiated LWR fuels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, D.M.; Phillips, J.R.; Halbig, J.K.; Hsue, S.T.; Lindquist, L.O.; Ortega, E.M.; Caine, J.C.; Swansen, J.; Kaieda, K.; Dermendjiev, E.

    1979-01-01

    Nondestructive techniques for characterizing irradiated LWR fuel assemblies are discussed. This includes detection systems that measure the axial activity profile, neutron yield and gamma yield. A multi-element profile monitor has been developed that offers a significant improvement in speed and complexity over existing mechanical scanning systems. New portable detectors and electronics, applicable to safeguard inspection, are presented and results of gamma-ray and neutron measurements at commercial reactor facilities are given

  4. Novel approach of wavelet analysis for nonlinear ultrasonic measurements and fatigue assessment of jet engine components

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bunget, Gheorghe; Tilmon, Brevin; Yee, Andrew; Stewart, Dylan; Rogers, James; Webster, Matthew; Farinholt, Kevin; Friedersdorf, Fritz; Pepi, Marc; Ghoshal, Anindya

    2018-04-01

    Widespread damage in aging aircraft is becoming an increasing concern as both civil and military fleet operators are extending the service lifetime of their aircraft. Metallic components undergoing variable cyclic loadings eventually fatigue and form dislocations as precursors to ultimate failure. In order to characterize the progression of fatigue damage precursors (DP), the acoustic nonlinearity parameter is measured as the primary indicator. However, using proven standard ultrasonic technology for nonlinear measurements presents limitations for settings outside of the laboratory environment. This paper presents an approach for ultrasonic inspection through automated immersion scanning of hot section engine components where mature ultrasonic technology is used during periodic inspections. Nonlinear ultrasonic measurements were analyzed using wavelet analysis to extract multiple harmonics from the received signals. Measurements indicated strong correlations of nonlinearity coefficients and levels of fatigue in aluminum and Ni-based superalloys. This novel wavelet cross-correlation (WCC) algorithm is a potential technique to scan for fatigue damage precursors and identify critical locations for remaining life prediction.

  5. Hardware Developments of an Ultrasonic Tomography Measurement System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hudabiyah ARSHAD AMARI

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This research provides new technique in ultrasonic tomography by using ultrasonic transceivers instead of using separate transmitter-receiver pair. The numbers of sensors or transducers used to acquire data plays an important role to generate high resolution tomography images. The configuration of these sensors is a crucial factor in the efficiency of data acquisition. Instead of using common separated transmitter – receiver, an alternative approach has been taken to use dual functionality ultrasonic transceiver. A prototype design of sensor’s jig that will hold 16 transceivers of 14.1mm has been design. Transmission-mode approach with fan beam technique has been used for sensing the flow of gas, liquid and solid. This paper also explains the circuitry designs for the Ultrasonic Tomography System.

  6. Assessment of precipitates of isothermal aged austenitic stainless steel using measurement techniques of ultrasonic attenuation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hun Hee; Kim, Hak Joon; Song, Sung Jin; Lim, Byeong Soo; Kim, Kyung Cho

    2014-01-01

    AISI 316L stainless steel is widely used as a structural material of high temperature thermoelectric power plants, since austenitic stainless steel has excellent mechanical properties. However, creep damage is generated in these components, which are operated under a high temperature and high pressure environment. Several researches have been done on how microstructural changes of precipitates affect to the macroscopic mechanical properties. And they investigate the relation between ultrasonic parameters and metallurgical results. But, these studies are limited by experiment results only. In this paper, attenuations of ultrasonic with isothermal damaged AISI 316L stainless steel were measured. Also, simulation of ultrasonic attenuation with variation of area fraction and size of precipitates were performed. And, from the measured attenuations, metallographic data and simulation results, we investigate the relations between the ultrasonic attenuations and the material properties which is area fraction of precipitates for the isothermal damaged austenitic stainless steel specimens. And, we studied parametric study for investigation of the relation between ultrasonic parameters and metallurgical results of the isothermal damaged AISI 316L stainless steel specimens using numerical methods.

  7. Nondestructive evaluation of reinforced plastics by a radiometric measurement technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Entine, Gerald; Afshari, Sia; Verlinden, Matt

    1990-01-01

    The demand for new high-performance plastics has greatly increased with advances in the performance characteristics of sophisticated reinforced engineering resins. However, conventional methods for the evaluation of the glass and filler contents of reinforced plastics are destructive, labor intensive, and time consuming. We have developed a new instrument, to address this problem, which provides for the rapid, accurate, and nondestructive measurement of glass or filler content in reinforced plastics. This instrument utilizes radiation transmission and scattering techniques for analytical measurement of glass, graphite and other fillers used in reinforced plastics. (author)

  8. Method and system of measuring ultrasonic signals in the plane of a moving web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Maclin S.; Jackson, Theodore G.; Wink, Wilmer A.; Knerr, Christopher

    1996-01-01

    An improved system for measuring the velocity of ultrasonic signals within the plane of moving web-like materials, such as paper, paperboard and the like. In addition to velocity measurements of ultrasonic signals in the plane of the web in the machine direction, MD, and a cross direction, CD, generally perpendicular to the direction of the traveling web, therefor, one embodiment of the system in accordance with the present invention is also adapted to provide on-line indication of the polar specific stiffness of the moving web. In another embodiment of the invention, the velocity of ultrasonic signals in the plane of the web are measured by way of a plurality of ultrasonic transducers carried by synchronously driven wheels or cylinders, thus eliminating undue transducer wear due to any speed differences between the transducers and the web. In order to provide relatively constant contact force between the transducers and the webs, the transducers are mounted in a sensor housings which include a spring for biasing the transducer radially outwardly. The sensor housings are adapted to be easily and conveniently mounted to the carrier to provide a relatively constant contact force between the transducers and the moving web.

  9. Applications of Flexible Ultrasonic Transducer Array for Defect Detection at 150 °C

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiunn-Woei Liaw

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available In this study, the feasibility of using a one dimensional 16-element flexible ultrasonic transducer (FUT array for nondestructive testing at 150 °C is demonstrated. The FUT arrays were made by a sol-gel sprayed piezoelectric film technology; a PZT composite film was sprayed on a titanium foil of 75 µm thickness. Since the FUT array is flexible, it was attached to a steel pipe with an outer diameter of 89 mm and a wall thickness of 6.5 mm at 150 °C. Using the ultrasonic pulse-echo mode, pipe thickness measurements could be performed. Moreover, using the ultrasonic pulse-echo and pitch-catch modes of each element of FUT array, the defect detection was performed on an Al alloy block of 30 mm thickness with a side-drilled hole (SDH of f3 mm at 150 °C. In addition, a post-processing algorithm based on the total focusing method was used to process the full matrix of these A-scan signals of each single transmitter and multi-receivers, and then the phase-array image was obtained to indicate this defect- SDH. Both results show the capability of FUT array being operated at 150 °C for the corrosion and defect detections.

  10. Integration of nondestructive examination reliability and fracture mechanics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Doctor, S.R.; Bates, D.J.; Charlot, L.A.

    1985-01-01

    The primary pressure boundaries (pressure vessels and piping) of nuclear power plants are in-service inspected (ISI) according to the rules of ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section XI. Ultrasonic techniques are normally used for these inspections, which are periodically performed on a sampling of welds. The Integration of Nondestructive Examination (NDE) Reliability and Fracture Mechanics (FM) Program at Pacific Northwest Laboratory was established to determine the reliability of current ISI techniques and to develop recommendations that will ensure a suitably high inspection reliability. The objectives of this NRC program are to: 1) determine the reliability of ultrasonic ISI performed on commercial light-water reactor primary systems; 2) using probabilistic FM analysis, determine the impact of NDE unreliability on system safety and determine the level of inspection reliability required to ensure a suitably low failure probability; 3) evaluate the degree of reliability improvement that could be achieved using improved and advanced NDE techniques; and 4) based on material properties, service conditions, and NDE uncertainties, formulate recommended revisions to ASME Code, Section XI, and Regulatory Requirements needed to ensure suitably low failure probabilities

  11. A numerical model for ultrasonic measurements of swelling and mechanical properties of a swollen PVA hydrogel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lohakan, M; Jamnongkan, T; Pintavirooj, C; Kaewpirom, S; Boonsang, S

    2010-08-01

    This paper presents a numerical model for the evaluation of mechanical properties of a relatively thin hydrogel. The model utilizes a system identification method to evaluate the acoustical parameters from ultrasonic measurement data. The model involves the calculation of the forward model based on an ultrasonic wave propagation incorporating diffraction effect. Ultrasonic measurements of a hydrogel are also performed in a reflection mode. A Nonlinear Least Square (NLS) algorithm is employed to minimize difference between the results from the model and the experimental data. The acoustical parameters associated with the model are effectively modified to achieve the minimum error. As a result, the parameters of PVA hydrogels namely thickness, density, an ultrasonic attenuation coefficient and dispersion velocity are effectively determined. In order to validate the model, the conventional density measurements of hydrogels were also performed. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Hydrogen-isotope motion in scandium studied by ultrasonic measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leisure, R.G.; Schwarz, R.B.; Migliori, A.; Torgeson, D.R.; Svare, I.

    1993-01-01

    Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy has been used to investigate ultrasonic attenuation in single crystals of Sc, ScH 0.25 , and ScD 0.18 over the temperature range of 10--300 K for frequencies near 1 MHz. Ultrasonic-attenuation peaks were observed in the samples containing H or D with the maximum attenuation occurring near 25 K for ScH 0.25 and near 50 K for ScD 0.18 . The general features of the data suggest that the motion reflected in the ultrasonic attenuation is closely related to the low-temperature motion seen in nulcear-magnetic-resonance spin-lattice-relaxation measurements. The ultrasonic results were fit with a two-level-system (TLS) model involving tunneling between highly asymmetric sites. The relaxation of the TLS was found to consist of two parts: a weakly temperature-dependent part, probably due to coupling to electrons; and a much more strongly temperature-dependent part, attributed to multiple-phonon processes. The strongly temperature-dependent part was almost two orders of magnitude faster in ScH 0.25 than in ScD 0.18 , in accordance with the idea that tunneling is involved in the motion. Surprisingly, the weakly temperature-dependent part was found to be about the same for the two isotopes. The asymmetries primarily responsible for coupling the TLS to the ultrasound are attributed to interactions between hydrogen ions that lie on adjacent c axes. The results are consistent with an isotope-independent strength for the coupling of the TLS to the ultrasound

  13. Measurement of flaw size in a weld sample by ultrasonic frequency analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Whaley, H.L. Jr.; Adler, L.; Cook, K.V.; McClung, R.W.

    1975-05-01

    An ultrasonic frequency analysis technique has been developed and applied to the measurement of flaws in an 8-in.-thick heavy-section steel specimen belonging to the Pressure Vessel Research Committee program. Using the technique the flaws occurring in the weld area were characterized in quantitative terms of both dimension and orientation. Several modifications of the technique were made during the study to include the application of several transducers and to consider ultrasonic mode conversion. (U.S.)

  14. Nondestructive testing of nuclear reactor components integrity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mala, M.; Miklos, M.

    2011-01-01

    Nuclear energy must respond to current challenges in the energy market. The significant parameters are increase of the nuclear fuel price, closed fuel cycle, reduction and safe and the final disposal of high level radioactive waste. Nowadays, the discussions on suitable energy mix are taking place not only here in Czech Republic, but also in many other European countries. It is necessary to establish an appropriate ratio among the production of electricity from conventional, nuclear and renewable energy sources. Also, it is necessary to find ways how to streamline the economy, central part of the nuclear fuel cycle and thereby to increase the competitiveness of nuclear energy. This streamlining can be carried out by improving utilization of existing nuclear fuel with maintaining a high degree of nuclear facilities safety. Increasing operational reliability and safety together with increasing utilization of nuclear fuel place increasing demands on monitoring of changes during fuel burnup. The potential fuel assembly damages in light water reactors are prevented by the introduction of new procedures and programs of the fuel assembly monitoring. One of them is the Post Irradiation Inspection Program (PIIP) which is a good tool for monitoring of chemical regime impact on the fuel assembly cladding behavior. Main nondestructive techniques that are used at nuclear power plants for the fuel assembly integrity evaluation are ultrasonic measurements, eddy current measurements, radiographic testing, acoustic techniques and others. Ultrasonic system is usual tool for leak fuel rod evaluation and it is also used at Temelin NPP. Since 2009, Temelin NPP has cooperated with Research Center Rez Ltd in frame of PIIP program at both units WWER 1000. This program was established for US VVantage6 fuel assemblies and also it continues for Russian TVSA-T fuel assemblies. (author)

  15. Laser ultrasonics for bulk-density distribution measurement on green ceramic tiles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Revel, G. M.; Cavuto, A.; Pandarese, G.

    2016-10-01

    In this paper a Laser Ultrasonics (LUT) system is developed and applied to measure bulk density distribution of green ceramic tiles, which are porous materials with low heat conductivity. Bulk density of green ceramic bodies is a fundamental parameter to be kept under control in the industrial production of ceramic tiles. The LUT system proposed is based on a Nd:YAG pulsed laser for excitation and an air-coupled electro-capacitive transducer for detection. The paper reports experimental apparent bulk-density measurements on white ceramic bodies after a calibration procedures. The performances observed are better than those previously achieved by authors using air-coupled ultrasonic probes for both emission and detection, allowing to reduce average uncertainty down to about ±6 kg/m3 (±0.3%), thanks to the increase in excitation efficiency and lateral resolution, while maintaining potential flexibility for on-line application. The laser ultrasonic procedure proposed is available for both on-line and off-line application. In this last case it is possible to obtain bulk density maps with high spatial resolution by a 2D scan without interrupting the production process.

  16. Nondestructive techniques for assaying fuel debris in piping at Three Mile Island Unit 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vinjamuri, K.; McIsaac, C.V.; Beller, L.S.; Isaacson, L.; Mandler, J.W.; Hobbins, R.R. Jr.

    1981-11-01

    Four major categories of nondestructive techniques - ultrasonic, passive gamma ray, infrared detection, and remote video examination - have been determined to be feasible for assaying fuel debris in the primary coolant system of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) Reactor. Passive gamma ray detection is the most suitable technique for the TMI-2 piping; however, further development of this technique is needed for specific application to TMI-2

  17. Development of ultrasonic immersion inspection technique for spent fuel canisters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schankula, J.J.

    1982-07-01

    This report summarizes ultrasonic nondestructive testing development for metal matrix supported spent fuel disposal canisters. The work has concentated in two areas: inspection for lack of bond at the shell/matrix interface and inspection for voids in the matrix. The capabilities and limitations of these techniques have been fully established. Unbonded areas as small as 4 mm in diameter and voids 6 mm in diameter, 25 mm deep in the matrix, can readily be detected

  18. Quench detection of superconducting magnets using ultrasonic wave

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ninomiya, A.; Sakaniwa, K.; Kado, H.; Ishigohka, T.; Higo, Y.

    1989-01-01

    A method to detect a quench of a superconducting magnet using ultrasonic technique is presented. This method is a kind of non-destructive one which monitors a change of acoustic transfer function of a superconducting magnet induced by a local temperature rise or an epoxy crack etc.. Some experiments are carried out on a small epoxy impregnated magnet. The experimental results show that a local temperature rise of about 2-3K can be detected by this method. And, some leading symptoms before quench were detected

  19. Radiometric and ultrasonic testing of vibrating roller compacting effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prikryl, F.; Habarta, J.; Kovarikova, E.

    1977-01-01

    A hole was filled with two layers of concrete mixture. Each layer was compacted using a Dynapac CA 25 vibrating roller 10,000 kg in weight, operating with a frequency of 30 Hz. A concrete block thus produced had dimensions of 11.0x2.5 m and a height of 1.6 m. After the concrete block hardening (roughly 120 days) drill cores were bored and bulk density was determined using nondestructive methods. Bulk density determination of the concrete between the drill cores was conducted using a 137 Cs emitter of an activity of 89 GBq, a FHZ-88b Geiger-Mueller counter was used as the detector. The emitter and detector were placed to touch the bore wall and were lowered to different depths in 10 cm increments. 10 count rate values were measured in each depth. The measurement time was chosen such that the decay statistical error did not exceed 1;. Bulk density of the individual segments of the drill cores was determined using 60 Co of an activitBy of 55 Mq as the radiation source and a TESLA 20/100 GWl GM counter as the detector. The detector operating voltage was 1240 V. Ultrasonic measurements were conducted using the USME-5 instrument. The measured bulk density values show that the compacting of a concrete layer 80 cm in thickness using a vibrating roller is sufficiently efficient. Both nondestructive methods were well proven, the results show that bulk density values in different depths differ due to concrete moisture content. (J.P.)

  20. Modelling of ultrasonic beam propagation from an array through transversely isotropic fibre reinforced composites using Multi Gaussian beams

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Anand, C.; Shroff, S.; Groves, R.M.; Benedictus, R.

    2017-01-01

    Ultrasonic arrays are used for non-destructive evaluation of structures for aerospace and other applications. With the increase in the usage of fibre-reinforced composites in aerospace structures, this evaluation becomes complex due to the effects of attenuation and reflection from the layer

  1. Scanning Ultrasonic Spectroscopy System Developed for the Inspection of Composite Flywheels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Richard E.; Baaklini, George Y.

    2002-01-01

    Composite flywheels are being considered as replacements for chemical batteries aboard the International Space Station. A flywheel stores energy in a spinning mass that can turn a generator to meet power demands. Because of the high rotational speeds of the spinning mass, extensive testing of the flywheel system must be performed prior to flight certification. With this goal in mind, a new scanning system has been developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center for the nondestructive inspection of composite flywheels and flywheel subcomponents. The system uses ultrasonic waves to excite a material and examines the response to detect and locate flaws and material variations. The ultrasonic spectroscopy system uses a transducer to send swept-frequency ultrasonic waves into a test material and then receives the returning signal with a second transducer. The received signal is then analyzed in the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform. A second fast Fourier transform is performed to examine the spacing of the peaks in the frequency domain. The spacing of the peaks is related to the standing wave resonances that are present in the material because of the constructive and destructive interferences of the waves in the full material thickness as well as in individual layers within the material. Material variations and flaws are then identified by changes in the amplitudes and positions of the peaks in both the frequency and resonance spacing domains. This work, conducted under a grant through the Cleveland State University, extends the capabilities of an existing point-by-point ultrasonic spectroscopy system, thus allowing full-field automated inspection. Results of an ultrasonic spectroscopy scan of a plastic cylinder with intentionally seeded flaws. The result of an ultrasonic spectroscopy scan of a plastic cylinder used as a proof-of-concept specimen is shown. The cylinder contains a number of flat bottomed holes of various sizes and shapes. The scanning system

  2. Mechanized scaling with ultrasonics: Perils and proactive measures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rashmi Paramashivaiah

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Mechanized scaling for plaque removal is a routine procedure in the practice of periodontics. Though it appears innocuous by itself, there are retinues of hazards associated with it on various organ systems in the body. Some of these unwanted effects and measures to avoid or ameliorate the same are elaborated here. Exposure to ultrasonic scaling is inevitable before any other treatment procedure. Aerosol contamination, vibrational hazards, thermal effects on the dental pulp, altered vascular dynamics, disruption in electromagnetic device, diminished hearing and dental unit waterline contamination are some of the probable off-shoots a patient has to bear. Uses of barrier devices, proper attention to usage of equipment, protection for ear and water treatment are few of solutions for the same. Though documented evidence for the existence of all effects is lacking, it is never the less significant for the overall safety of the patient. A conscientious clinician should therefore inculcate the available steps to overcome the hazards of ultrasonic scaling.

  3. Measurement and visualization of file-to-wall contact during ultrasonically activated irrigation in simulated canals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boutsioukis, C; Verhaagen, B; Walmsley, A D; Versluis, M; van der Sluis, L W M

    2013-11-01

    (i) To quantify in a simulated root canal model the file-to-wall contact during ultrasonic activation of an irrigant and to evaluate the effect of root canal size, file insertion depth, ultrasonic power, root canal level and previous training, (ii) To investigate the effect of file-to-wall contact on file oscillation. File-to-wall contact was measured during ultrasonic activation of the irrigant performed by 15 trained and 15 untrained participants in two metal root canal models. Results were analyzed by two 5-way mixed-design anovas. The level of significance was set at P root canal (P root canal (P irrigant activation. Therefore, the term 'Passive Ultrasonic Irrigation' should be amended to 'Ultrasonically Activated Irrigation'. © 2013 International Endodontic Journal. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  4. Nondestructive ultrasonic characterization of armor grade silicon carbide

    Science.gov (United States)

    Portune, Andrew Richard

    Ceramic materials have traditionally been chosen for armor applications for their superior mechanical properties and low densities. At high strain rates seen during ballistic events, the behavior of these materials relies upon the total volumetric flaw concentration more so than any single anomalous flaw. In this context flaws can be defined as any microstructural feature which detriments the performance of the material, potentially including secondary phases, pores, or unreacted sintering additives. Predicting the performance of armor grade ceramic materials depends on knowledge of the absolute and relative concentration and size distribution of bulk heterogeneities. Ultrasound was chosen as a nondestructive technique for characterizing the microstructure of dense silicon carbide ceramics. Acoustic waves interact elastically with grains and inclusions in large sample volumes, and were well suited to determine concentration and size distribution variations for solid inclusions. Methodology was developed for rapid acquisition and analysis of attenuation coefficient spectra. Measurements were conducted at individual points and over large sample areas using a novel technique entitled scanning acoustic spectroscopy. Loss spectra were split into absorption and scattering dominant frequency regimes to simplify analysis. The primary absorption mechanism in polycrystalline silicon carbide was identified as thermoelastic in nature. Correlations between microstructural conditions and parameters within the absorption equation were established through study of commercial and custom engineered SiC materials. Nonlinear least squares regression analysis was used to estimate the size distributions of boron carbide and carbon inclusions within commercial SiC materials. This technique was shown to additionally be capable of approximating grain size distributions in engineered SiC materials which did not contain solid inclusions. Comparisons to results from electron microscopy

  5. Needs for development in nondestructive testing for advanced reactor systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McClung, R.W.

    1978-01-01

    The needs for development of nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques and equipment were surveyed and analyzed relative to problem areas for the Liquid-Metal Fast Breeder Reactor, the Molten-Salt Breeder Reactor, and the Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor. The paper first discusses the developmental needs that are broad-based requirements in nondestrutive testing, and the respective methods applicable, in general, to all components and reactor systems. Next, the requirements of generic materials and components that are common to all advanced reactor systems are examined. Generally, nondestructive techniques should be improved to provide better reliability and quantitativeness, improved flaw characterization, and more efficient data processing. Specific recommendations relative to such methods as ultrasonics, eddy currents, acoustic emission, radiography, etc., are made. NDT needs common to all reactors include those related to materials properties and degradation, welds, fuels, piping, steam generators, etc. The scope of applicability ranges from initial design and material development stages through process control and manufacturing inspection to in-service examination

  6. Characterization of Aging Behavior in M250 Grade Maraging Steel Using Ultrasonic Measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajkumar, K. V.; Kumar, Anish; Jayakumar, T.; Raj, Baldev; Ray, K. K.

    2007-02-01

    Ultrasonic measurements have been carried out in M250 grade maraging steel specimens subjected to solution annealing at 1093 K for 1 hour followed by aging at 755 K for various durations in the range of 0.25 to 100 hours. The influence of aging on microstructure, room temperature hardness, and ultrasonic parameters (longitudinal and shear wave velocities and Poisson’s ratio) has been studied in order to derive correlations among these parameters in aged M250 maraging steel. Both hardness and ultrasonic velocities exhibit almost similar behaviors with aging time. They increase with the precipitation of intermetallic phases, Ni3Ti and Fe2Mo, and decrease with the reversion of martensite to austenite. Ultrasonic shear wave velocity is found to be more influenced by the precipitation of intermetallic phases, whereas longitudinal wave velocity is influenced more by the reversion of martensite to austenite. Unlike hardness and ultrasonic velocities, the Poisson’s ratio exhibits a monotonous decrease with aging time and, hence, can be used for unambiguous monitoring of the aging process in M250 maraging steel. Further, none of the parameters, i.e., hardness, ultrasonic velocity, or Poisson’s ratio, alone could identify the initiation of the reversion of austenite at early stage; however, the same could be identified from the correlation between ultrasonic velocity and Poisson’s ratio, indicating the advantage of using the multiparametric approach for comprehensive characterization of complex aging behavior in M250 grade maraging steel.

  7. Nondestructive analysis of automotive paints with spectral domain optical coherence tomography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Yue; Lawman, Samuel; Zheng, Yalin; Williams, Dominic; Zhang, Jinke; Shen, Yao-Chun

    2016-05-01

    We have demonstrated for the first time, to our knowledge, the use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) as an analytical tool for nondestructively characterizing the individual paint layer thickness of multiple layered automotive paints. A graph-based segmentation method was used for automatic analysis of the thickness distribution for the top layers of solid color paints. The thicknesses measured with OCT were in good agreement with the optical microscope and ultrasonic techniques that are the current standard in the automobile industry. Because of its high axial resolution (5.5 μm), the OCT technique was shown to be able to resolve the thickness of individual paint layers down to 11 μm. With its high lateral resolution (12.4 μm), the OCT system was also able to measure the cross-sectional area of the aluminum flakes in a metallic automotive paint. The range of values measured was 300-1850  μm2. In summary, the proposed OCT is a noncontact, high-resolution technique that has the potential for inclusion as part of the quality assurance process in automobile coating.

  8. Spinodal decomposition mechanism study on the duplex stainless steel UNS S31803 using ultrasonic speed measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Albuquerque, Victor Hugo C. de; Macedo Silva, Edgard de; Pereira Leite, Josinaldo; Pindo de Moura, Elineudo; Araujo Freitas, Vera Lucia de; Tavares, Joao Manuel R.S.

    2010-01-01

    This work, focuses on the spinodal decomposition mechanism study on the duplex stainless steel duplex UNS S31803, composed by austenite (γ) and ferrite (α) phases, at 425 o C and 475 o C temperatures by ultrasonic speed measurements. This temperature range is responsible for the transformation mechanism of α initial phase to α phases (poor in chromium) and α' (rich in chromium) by spinodal decomposition. The techniques to accomplish this analysis are based mainly on X-ray diffraction measures and ultrasonic speed. The obtained results show that it is possible to conclude that the use of ultrasonic speed measurements indicates a promising technique for following-up the phase transformation and spinodal decomposition on the steel studied.

  9. A digital, constant-frequency pulsed phase-locked-loop instrument for real-time, absolute ultrasonic phase measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haldren, H. A.; Perey, D. F.; Yost, W. T.; Cramer, K. E.; Gupta, M. C.

    2018-05-01

    A digitally controlled instrument for conducting single-frequency and swept-frequency ultrasonic phase measurements has been developed based on a constant-frequency pulsed phase-locked-loop (CFPPLL) design. This instrument uses a pair of direct digital synthesizers to generate an ultrasonically transceived tone-burst and an internal reference wave for phase comparison. Real-time, constant-frequency phase tracking in an interrogated specimen is possible with a resolution of 0.000 38 rad (0.022°), and swept-frequency phase measurements can be obtained. Using phase measurements, an absolute thickness in borosilicate glass is presented to show the instrument's efficacy, and these results are compared to conventional ultrasonic pulse-echo time-of-flight (ToF) measurements. The newly developed instrument predicted the thickness with a mean error of -0.04 μm and a standard deviation of error of 1.35 μm. Additionally, the CFPPLL instrument shows a lower measured phase error in the absence of changing temperature and couplant thickness than high-resolution cross-correlation ToF measurements at a similar signal-to-noise ratio. By showing higher accuracy and precision than conventional pulse-echo ToF measurements and lower phase errors than cross-correlation ToF measurements, the new digitally controlled CFPPLL instrument provides high-resolution absolute ultrasonic velocity or path-length measurements in solids or liquids, as well as tracking of material property changes with high sensitivity. The ability to obtain absolute phase measurements allows for many new applications than possible with previous ultrasonic pulsed phase-locked loop instruments. In addition to improved resolution, swept-frequency phase measurements add useful capability in measuring properties of layered structures, such as bonded joints, or materials which exhibit non-linear frequency-dependent behavior, such as dispersive media.

  10. Assessment of Aluminum FSW Joints Using Ultrasonic Testing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adamus K.

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper concerns aluminum joints made using friction stir welding. Although in the aerospace industry there is a tendency to replace metal components with composites, aluminum continues to be a valuable material. Its share in the aircraft structures is the biggest among all structural metals. Lots of aluminum components are made of sheets and most of them require joining. Friction stir welding is a relatively new joining technology, particularly with regard to the sheets having a thickness of 1 mm or lower. The paper is dedicated to non-destructive testing of such joints using ultrasonic inspection. It was found that ultrasonic testing allows for distinguishing between joints without material discontinuities, joint with material discontinuities at the advancing side and joint with discontinuities extending through the whole width of the stir zone. During research only horizontally aligned defects were taken into account.

  11. Central corneal thickness measurements in unoperated eyes and eyes after PRK for myopia using Pentacam, Orbscan II, and ultrasonic pachymetry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Sun Woong; Byun, Yeo Jue; Kim, Eung Kweon; Kim, Tae-im

    2007-11-01

    To compare central corneal thickness measurements obtained in unoperated eyes and eyes after myopic photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) using a rotating Scheimpflug camera (Pentacam), a scanning slit corneal topography system (Orbscan II), and ultrasonic pachymetry. Corneal thickness was measured using Pentacam, Orbscan II, and ultrasonic pachymetry in 25 unoperated eyes (unoperated group), 24 eyes 1 to 3 months after myopic PRK (early postoperative PRK group), and 21 eyes 4 months or more after myopic PRK (late postoperative PRK group). In the unoperated group, corneal thickness measurements were similar for all three methods (P=.125). In the early postoperative PRK group, Orbscan measurements were thinner than Pentacam and ultrasonic measurements by a mean of 69.4 microm and 63.4 microm (PPRK group, Orbscan measurements were thinner than Pentacam measurements by a mean of 36.0 microm (P=.017). Pentacam and ultrasonic pachymetry measurements were similar for all three groups with a mean difference of approximately 10 microm. Following myopic PRK, Pentacam was comparable to ultrasonic pachymetry in measuring corneal thickness, whereas Orbscan measurements were thinner.

  12. Modelling of ultrasonic nondestructive testing of cracks in claddings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bostroem, Anders; Zagbai, Theo

    2006-05-01

    Nondestructive testing with ultrasound is a standard procedure in the nuclear power industry. To develop and qualify the methods extensive experimental work with test blocks is usually required. This can be very time-consuming and costly and it also requires a good physical intuition of the situation. A reliable mathematical model of the testing situation can, therefore, be very valuable and cost-effective as it can reduce experimental work significantly. A good mathematical model enhances the physical intuition and is very useful for parametric studies, as a pedagogical tool, and for the qualification of procedures and personnel. The present project has been concerned with the modelling of defects in claddings. A cladding is a layer of material that is put on for corrosion protection, in the nuclear power industry this layer is often an austenitic steel that is welded onto the surface. The cladding is usually anisotropic and to some degree it is most likely also inhomogeneous, particularly in that the direction of the anisotropy is varying. This degree of inhomogeneity is unknown but probably not very pronounced so for modelling purposes it may be a valid assumption to take the cladding to be homogeneous. However, another important complicating factor with claddings is that the interface between the cladding and the base material is often corrugated. This corrugation can have large effects on the transmission of ultrasound through the interface and can thus greatly affect the detectability of defects in the cladding. In the present project the only type of defect that is considered is a planar crack that is situated inside the cladding. The investigations are, furthermore, limited to two dimensions, and the crack is then only a straight line. The crack can be arbitrarily oriented and situated, but it must not intersect the interface to the base material. The crack can be surface-breaking, and this is often the case of most practical interest, but it should then be

  13. Field nondestructive assay measurements as applied to process inventories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Westsik, G.A.

    1979-08-01

    An annual process equipment holdup inventory measurement program for a plutonium processing plant was instituted by Rockwell Hanford Operations (Rockwell) at Richland, Washington. The inventories, performed in 1977 and 1978, were designed to improve plutonium accountability and control. The inventory method used field nondestructive assay (NDA) measurement techniques with portable electronics and sodium iodide detectors. Access to and movement of plutonium in work areas was curtailed during the inventory process using administrative controls. Comparison of the two annual inventories showed good reproducibility of results within the calculated error ranges. For items where no plutonium movement occurred and which contained greater than 20 grams plutonium, the average measurement difference between the two inventories was 22%. The procedures and equipment used and the operational experience from the inventories are described

  14. The Design Of The Ultrasonic Nondestructive Testing System Based On The EMAT

    OpenAIRE

    Cheng Huan Xin; Meng Xiang Yong; Li Jing; Cheng Li

    2016-01-01

    This paper introduces a kind of based on the electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) metal pipeline detection system, fusion of two dimensional orientation, shape unique technological innovation, implementation of various metal pipe wall corrosion situation of rapid, accurate, fully automated non-destructive testing.In the aspect of hardware design, single-chip microcomputer control was achieved by C language programming the launch of the pulse signal. Pulse signal was sent to launch circu...

  15. Ultrasonic physics

    CERN Document Server

    Richardson, E G

    1962-01-01

    Ultrasonic Physics, Second Edition, provides an introduction to the fundamental principles of ultrasonic physics. The book opens with a discussion of the sources of ultrasound. This is followed by separate chapters on the properties and detection of ultrasonic radiation; measurement of propagation constants, i.e., the velocity and absorption, of ultrasound; ultrasound propagation in gases, liquids, and solids; and ultrasound propagation in aerosols, suspensions, and emulsions. The final chapter covers miscellaneous physical and physico-chemical actions, including dispersion and coagulation of

  16. Design and Functional Validation of a Complex Impedance Measurement Device for Characterization of Ultrasonic Transducers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De-Cock, Wouter; Cools, Jan; Leroux, Paul

    2013-06-01

    This paper presents the design and practical implementation of a complex impedance measurement device capable of characterization of ultrasonic transducers. The device works in the frequency range used by industrial ultrasonic transducers which is below the measurement range of modern high end network analyzers. The device uses the Goertzel algorithm instead of the more common FFT algorithm to calculate the magnitude and phase component of the impedance under test. A theoretical overview is given followed by a practical approach and measurement results. (authors)

  17. Basic study of water-cement ratio evaluation for fresh mortar using an ultrasonic measurement technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamza Haffies Ismail; Murata, Yorinobu

    2009-01-01

    The objective of this research is for the basic study of ultrasonic evaluation method for the determination of the water-cement-ratio (W/C) in fresh concrete at the early age of hardening. Water-cement ratio is a important parameter to evaluate the strength of concrete for concrete construction. Using an ultrasonic pulse measurement technique, wave velocity and frequency variations depend on the age of concrete during hardening process could be evaluated. As a sample test, fresh mortar of water-cement ratio of 40 %, 50% and 60 % was poured into cylindrical plastic mould form (φ100 mm x 50 mm). For an ultrasonic pulse wave transmission technique, two wide band ultrasonic transducers were set on the top and bottom surface of mortar, and start measuring from 10 minutes after pouring water until 60 minutes of 5 minutes of intervals. As a result, it was confirmed that wave velocity and center frequency were changed with the age of mortar depends on the water-cement ratio. (author)

  18. Non-destructive evaluation of welding part of stainless steels by phased array system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tatematsu, Nobuhiro; Matsumoto, Eiji

    2009-01-01

    Recently, more accurate and convenient Non-Destructive Evaluation techniques are required for flaw inspection of structural materials. Phased array ultrasonic transducers are expected as such as NDE technique but there are many subjects to be solved. Furthermore, commercial phased array systems with conventional scanning and imaging techniques have not fulfilled their maximum potential. The purpose of this paper is to improve the phased array system to be applicable to the inhomogeneity evaluation of welding part of stainless steels. (author)

  19. Image processing applied to automatic detection of defects during ultrasonic examination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moysan, J.

    1992-10-01

    This work is a study about image processing applied to ultrasonic BSCAN images which are obtained in the field of non destructive testing of weld. The goal is to define what image processing techniques can bring to ameliorate the exploitation of the data collected and, more precisely, what image processing can do to extract the meaningful echoes which enable to characterize and to size the defects. The report presents non destructive testing by ultrasounds in the nuclear field and it indicates specificities of the propagation of ultrasonic waves in austenitic weld. It gives a state of the art of the data processing applied to ultrasonic images in nondestructive evaluation. A new image analysis is then developed. It is based on a powerful tool, the co-occurrence matrix. This matrix enables to represent, in a whole representation, relations between amplitudes of couples of pixels. From the matrix analysis, a new complete and automatic method has been set down in order to define a threshold which separates echoes from noise. An automatic interpretation of the ultrasonic echoes is then possible. Complete validation has been done with standard pieces

  20. A system for personnel qualification of non-destructive testing procedures from testing and and qualification system in Sweden

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuna, M.; Kubis, S.; Plasek, J.

    1999-01-01

    The method for qualification of non-destructive testing personnel carrying out inspections by means of ultrasonic and eddy-current tests to inspect cladding in BWR reactor pressure vessel and core shroud lid. Development of procedures tests with real artificial cracks, blind tests. Evaluation of results by the Swedish Qualification Commission. Performance of the tests at Oskarshamn-1

  1. Using the analysis of stress waves to build research for experimentation on ultrasonic film measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Shi-Shing; Wu, John H.

    1993-09-01

    After the 2th world war, although the application of ultrasonic wave in industries is becoming more and more popular. But due to the restriction of the precise equivelent , experimental method and the support of the basic theoremsetc. Ultrasonic wave is not applied in precise measurement. Nowadays due to many conditions - the improvement in the production technic, the precise of the equivelent, causes to increase the application of ultrasonic wave. But it's still limited due to the lack of measurement and analysis theorem. In this paper, first we caculate translation of the stress wave (elastic wave) in material for the free surface of material by a normal impulse load. as the theorem analysis base in real application. It is applied to an experiment of film measurement. We can find the partical motion in material and the arriving time of wave front. Then we can estimate the thickness of layers and can prove the actual condition with the result of experiment. This resarch is not only in the theoretical investigation but also in setting overall the measurement system, and excutes the following three experiments: the thickness measurement of two layers, the thickness measurement of film material. the thickness measurement of air propagation. About the data processing, we relied on the frequency analysis to evalute the time difference of two overlapped ultrasonic wave signal. in the meanwhile. we also designed several computer programs to assist the sonic wave identification and signal analysis.

  2. Questions of qualification exam for non-destructive testing and materials science - the first level

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shaaban, H.I.; Addarwish, J.M.A.

    2013-01-01

    The book contains seven chapters: Questions of qualification for magnetic particles testing method - Questions of qualification for liquids penetrant testing method - Questions of qualification for the visual inspection testing method - Questions of qualification for the ultrasonic testing method - Questions of qualification for the eddy current testing method - Questions of rehabilitation for industrial radiographic testing method - Qualification questions about materials science and manufacturing defects of castings and welding and comparison between non-destructive testing methods.

  3. A Study on a Crack Evaluation Technique for Turbine Blade Root Using Phased Array Ultrasonics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cho, Yong Sang; Jung, Gye Jo; Park, Sang Ki; Kim, Jae Hoon

    2004-01-01

    Ultrasonic testing is a kind of nondestructive test to detect a crack or discontinuity in materials or on material surfaces by sending ultrasound to it. This conventional ultrasonic technique has some limitations in reliably detecting crack or accurately assessing materials in the case of complex-shaped power plant components such as a turbine blade root. An alternative method for such a difficult inspection is highly needed. In this study, application of a phased array ultrasonic testing (UT) system to a turbine blade, one of the critical power plant components, has been considered, and the particular incident angle has been determined so that the greatest track detectability and the most accurate crack length evaluation nay be achieved. The response of ultrasonic phased array was also analyzed to establish a special method to determine the track length without moving the transducer. The result showed that the developed method for crack length assessment is a more accurate and effective method, compared with the conventional method

  4. Resolution improvement of ultrasonic echography methods in non destructive testing by adaptative deconvolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vivet, L.

    1989-01-01

    The ultrasonic echography has a lot of advantages which make it attractive for nondestructive testing. But the important acoustic energy useful to go through very attenuating materials can be got only with resonant translators, that is a limit for the resolution on measured echograms. This resolution can be improved by deconvolution. But this method is a problem for austenitic steel. Here is developed a method of time deconvolution which allows to take in account the characteristics of the wave. A first step of phase correction and a second step of spectral equalization which gives back the spectral contents of ideal reflectivity. The two steps use fast Kalman filters which reduce the cost of the method

  5. Effect of the cortex on ultrasonic backscatter measurements of cancellous bone

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoffmeister, Brent K; Holt, Andrew P; Kaste, Sue C

    2011-01-01

    Ultrasonic backscatter techniques offer a promising new approach for detecting changes in bone caused by osteoporosis. However, several challenges impede clinical implementation of backscatter techniques. This study examines how the dense outer surface of bone (the cortex) affects backscatter measurements of interior regions of porous (cancellous) bone tissue. Fifty-two specimens of bone were prepared from 13 human femoral heads so that the same region of cancellous bone could be ultrasonically interrogated through the cortex or along directions that avoided the cortex. Backscatter signals were analyzed over a frequency range of 0.8-3.0 MHz to determine two ultrasonic parameters: apparent integrated backscatter (AIB) and frequency slope of apparent backscatter (FSAB). The term 'apparent' means that the parameters are sensitive to the frequency-dependent effects of diffraction and attenuation. Significant (p < 0.001) changes in AIB and FSAB indicated that measurements through the cortex decreased the apparent backscattered power and increased the frequency dependence of the power. However, the cortex did not affect the correlation of AIB and FSAB with the x-ray bone mineral density of the specimens. This suggests that results from many previous in vitro backscatter studies of specimens of purely cancellous bone may be extrapolated with greater confidence to in vivo conditions.

  6. Effect of the cortex on ultrasonic backscatter measurements of cancellous bone

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hoffmeister, Brent K; Holt, Andrew P [Department of Physics, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN (United States); Kaste, Sue C, E-mail: hoffmeister@rhodes.edu [Department of Diagnostic Imaging, St Jude Children' s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN (United States)

    2011-10-07

    Ultrasonic backscatter techniques offer a promising new approach for detecting changes in bone caused by osteoporosis. However, several challenges impede clinical implementation of backscatter techniques. This study examines how the dense outer surface of bone (the cortex) affects backscatter measurements of interior regions of porous (cancellous) bone tissue. Fifty-two specimens of bone were prepared from 13 human femoral heads so that the same region of cancellous bone could be ultrasonically interrogated through the cortex or along directions that avoided the cortex. Backscatter signals were analyzed over a frequency range of 0.8-3.0 MHz to determine two ultrasonic parameters: apparent integrated backscatter (AIB) and frequency slope of apparent backscatter (FSAB). The term 'apparent' means that the parameters are sensitive to the frequency-dependent effects of diffraction and attenuation. Significant (p < 0.001) changes in AIB and FSAB indicated that measurements through the cortex decreased the apparent backscattered power and increased the frequency dependence of the power. However, the cortex did not affect the correlation of AIB and FSAB with the x-ray bone mineral density of the specimens. This suggests that results from many previous in vitro backscatter studies of specimens of purely cancellous bone may be extrapolated with greater confidence to in vivo conditions.

  7. Ultrasonic techniques for measuring physical properties of fluids in harsh environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pantea, Cristian

    Ultrasonic-based measurement techniques, either in the time domain or in the frequency domain, include a wide range of experimental methods for investigating physical properties of materials. This discussion is specifically focused on ultrasonic methods and instrumentation development for the determination of liquid properties at conditions typically found in subsurface environments (in the U.S., more than 80% of total energy needs are provided by subsurface energy sources). Such sensors require materials that can withstand harsh conditions of high pressure, high temperature and corrosiveness. These include the piezoelectric material, electrically conductive adhesives, sensor housings/enclosures, and the signal carrying cables, to name a few. A complete sensor package was developed for operation at high temperatures and pressures characteristic to geothermal/oil-industry reservoirs. This package is designed to provide real-time, simultaneous measurements of multiple physical parameters, such as temperature, pressure, salinity and sound speed. The basic principle for this sensor's operation is an ultrasonic frequency domain technique, combined with transducer resonance tracking. This multipurpose acoustic sensor can be used at depths of several thousand meters, temperatures up to 250 °C, and in a very corrosive environment. In the context of high precision measurement of sound speed, the determination of acoustic nonlinearity of liquids will also be discussed, using two different approaches: (i) the thermodynamic method, in which precise and accurate frequency domain sound speed measurements are performed at high pressure and high temperature, and (ii) a modified finite amplitude method, requiring time domain measurements of the second harmonic at room temperature. Efforts toward the development of an acoustic source of collimated low-frequency (10-150 kHz) beam, with applications in imaging, will also be presented.

  8. A robust indicator based on singular value decomposition for flaw feature detection from noisy ultrasonic signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Ximing; Wang, Zhe; Kang, Yihua; Pu, Haiming; Deng, Zhiyang

    2018-05-01

    Singular value decomposition (SVD) has been proven to be an effective de-noising tool for flaw echo signal feature detection in ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation (NDE). However, the uncertainty in the arbitrary manner of the selection of an effective singular value weakens the robustness of this technique. Improper selection of effective singular values will lead to bad performance of SVD de-noising. What is more, the computational complexity of SVD is too large for it to be applied in real-time applications. In this paper, to eliminate the uncertainty in SVD de-noising, a novel flaw indicator, named the maximum singular value indicator (MSI), based on short-time SVD (STSVD), is proposed for flaw feature detection from a measured signal in ultrasonic NDE. In this technique, the measured signal is first truncated into overlapping short-time data segments to put feature information of a transient flaw echo signal in local field, and then the MSI can be obtained from the SVD of each short-time data segment. Research shows that this indicator can clearly indicate the location of ultrasonic flaw signals, and the computational complexity of this STSVD-based indicator is significantly reduced with the algorithm proposed in this paper. Both simulation and experiments show that this technique is very efficient for real-time application in flaw detection from noisy data.

  9. Non-destructive testing of CFC/Cu joints

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Casalegno, V.; Ferraris, M.; Salvo, M.; Vesprini, R.; Merola, M.

    2006-01-01

    Reliable non-destructive tests (NDT) are fundamental for the manufacturing of ITER components, especially for high heat flux plasma facing components. NDT include various techniques, which allow inspection of a component without impairing serviceability; it's important to detect and characterize defects (type, size and position) as well as the set-up of acceptance standards in order to predict their influence on the component performance in service conditions. The present study shows a description of NDT used to assess the manufacturing quality of CFC (carbon fibre reinforced carbon matrix composites)/Cu/CuCrZr joints. In the ITER divertor, armor tiles made of CFC are joined to the cooling structure made of precipitation hardened copper alloy CuCrZr; a soft pure Cu interlayer is required between the heat sink and the armour in order to mitigate the stresses at the joint interface. NDT on CFC/Cu joint are difficult because of the different behavior of CFC and copper with regard to physical excitations (e.g. ultrasonic wave) used to test the component; furthermore the response to this input must be accurately studied to identify the detachment of CFC tiles from Cu alloy. The inspected CFC/Cu/CuCrZr joints were obtained through direct casting of pure Cu on modified CFC surface and subsequently through brazing of CFC/Cu joints to CuCrZr by a Cu-based alloy. Different non-destructive methods were used for inspecting these joints: lock-in thermography, ultrasonic inspections, microtomography and microradiography. The NDT tests were followed by metallographic investigation on the samples, since the reliability of a certain non destructive test can be only validated by morphological evidence of the detected defects. This study will undertake a direct comparison of NDT used on CFC/Cu joints in terms of real flaws presence. The purpose of this work is to detect defects at the joining interface as well as in the cast copper ( for instance voids). The experimental work was

  10. Numerical simulation of ultrasonic wave propagation in elastically anisotropic media

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jacob, Victoria Cristina Cheade; Jospin, Reinaldo Jacques; Bittencourt, Marcelo de Siqueira Queiroz

    2013-01-01

    The ultrasonic non-destructive testing of components may encounter considerable difficulties to interpret some inspections results mainly in anisotropic crystalline structures. A numerical method for the simulation of elastic wave propagation in homogeneous elastically anisotropic media, based on the general finite element approach, is used to help this interpretation. The successful modeling of elastic field associated with NDE is based on the generation of a realistic pulsed ultrasonic wave, which is launched from a piezoelectric transducer into the material under inspection. The values of elastic constants are great interest information that provide the application of equations analytical models, until small and medium complexity problems through programs of numerical analysis as finite elements and/or boundary elements. The aim of this work is the comparison between the results of numerical solution of an ultrasonic wave, which is obtained from transient excitation pulse that can be specified by either force or displacement variation across the aperture of the transducer, and the results obtained from a experiment that was realized in an aluminum block in the IEN Ultrasonic Laboratory. The wave propagation can be simulated using all the characteristics of the material used in the experiment valuation associated to boundary conditions and from these results, the comparison can be made. (author)

  11. Ultrasonic density detector for vessel and reactor core two-phase flow measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arave, A.E.

    1979-01-01

    A local ultrasonic density (LUD) detector has been developed by EG and G Idaho, Inc., at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory for the Loss-of-Fluid Test (LOFT) reactor vessel and core two-phase flow density measurements. The principle of operating the sensor is the change in propagation time of a torsional ultrasonic wave in a metal transmission line as a function of the density of the surrounding media. A theoretical physics model is presented which represents the total propagation time as a function of the sensor modulus of elasticity and polar moment of inertia

  12. Internal properties assessment in agar wood trees using ultrasonic velocity measurement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohd Noorul Ikhsan Mohamed; Mohamad Pauzi Ismail; Mat Rasol Awang; Mohd Fajri Osman; Fakhruzi, M.; Hashim, M.M.

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents the application of ultrasonic velocity in agar wood trees (Aquilaria crassna) with the purpose of evaluating the relationship of the ultrasonic velocity to the variations of internal properties of trees. In this study, three circular cross-sectional discs from the freshly cut tree were selected as samples. First sample with a big hole (decay) in the middle, second sample with internal resinous and the last one is the sample with no defects. The through transmission ultrasonic testing method was carried out using Tico ultrasonic pulse velocity tester which is from Switzerland. Two-dimensional image of internal properties evaluation by an ultrasonic investigation was obtained using Matlab. The results showed that the ultrasonic wave cannot pass through the internal decay or resinous so that the wave went round it and thus ultrasonic wave velocity significantly decreased by increasing the hole or resinous. The difference in color of the image generated by Matlab software based on variation of ultrasonic velocity between the internal decay area and its surrounding area was obvious. Therefore, the properties of internal properties of the three could be detected by ultrasonic line imaging technique. (author)

  13. Feasibility of Residual Stress Nondestructive Estimation Using the Nonlinear Property of Critical Refraction Longitudinal Wave

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu-Hua Zhang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Residual stress has significant influence on the performance of mechanical components, and the nondestructive estimation of residual stress is always a difficult problem. This study applies the relative nonlinear coefficient of critical refraction longitudinal (LCR wave to nondestructively characterize the stress state of materials; the feasibility of residual stress estimation using the nonlinear property of LCR wave is verified. The nonlinear ultrasonic measurements based on LCR wave are conducted on components with known stress state to calculate the relative nonlinear coefficient. Experimental results indicate that the relative nonlinear coefficient monotonically increases with prestress and the increment of relative nonlinear coefficient is about 80%, while the wave velocity only decreases about 0.2%. The sensitivity of the relative nonlinear coefficient for stress is much higher than wave velocity. Furthermore, the dependence between the relative nonlinear coefficient and deformation state of components is found. The stress detection resolution based on the nonlinear property of LCR wave is 10 MPa, which has higher resolution than wave velocity. These results demonstrate that the nonlinear property of LCR wave is more suitable for stress characterization than wave velocity, and this quantitative information could be used for residual stress estimation.

  14. A comparison of conventional and prototype nondestructive measurements on molten salt extraction residues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Longmire, V.L.; Hurd, J.R.; Sedlacek, W.E.; Scarborough, A.M.

    1987-01-01

    Fourteen molten salt extraction residues were assayed by conventional and prototype nondestructive assay (NDA) techniques to be compared with destructive chemical analysis in an effort to identify acceptable NDA measurement methods for this matrix. NDA results on seven samples and destructive results on four samples are presented

  15. Air-coupled ultrasound for plate thickness measurements

    OpenAIRE

    Waag, Grunde

    2017-01-01

    Non-destructive testing using ultrasound is well established as a technique of inspecting miscellaneous structures and components. Ultrasonic waves propagating in an elastic solid are sensitive to both the material and geometrical properties of the solid. Decades of experience have shown that it is possible to extract these properties from the waves in an efficient and reliable way in a variety of practical measurement settings. Different techniques have been developed over many decades, and ...

  16. Ultrasonic measurements and other allied parameters of yttrium soaps in mixed organic solvents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mehrotra, K.N.; Tandon, K.

    1990-01-01

    The ultrasonic measurements of yttrium soaps were made in a mixture of 70 % benzene and 30 % dimethylsulfoxide (ν/ν) to determine the critical micelle concentration, soap-solvent interaction and various acoustic and thermodynamic parameters. The values of the CMC decrease with increasing chainlength of fatty acid constituent of the soap molecule and are in agreement with the values obtained from other micellar properties. The various acoustic parameters (intermolecular freelength, adiabatic compressibility, apparent molar compressibility, specific acoustic impedance, apparent molar volume, molar sound velocity, solvation number, available volume and relative association) for yttrium soaps (myristate, palmitate, stearate and oleate) have been evaluated by ultrasonic velocity measurements. (Authors)

  17. SAFT-assisted sound beam focusing using phased arrays (PA-SAFT) for non-destructive evaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nanekar, Paritosh; Kumar, Anish; Jayakumar, T.

    2015-04-01

    Focusing of sound has always been a subject of interest in ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation. An integrated approach to sound beam focusing using phased array and synthetic aperture focusing technique (PA-SAFT) has been developed in the authors' laboratory. The approach involves SAFT processing on ultrasonic B-scan image collected by a linear array transducer using a divergent sound beam. The objective is to achieve sound beam focusing using fewer elements than the ones required using conventional phased array. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated on aluminium blocks with artificial flaws and steel plate samples with embedded volumetric weld flaws, such as slag and clustered porosities. The results obtained by the PA-SAFT approach are found to be comparable to those obtained by conventional phased array and full matrix capture - total focusing method approaches.

  18. Nondestructive Evaluation of Railway Bridge by System Identification Using Field Vibration Measurement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ho, Duc Duy; Hong, Dong Soo; Kim, Jeong Tae

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents a nondestructive evaluation approach for system identification (SID) of real railway bridges using field vibration test results. First, a multi-phase SID scheme designed on the basis of eigenvalue sensitivity concept is presented. Next, the proposed multi-phase approach is evaluated from field vibration tests on a real railway bridge (Wondongcheon bridge) located in Yangsan, Korea. On the steel girder bridge, a few natural frequencies and mode shapes are experimentally measured under the ambient vibration condition. The corresponding modal parameters are numerically calculated from a three-dimensional finite element (FE) model established for the target bridge. Eigenvalue sensitivities are analyzed for potential model-updating parameters of the FE model. Then, structural subsystems are identified phase-by-phase using the proposed model-updating procedure. Based on model-updating results, a baseline model and a nondestructive evaluation of test bridge are identified

  19. Ultrasonic inspection of AA6013 laser welded joints

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriano Passini

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Interest in laser beam welding for aerospace applications is continuously growing, mainly for aluminum alloys. The joints quality is usually assessed by non-destructive inspection (NDI. In this work, bead on plate laser welds on 1.6 mm thick AA6013 alloy sheets, using a 2 kW Yb-fiber laser were obtained and inspected by pulse/echo ultrasonic phased-array technique. Good and poor quality welds were inspected in order to verify the limits of inspection, comparing also to X-ray radiography and metallographic inspections. The results showed that ultrasonic phased array technique was able to identify the presence of grouped porosity, through the attenuation of the amplitude of the echo signal. This attenuation is attributed to the scattering of the waves caused by micro pores, with individual size below the resolution limit of the equipment, but when grouped, can cause a perceptive effect on the reflection spectra.

  20. Integrated nondestructive assay solutions for plutonium measurement problems of the 21st century

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sampson, T.E.; Cremers, T.L.

    1997-01-01

    The authors describe automated and integrated NDA systems configured to measure many of the materials that will be found in the DOE complex in the dismantlement, disposition, residue stabilization, immobilization, and MOX fuel programs. These systems are typified by the ARIES (Advanced Recovery and Integrated Extraction System) nondestructive assay system which is under construction at Los Alamos to measure the outputs of a weapon component dismantlement system

  1. Ultrasonic testing of materials at level 2. Manual for the syllabi contained in IAEA-TECDOC-628, training guidelines in non-destructive testing techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been active in the promotion of non-destructive testing (NDT) technology for many years. The prime reason for this interest has been the need for stringent quality control standards for the safe operation of nuclear installations. The IAEA has successfully executed a number of regional projects of which NDT was an important part. These were the Regional Co-operative Arrangements for the Promotion of Nuclear Science and Technology in Latin America (ARCAL), the Regional Co-operative Agreement for Asia and the Pacific (RCA), the African Regional Co-operative Agreement (AFRA) and lately the NDT Regional Project in West Asia. Through these projects a large number of persons have been trained in Member States and a state of self-sufficiency in this area of technology has been achieved in many of them. There has long been a realization of the need to have well established training guidelines and related books in order, firstly, to guide IAEA experts who were involved in this training programme and, secondly, to achieve some level of international uniformity and harmonization of training materials and consequent competence of personnel. The syllabi for training courses have been published in the form of two publications, IAEA-TECDOC-407 and IAEA-TECDOC-628. IAEA-TECDOC-628, as well as most of the international standards on the subject of training and certification of NDT personnel includes ISO 9712. The next logical step is to compile the textbooks and training manuals. Work in this regard has been undertaken and a manual on radiographic testing was issued in 1992 in the Training Course Series. This publication is a continuation of that effort. Earlier training notes on this subject existed in the form of IAEA-TECDOC-462, which was compiled in accordance with the syllabus of IAEA-TECDOC-407. These fulfilled the training needs of the member countries of RCA for quite some time. The present book is in fact an expanded and

  2. Study of the influence of micro-structures and porosity of pellets alumina in the ultrasonic pulse in the frequency domain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Costa, Antonio Mario Leal Martins

    2009-01-01

    This work is part of a study to the applicability of ultrasonic technique in the frequency domain for non-destructive characterization of ceramic pellets fuel, which is of great interest because of concern about the safety and efficacy in the nuclear industry. In this work it was analysed if there were changes in frequency spectrum, generated by the traveling of an ultrasonic pulse through ceramic pellets of aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ). Using the ultrasonic technique in the frequency domain, together with micro-structural analysis of pellets by scanning electron microscope, it was possible to associate the characteristics of the material inspected with its respective frequency spectrum. The characterization was performed on 40 pellets alumina sintered in the temperatures of 1150, 1400, 1480, 1540 and 1580 deg C with porosities, as measured by the Archimedes method, ranging from 5.09% to 37.3%. The results show that the ultrasonic technique is effective in determining the micro-structure of ceramic alumina pellets and can be applied in the characterization of other porous materials in a production line, where the format of the frequency spectrum generated by the structure of the material may determine if the pellets belong the required specifications. (author)

  3. MLFMA-accelerated Nyström method for ultrasonic scattering - Numerical results and experimental validation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gurrala, Praveen; Downs, Andrew; Chen, Kun; Song, Jiming; Roberts, Ron

    2018-04-01

    Full wave scattering models for ultrasonic waves are necessary for the accurate prediction of voltage signals received from complex defects/flaws in practical nondestructive evaluation (NDE) measurements. We propose the high-order Nyström method accelerated by the multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA) as an improvement to the state-of-the-art full-wave scattering models that are based on boundary integral equations. We present numerical results demonstrating improvements in simulation time and memory requirement. Particularly, we demonstrate the need for higher order geom-etry and field approximation in modeling NDE measurements. Also, we illustrate the importance of full-wave scattering models using experimental pulse-echo data from a spherical inclusion in a solid, which cannot be modeled accurately by approximation-based scattering models such as the Kirchhoff approximation.

  4. Estimating adipose tissue in the chest wall using ultrasonic and alternate 40K and biometric measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, A.L.; Campbell, G.W.

    1982-01-01

    The percentage of adipose (fat) tissue in the chest wall must be known to accurately measure Pu in the human lung. Correction factors of 100% or more in x-ray detection efficiency are common. Methods using simple 40 K and biometric measurement techniques were investigated to determine the adipose content in the human chest wall. These methods predict adipose content to within 15% of the absolute ultrasonic value. These new methods are discussed and compared with conventional ultrasonic measurement techniques

  5. Two-dimensional analytic modeling of acoustic diffraction for ultrasonic beam steering by phased array transducers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Tiansi; Zhang, Chong; Aleksov, Aleksandar; Salama, Islam; Kar, Aravinda

    2017-04-01

    Phased array ultrasonic transducers enable modulating the focal position of the acoustic waves, and this capability is utilized in many applications, such as medical imaging and non-destructive testing. This type of transducers also provides a mechanism to generate tilted wavefronts in acousto-optic deflectors to deflect laser beams for high precision advanced laser material processing. In this paper, a theoretical model is presented for the diffraction of ultrasonic waves emitted by several phased array transducers into an acousto-optic medium such as TeO 2 crystal. A simple analytic expression is obtained for the distribution of the ultrasonic displacement field in the crystal. The model prediction is found to be in good agreement with the results of a numerical model that is based on a non-paraxial multi-Gaussian beam (NMGB) model. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  6. Beginning of fish defrosting by using non-destructive ultrasonic technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Malainine, M; Faiz, B; Izbaim, D; Aboudaoud, I; Moudden, A; Maze, G

    2012-01-01

    During the experiments carried out on the monitoring and the study of fish defrosting by an ultrasonic technique, we have difficulties in detecting the beginning of the thawing which is an important criterion of fish quality control. To address this problem, we use the Singular Value Decomposition method (SVD) which is a mathematical tool that permits to separate the high and low energies of an histogram. The image representing low energy signals indicates the start of the thawing by showing an echo that was hidden in the original image for cod fish. Using transducers for central frequencies above 500 kHz the observed results are not very good. Therefore, this method is suitable for fish which fat content is medium or low.

  7. Ultrasonic fluid quantity measurement in dynamic vehicular applications a support vector machine approach

    CERN Document Server

    Terzic, Jenny; Nagarajah, Romesh; Alamgir, Muhammad

    2013-01-01

    Accurate fluid level measurement in dynamic environments can be assessed using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) approach. SVM is a supervised learning model that analyzes and recognizes patterns. It is a signal classification technique which has far greater accuracy than conventional signal averaging methods. Ultrasonic Fluid Quantity Measurement in Dynamic Vehicular Applications: A Support Vector Machine Approach describes the research and development of a fluid level measurement system for dynamic environments. The measurement system is based on a single ultrasonic sensor. A Support Vector Machines (SVM) based signal characterization and processing system has been developed to compensate for the effects of slosh and temperature variation in fluid level measurement systems used in dynamic environments including automotive applications. It has been demonstrated that a simple ν-SVM model with Radial Basis Function (RBF) Kernel with the inclusion of a Moving Median filter could be used to achieve the high levels...

  8. In situ non-destructive measurement of biofilm thickness and topology in an interferometric optical microscope

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Larimer, Curtis [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Battelle for the USDOE, PO Box 999, MSIN P7-50 Richland WA 99354 USA; Suter, Jonathan D. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Battelle for the USDOE, PO Box 999, MSIN P7-50 Richland WA 99354 USA; Bonheyo, George [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Battelle for the USDOE, PO Box 999, MSIN P7-50 Richland WA 99354 USA; Addleman, Raymond Shane [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Battelle for the USDOE, PO Box 999, MSIN P7-50 Richland WA 99354 USA

    2016-03-15

    Biofilms are ubiquitous and deleteriously impact a wide range of industrial processes, medical and dental health issues, and environmental problems such as transport of invasive species and the fuel efficiency of ocean going vessels. Biofilms are difficult to characterize when fully hydrated, especially in a non-destructive manner, because of their soft structure and water-like bulk properties. Herein we describe a non-destructive high resolution method of measuring and monitoring the thickness and topology of live biofilms of using white light interferometric optical microscopy. Using this technique, surface morphology, surface roughness, and biofilm thickness can be measured non-destructively and with high resolution as a function of time without disruption of the biofilm activity and processes. The thickness and surface topology of a P. putida biofilm were monitored growing from initial colonization to a mature biofilm. Typical bacterial growth curves were observed. Increase in surface roughness was a leading indicator of biofilm growth.

  9. Developments of modeling tools for the ultrasonic propagation in bimetallic welds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gardahaut, A.

    2013-01-01

    This study fits into the field of ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation. It consists in the development of a dynamic ray tracing model to simulate the ultrasonic propagation in bimetallic welds. The approach has been organised in three steps. First of all, an image processing technique has been developed and applied on the macro-graphs of the weld in order to obtain a smooth cartography of the crystallographic orientation. These images are used as input data for a dynamic ray tracing model adapted to the study of anisotropic and inhomogeneous media such as bimetallic welds. Based on a kinematic and a dynamic ray tracing model, usually used in geophysics, it allows the evaluation of ray trajectories between a source point and an observation point, and the computation of the ultrasonic amplitude through the geometrical spreading of an elementary ray tube. This model has been validated in 2D by comparison of the results with a hybrid semi-analytical/finite elements code, then in 3D thanks to experimental results made on the mock-ups of the studied bimetallic welds. (author) [fr

  10. A non-destructive, ultrasonic method for the determination of internal pressure and gas composition in an LWR fuel rod on-going and future programme

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferrandis, J.; Leveque, G.; Villard, J.

    2006-01-01

    Several possible non-destructive methods have been investigated in the past to measure the internal gas pressure e.g., measurement of 85 Kr directly, or after accumulation in the plenum by freezing with liquid nitrogen. However no satisfactory resolution to the problem has been found, so at present there is no rapid and accurate method of determining the fission gas pressure in a fuel rod without puncturing the cladding. This procedure is time-consuming and expensive and as a consequence a relatively small number of measurements are generally made compared with the number of fuel rods irradiated. In this paper it is proposed a new method for the measurement of pressure that is: Non-destructive; Non-invasive (i.e., allows re-irradiation of the measured rod); Easy to operate - directly in the reactor pool; Can be used on the critical path; Is inexpensive compared with the methods currently in use. This method is also being adapted to the on line measurement of fission gas release on fuel irradiation in research reactors. This method is based on the application of acoustic technology

  11. A circular aperture array for ultrasonic tomography and quantitative NDE

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nielsen, S A

    1998-08-01

    The main topics of this thesis are ultrasonic tomography and ultrasonic determination of elastic stiffness constants. Both issues are based on a synthetic array with transducer elements distributed uniformly along a circular aperture, i.e., a circular aperture array. The issues are treated both theoretically and experimentally by broadband pulse techniques. Ultrasonic tomography, UCT, from a circular aperture is a relatively new imaging technique in Non-destructive Evaluation (NDE) to acquire cross sectional images in bulk materials. A filtered back-projection algorithm is used to reconstruct images in four different experiments and results of attenuation, velocity and reflection tomograms in Plexiglas of AlSi-alloy cylinders are presented. Two kinds of ultrasonic tomography are introduced: bistatic and monostatic imaging. Both techniques are verified experimentally by Plexiglas cylinders. Different reconstruction artifacts are discussed and theoretical resolution constraints are discussed for various configurations of the circular aperture array. The monostatic technique is used in volumetric imaging. In the experimental verification artificial and real discontinuities in a cylindrical AlSi-alloy are compared with similar discontinuities in a Plexiglas specimen. Finally, some limitations to UCT are discussed. The circular aperture array is used to determine five independent elastic stiffness constants of a unidirectional glass/PET (Poly Ethylene Teraphtalate) laminate. Energy flux propagation and attenuation of ultrasonic waves are considered and velocity surfaces are calculated for different planes of interest. Relations between elastic stiffness constants and engineering constants (i.e., Young`s moduli, shear moduli and Poisson`s ratios) are discussed for an orthotropic composite. Six micromechanical theories are reviewed, and expressions predicting the elastic engineering constants are evaluated. The micromechanical predicted elastic stiffness constants for the

  12. Numerical Analysis of Ultrasonic Beam Profile Due to the Change of the Number of Piezoelectric Elements for Phased Array Transducer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Sang Woo; Lee, Joon Hyun

    1999-01-01

    A phased array is a multi-element piezoelectric device whose elements are individually excited by electric pulses at programmed delay time. One of the advantages of using phased array in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) application over conventional ultrasonic transducers is their great maneuverability of ultrasonic beam. There are some parameters such as the number and the size of the piezoelectric elements and the inter-element spacing of the elements to design phased array transducer. In this study, the characteristic of ultrasonic beam for phased array transducer due to the variation of the number of elements has been simulated for ultrasonic SH-wave on the basis of Huygen's principle. Ultrasonic beam directivity and focusing due to the change of time delay of each element were discussed due to the change of the number of piezoelectric elements. It was found that ultrasonic beam was much more spreaded and hence its sound pressure was decreased as steering angle of ultrasonic beam was increased. In addition, the ability of ultrasonic bean focusing decreased gradually with the increase of focal length at the same piezoelectric elements. However, the ability of beam focusing was improved as the number of consisting elements was increased

  13. Detection of Fatigue Damage by Using Frequency Attenuation of a Laser Ultrasonic Longitudinal Wave

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Seung-Kyu; Baik, Sung-Hoon; Jung, Hyun-Kyu; Joo, Young-Sang; Cha, Hyung-Ki; Kang, Young-June

    2006-01-01

    The measurement of fatigue damage in nuclear power plant components is very important to prevent a catastrophic accident and the subsequent severe losses. Specifically, it is preferred to detect at an early stage of the fatigue damage. If the fatigue damage that is in danger of growing into a fracture is accurately detected, an appropriate treatment could be carried out to improve the condition. Although most engineers and designers take precautions against fatigue, some breakdowns of nuclear power plant components still occur due to fatigue damage. It is considered that ultrasound testing technique is the most promising method to detect the fatigue damage in many nondestructive testing methods. Ultrasound testing method has a variety of elastic waves, such as a longitudinal wave, a shear wave, a surface wave and a lamb wave. Also we can use various analysis methods, such as a velocity variation and a signal attenuation. Laser ultrasonic testing has attracted attention as a non-contact testing technique. This system consists of a pulse laser to remotely generate ultrasound and a laser interferometer to remotely measure the surface displacement due to the generated ultrasound. This noncontact testing technique has the following advantages over the conventional piezoelectric transducers. Firstly, the inspection system can be remotely operated for a structure in hostile environments, such as in high radioactivity, high temperatures and narrow spaces. Secondly, we can obtain lots of information from the received ultrasonic waveforms because the laser ultrasonic technique does not require fluid couplant which disturbs the ultrasonic waveforms. Thirdly, laser ultrasound has a wideband spectrum and a high spatial resolution. Therefore, the laser ultrasound provides more accurate information for a testing material and has potential for the detection of fatigue damage in various metals composing a nuclear power plant

  14. The measurement of layer thickness by the deconvolution of ultrasonic signals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McIntyre, P.J.

    1977-07-01

    An ultrasonic technique for measuring layer thickness, such as oxide on corroded steel, is described. A time domain response function is extracted from an ultrasonic signal reflected from the layered system. This signal is the convolution of the input signal with the response function of the layer. By using a signal reflected from a non-layered surface to represent the input, the response function may be obtained by deconvolution. The advantage of this technique over that described by Haines and Bel (1975) is that the quality of the results obtained using their method depends on the ability of a skilled operator in lining up an arbitrary common feature of the signals received. Using deconvolution no operator manipulations are necessary and so less highly trained personnel may successfully make the measurements. Results are presented for layers of araldite on aluminium and magnetite of steel. The results agreed satisfactorily with predictions but in the case of magnetite, its high velocity of sound meant that thicknesses of less than 250 microns were difficult to measure accurately. (author)

  15. Development of ultrasonic testing technique to inspect containment liners embedded in concrete on nuclear power plants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ishida, H.; Kurozumi, Y. [Inst. of Nuclear Safety System, Incorporated, Mihama, Fukui (Japan); Kaneshima, Y. [The Kansai Electric Power Company, Inc., Mihama, Fukui (Japan)

    2004-07-01

    The purpose of this study is development of ultrasonic testing technique to inspect containment liners embedded in concrete on nuclear power plants. Integrity of containment liners on nuclear power plants can be secured by suitable present operation and maintenance. Furthermore, non-destructive testing technique to inspect embedded liners will ensure the integrity of the containment further. In order to develop the non-destructive testing technique, ultrasonic transducers were made newly and ultrasonic testing data acquisition and evaluation were carried out by using a mock-up. We adopted the surface shear horizontal (SH) wave, low frequency (0.3-0.5MHz), to be able to detect an echo from a defect against attenuation of ultrasonic waves due to long propagation in the liners and dispersion into concrete. We made transducers with three large active elements (40mm x 40mm) in a line which were equivalent to a 120mm width active element. Artificial hollows, {phi}200mm - 19mm depth (1/2thickness) and {phi}200mm - 9.5mm depth (1/4thickness), were made on a surface of a mock-up: carbon steel plate, 38mm thickness, 2,000mm length, 1000mm width. The surfaces of the plate were covered with concrete in order to simulate liners embedded in concrete. As a result of the examinations, the surface SH transducers could detect clearly the echo from the hollows at a distance of 1500mm. We evaluate that the newly made surface SH transducers with three elements have ability of detection of defects such as corrosion on the liners embedded in concrete. (author)

  16. Development of nondestructive measurement system for quantifying radioactivity from crud, liquids and gases in a contaminated pipe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Katagiri, Masaki; Ito, Hirokuni; Wakayama, Naoaki [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

    1992-11-01

    A nondestructive measuring method was developed to quantify separately radioisotope concentrations of crud, liquids and gases in a contaminated pipe. For applying this method to practical in-situ measurement, a nondestructive measurement system was developed. The measurement system consists of an in-situ equipment for gamma-ray scanning measurements and a data-processing equipment for analysis of radioactivity. The communication between both equipments is performed by a wireless telemeter device. To construct the measurement system, a gas-cooled Ge detector of practical use, small-sized electronics circuits, a fast and reliable telemeter device and automatic measurement technics using a computer were developed. Through performance tests, it is confirmed that the measurement system is effective for in-situ measurements of radioactivity in a contaminated pipe. The measurement accuracy with this measurement system is 10 - 20 %, which was determined by comparison with solid and liquid radioisotope concentrations in a mock-up contaminated pipe that had been quantified in advance. (author).

  17. Quantitative evaluation of ultrasonic wave propagation in inhomogeneous anisotropic austenitic welds using 3D ray tracing method. Numerical and experimental validation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kolkoori, Sanjeevareddy

    2014-01-01

    relations as well as transmission coefficients. The ray tracing model is able to determine the ultrasonic wave fields generated by a point source as well as finite dimension array transducers. The influence of inhomogenity on ultrasonic ray propagation and its interaction with defects in inhomogeneous austenitic welds is presented. The applications of 3D ray tracing model for optimizing experimental parameters during the ultrasonic non-destructive testing of transversal cracks in austenitic welds are presented. An ultrasonic C-scan image in homogeneous and multi-layered anisotropic austenitic steel materials is quantitatively evaluated using a novel 3D ray tracing method. The influence of the columnar grain orientation and the layback orientation on an ultrasonic C-scan image is presented. The ray tracing model results are validated first time quantitatively with the results obtained from 2D Elastodynamic Finite Integration Technique (EFIT) on several important configurations such as anisotropic and homogeneous austenitic steel material, layered austenitic steel and inhomogeneous weld materials which are generally occurring in the ultrasonic NDT of anisotropic materials. Quantitatively, a deviation of 8.6% was observed in the point source generated ultrasonic fields whereas in the case of array source ultrasound fields a deviation of 10.2% was observed. The predicted ultrasonic fields for array transducers in an inhomogeneous austenitic weld material with spatially varying columnar grain orientation using ray tracing method are validated against the results of a commercially available NDT simulation tool (CIVA). The result shows that an accuracy of 89.5% was achieved in the presented ray tracing model in this thesis. Experiments have been conducted on 32 mm thick inhomogeneous austenitic weld material, 62 mm thick austenitic clad material and quantitatively measured the ultrasound beam distortion and field profiles using electrodynamical probes. The inhomogenity in the weld

  18. Quantitative evaluation of ultrasonic wave propagation in inhomogeneous anisotropic austenitic welds using 3D ray tracing method. Numerical and experimental validation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kolkoori, Sanjeevareddy

    2014-07-01

    relations as well as transmission coefficients. The ray tracing model is able to determine the ultrasonic wave fields generated by a point source as well as finite dimension array transducers. The influence of inhomogenity on ultrasonic ray propagation and its interaction with defects in inhomogeneous austenitic welds is presented. The applications of 3D ray tracing model for optimizing experimental parameters during the ultrasonic non-destructive testing of transversal cracks in austenitic welds are presented. An ultrasonic C-scan image in homogeneous and multi-layered anisotropic austenitic steel materials is quantitatively evaluated using a novel 3D ray tracing method. The influence of the columnar grain orientation and the layback orientation on an ultrasonic C-scan image is presented. The ray tracing model results are validated first time quantitatively with the results obtained from 2D Elastodynamic Finite Integration Technique (EFIT) on several important configurations such as anisotropic and homogeneous austenitic steel material, layered austenitic steel and inhomogeneous weld materials which are generally occurring in the ultrasonic NDT of anisotropic materials. Quantitatively, a deviation of 8.6% was observed in the point source generated ultrasonic fields whereas in the case of array source ultrasound fields a deviation of 10.2% was observed. The predicted ultrasonic fields for array transducers in an inhomogeneous austenitic weld material with spatially varying columnar grain orientation using ray tracing method are validated against the results of a commercially available NDT simulation tool (CIVA). The result shows that an accuracy of 89.5% was achieved in the presented ray tracing model in this thesis. Experiments have been conducted on 32 mm thick inhomogeneous austenitic weld material, 62 mm thick austenitic clad material and quantitatively measured the ultrasound beam distortion and field profiles using electrodynamical probes. The inhomogenity in the weld

  19. Ultrasonic trap for light scattering measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barton, Petr; Pavlu, Jiri

    2017-04-01

    Light scattering is complex phenomenon occurring widely in space environments, including the dense dusty clouds, nebulas or even the upper atmosphere of the Earth. However, when the size of the dust (or of other scattering center) is close to the incident light wavelength, theoretical determination is difficult. In such case, Mie theory is to be used but there is a lack of the material constants for most space-related materials. For experimental measurement of light scattering, we designed unique apparatus, based on ultrasonic trap. Using acoustic levitation we are able to capture the dust grain in midair, irradiate it with laser, and observe scattering directly with goniometer-mounted photodiode. Advantage of this approach is ability to measure directly in the air (thus, no need for the carrier medium) and possibility to study non-spherical particles. Since the trap development is nearly finished and initial experiments are carried out, the paper presents first tests on water droplets.

  20. Ultrasonic velocity measurements in expanded liquid mercury

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suzuki, K.; Inutake, M.; Fujiwaka, S.

    1977-10-01

    In this paper we present the first results of the sound velocity measurements in expanded liquid mercury. The measurements were made at temperatures up to 1600 0 C and pressures up to 1700 kg/cm 2 by means of an ultrasonic pulse transmission/echo technique which was newly developed for such high temperature/pressure condition. When the density is larger than 9 g/cm 3 , the observed sound velocity decreases linearly with decreasing density. At densities smaller than 9 g/cm 3 , the linear dependence on the density is no longer observed. The observed sound velocity approaches a minimum near the liquid-gas critical point (rho sub(cr) asymptotically equals 5.5 g/cm 3 ). The existing theories for sound velocity in liquid metals fail to explain the observed results. (auth.)