Detection and characterization of defects in aerostructures using non-contact ultrasonic transducers

Abstract

This paper describes an investigation into the possibility of using non-contact ultrasonic transducers for detecting and characterizing defects in aerostructures. Our study deals with an ultrasonic method that underscores the recent advances in non-contact and analytical methodologies. Ultrasonic waves are generated by a transducer connected to a Sonatest DryScan 410D using through-transmission mode. In this investigation, ultrasonic through-transmission signals are analyzed for their amplitudes. We treat this problem analytically and experimentally. Various aspects of our approach are presented. The observations reported in this paper deal with defects in aluminum structures. Confirmation of defect geometry is obtained by comparing the results of the non-contact ultrasonic sensors with a conventional ultrasonic testing method. The results obtained are in good agreement with those of the conventional ultrasonic method, indicating that both techniques can be considered as quantitative nondestructive tools ...