Ultrasonic Propagation Imaging Research Articles

Long distance laser ultrasonic propagation imaging system for damage visualization

Wind turbine blade failure is the most prominent and common type of damage occurring in operating wind turbine systems. Conventional nondestructive testing systems are not available for in situ wind turbine blades. We propose a portable long distance ultrasonic propagation imaging (LUPI) system that uses a laser beam targeting and scanning system to excite, from a long distance, acoustic emission sensors installed in the blade. An examination of the beam collimation effect using geometric parameters of a commercial 2 MW wind turbine provided Lamb wave amplitude increases of 41.5 and 23.1 dB at a distance of 40 m for symmetrical and asymmetrical modes, respectively, in a 2 mm-thick stainless steel plate. With this improvement in signal-to-noise ratio, a feasibility study of damage detection was conducted with a 5 mm-thick composite leading edge specimen. To develop a reliable damage evaluation system, the excitation/sensing technology and the associated damage visualization algorithm are equally important. Hence, our results provide a new platform based on anomalous wave propagation imaging (AWPI) methods with adjacent wave subtraction, reference wave subtraction, reference image subtraction, and the variable time window amplitude mapping method. The advantages and disadvantages of AWPI algorithms are reported in terms of reference data requirements, signal-to-noise ratios, and damage evaluation accuracy. The compactness and portability of the proposed UPI system are also important for in-field applications at wind farms.

Wave propagation visualization in an experimental model for a control rod drive mechanism assembly

Nondestructive inspection techniques such as ultrasonic testing, eddy current testing, and visual testing are being developed to detect primary water stress corrosion cracks in control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) assemblies of nuclear power plants. A unit CRDM assembly consists of a reactor upper head including cladding, a penetration nozzle, and J-groove dissimilar metal welds with buttering. In this study, we fabricated a full-scale CRDM assembly mock-up. An ultrasonic propagation imaging (UPI) method using a scanning laser ultrasonic generator is proposed to visualize and simulate ultrasonic wave propagation around the thick and complex CRDM assembly. First, the proposed laser UPI system was validated for a simple aluminium plate by comparing the ultrasonic wave propagation movie (UWPM) obtained using the system with numerical simulation results reported in the literature. Lamb wave mode identification and damage detectability, depending on the ultrasonic frequency, were also included in the UWPM analysis. A CRDM assembly mock-up was fabricated in full-size and its vertical cross section was scanned using the laser UPI system to investigate the propagation characteristics of the longitudinal and Rayleigh waves in the complex structure. The ultrasonic source location and frequency were easily simulated by changing the sensor location and the band pass filtering zone, respectively. The ultrasonic propagation patterns before and after cracks in the weld and nozzle of the CRDM assembly were also analyzed. Since this visualization method is not limited in the flat cross section, it will be useful in developing ultrasound-based structural health monitoring technologies, advanced nondestructive methods, and numerical models. In addition, the proposed laser UPI system could be a useful tool in optimizing the receiver and transmitter locations, the ultrasonic path, and the ultrasonic frequency.

Laser ultrasonic propagation imaging method in the frequency domain based on wavelet transformation

A wavelet-transformed ultrasonic propagation imaging method capable of ultrasonic propagation imaging in the frequency domain was developed and applied as a new structural damage or flaw visualization algorithm. Since the wavelet-transformed ultrasonic propagation imaging method has strong frequency selectivity, it can visualize the propagation of ultrasonic waves of a specific frequency (for example, to isolate ultrasonic mode of interest and a damage-related ultrasonic wave). The strong frequency selectivity of the wavelet-transformed ultrasonic propagation imaging method was demonstrated, isolating only the zeroth-order asymmetrical mode of the fundamental Lamb wave modes in an anisotropic carbon fiber-reinforced plastic plate with a thickness of 5 mm. The wavelet-transformed ultrasonic propagation imaging method can also convert a complex time domain multiple wavefield into a simple frequency domain single wavefield. This feature enables easy interpretation of the results, and facilitates the precise evaluation of the location and size of structural damage or flaws. We demonstrated this capability by detecting a disbond in a sandwich structure made of Al-alloy skins and a foam core. A disbond with a diameter of 20 mm, which is representative of a common manufacturing flaw, was successfully detected, localized, and evaluated. Since a method to determine the allowable maximum pulse repetition frequency depending on target materials and structures was found by investigating the residual wave caused from the previous laser impinging, our laser ultrasonic system can scan rapidly the target with an optimal pulse repetition rate. In addition, the proposed wavelet-transformed ultrasonic propagation imaging method can visualize damage or flaw without the need for reference data from the intact state of the structure. Hence, we propose the wavelet-transformed ultrasonic propagation imaging approach for automatic inspection of in-service engineering structures, or in-process quality inspection in manufacturing.

Ultrasonic Propagation Imaging for Wind Turbine Blade Quality Evaluation

Soundness of wind turbine blade plays paramount role in supplying cheap and reliable wind energy. To ensure that blades are sound and free from inherent manufacturing defects, easy and reliable quality evaluation before delivering blades for installation is crucial. We propose an ultrasonic amplitude imaging method based on Ultrasonic Propagation Imaging (UPI) system for this purpose. The system utilizes a scanning Q-switched continuous wave laser as ultrasonic wave generator. Various acousto-ultrasonic sensors, either contact or non-contact type, could be adopted as ultrasonic receiver. The system was tested on a blade section made of glass fiber reinforced plastic sandwiched with balsa wood. The leading edge of the specimen with a kissing disbond was inspected. A PZT-based sensor attached temporarily on the outer surface of a blade was used for ultrasonic reception to demonstrate that this imaging method is applicable even for the blades without integrated sensor. The amplitude map clearly showed the disbond defect with the kissing features. The location, shape, and size of the defect evaluated from the result agree excellently with the actual defect. The result proved that the proposed method works well for the quality evaluation of wind turbine blades. Inheriting the advantages of UPI technology, i.e. focusing-free characteristics, acceptance of large laser incident angle up to 60°, and rapid scanning without needing an expensive scan gantry, this system is suitable for automatic quality evaluation of blades with different geometry. On top of that, this system does not require any reference data, making it a flexible quality evaluation system suitable for different methods of blade production flow.

Application of ultrasonic wave propagation imaging method to automatic damage visualization of nuclear power plant pipeline

Hundreds of kilometers of pipeline, especially the elbows and welded joints in nuclear power plants (NPPs), are susceptible to aging and other types of damage. Therefore, the condition of a piping system requires regular inspection. We propose an automatic damage visualization technique using a laser ultrasonic scanning system and an ultrasonic wave propagation imaging (UWPI) method for the regular inspection process. Ultrasonic wave propagation movies (UWPMs) in thick and complex NPP pipes could be successfully visualized in a straight pipe with a crack, a welded pipe with multiple open and inner cracks at the welds, and an elbow pipe with wall thinning. A UWPM with ultrasonic time information could enable the discrimination of damage-induced wavefields from the wavefield not related to damage by providing the appearance time, source location, wavefront curvature, and propagation direction of the damage-induced wavefield. For the specimens tested, a 1 mm long crack in a 9 mm thick pipe could be localized regardless of the relative orientation of a sensor to the crack direction; 4 mm long 1.5 mm deep inner crack in a 4 mm thick welding bead could be detected despite the presence of the welding bead; wall thinning with gradual property variations could also be detected. In addition, since this method did not require laser focusing or reference data from the undamaged condition, and allows a large laser beam incident angle, it was very advantageous for the automatic scanning of the curved pipe surfaces. This study demonstrated that the proposed laser ultrasonic system equipped with the UWPI method is a useful inspection tool for NPP piping system management.

Hot target inspection using a welded fibre acoustic wave piezoelectric sensor and a laser-ultrasonic mirror scanner

The direct attachment of piezoelectric transducers onto hot targets raises formidable challenges as piezoelectric transducers lose their piezoelectric characteristics at elevated temperatures or debond due to thermal expansion coefficient mismatches. We developed a welded fibre acoustic-wave PZT (FAWPZT) sensor to alleviate these temperature limitations. One end of the FAWPZT sensor, made from a stainless steel fibre, was welded onto a stainless steel target plate and the other end was bonded to a PZT sensor. An ultrasonic wave propagation imaging (UWPI) system consists of a laser mirror scanner and a Q-switched pulsed laser (QPL) acting as a non-contact ultrasonic generator was then used to scan a hot target surface with an artificial 2 mm-sized open crack. The result was presented in the form of an ultrasonic wave propagation movie. The damage was detected as a wavefield scattering from the damaged location and its size was evaluated from the plot of amplitude distribution along the propagating wavefront. Sensor performance was briefly discussed and the results confirmed that a FAWPZT sensor combined with a UWPI system has good potential for implementation in hot target integrated structural health management.

Development of an Optical System for Simultaneous Ultrasonic Wave Propagation Imaging at Multi-points

This paper introduces the development of an optical system for simultaneous ultrasonic propagation imaging at multi-points. For the system, fiber acoustic wave grating sensors (FAWGSs) and a Q-switched pulsed laser (QPL) mirror scanner are utilized for simultaneous multipoint sensing and remote scanning ultrasonic generation, respectively. The structural strain-free FAWGS based on a fiber Bragg grating allows simultaneous multipoint acoustic emission (AE) sensing. A structure in which the FAWGSs are deployed can sense external ultrasonic stimulus. Consequently, the structure with the integrated FAWGSs cannot only detect damage event under the passive AE technique, but can also evaluate the damage under the active scheme of ultrasonic transmission and reception. The feasibility of the simultaneous multipoint ultrasonic sensing system based on the FAWGSs as built-in sensors is studied with ultrasound transmitted by a piezoelectric transducer and a QPL. Then the QPL ultrasonic generator is modified into a QPL mirror scanner for laser beam scanning and finally an optical UPI system is integrated. The ultrasonic wave propagation movie (UWPM) obtained by the optical UPI system visualizes impact damage on a carbon-fiber reinforced composite.

Health monitoring of complex curved structures using an ultrasonic wavefield propagation imaging system

An ultrasonic wavefield propagation imaging system is introduced and then applied for ultrasonic wavefield imaging of complex curved surfaces. A Q-switched pulsed laser is utilized as a moving ultrasonic generator, and a PZT ultrasonic sensor is fixed during the laser beam scanning and detects the ultrasonic waves propagated from the points excited by the laser beam. The waveforms are allocated in the spatial domain of the scanned points and then manipulated in the form of a time versus wavefield movie. The visualized wavefields enable easy detection and interpretation of structural defects because anomalies during wavefield propagation can be visualized. Furthermore, this ultrasonic wavefield propagation imaging system enables reference-free inspection, complex curved surface scanning because it does not require control of focal length and incidence angle of the laser beam, and excellent adaptability with built-in structural health monitoring sensors, such as piezoelectric and fiber optic sensors. The system is demonstrated in the applications of wavefield visualization on a drill surface, detection of mass loss parts inside an elbow pipe joint, and detection and characterization of impact damage and stringer disbond in a composite skin–stringer structure.