• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.496-503
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• 2008

We propose rectangular type spiral coils with folded comers for the applications to low frequency guided wave magnetostrictive transducers and describe a method for making the proposed coils from insulated electrical wire such as enameled copper wire. Expressions for the electrical properties of the coils are also presented and compared with experimental measurements. An overlapped-2-channel folded-comer spiral-coil array is fabricated and applied to a magnetostrictive strip transducer generating and detecting fundamental torsional mode guided waves. From the results we conclude that the design and fabrication method make it possible to use the magnetostrictive transducers optimized for various guided wave applications and also will greatly help engineers gain easy access to the optimized transducers.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.331-340
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• 2004

Deployment of an advanced on-line monitoring of the component integrity offers a prospect of improved performance, enhanced safety, and reduced overall cost for nuclear power plants. Ultrasonic guided waves have been known as one of the promising techniques that could be utilized for on-line monitoring. The present work is aimed at developing a new method for on-line monitoring of the pipes during the operation period of nuclear power plants. For this purpose, the steam generator (S/G) tube was selected as an object of tile experiment. Dispersion corves and the incident angles corresponding to the specific modes were calculated for the S/G tube. The modes of guided waves were identified by the time-frequency diagrams obtained by the short time Fourier transform. It was experimentally confirmed that there was no mode conversion when the ultrasonic guided waves passed over the curved region of the S/G tube. An optimum mode of guided wave for the S/G tube was suggested and verified by the experiment.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.565-582
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• 2008

This paper presents a feasibility study of flexible piezoelectric paint for use in wide-band low-profile surface-mount or embeddable ultrasonic sensor for in situ structural health monitoring. Piezoelectric paint is a piezoelectric composite with 0-3 connectivity. Because of its ease of application, piezoelectric paint can be readily fabricated into sensing element with complex pattern. This study examines the characteristics of piezoelectric paint in acoustic emission signal and ultrasonic guided wave sensing. A series of ultrasonic tests including pitch catch and pencil break tests were performed to validate the ultrasonic wave sensing capability of piezoelectric paint. The results of finite element simulation of ultrasonic wave propagation, and acoustic emission generated by a pencil lead break on an aluminum plate are also presented in this paper along with corresponding experimental data. Based on the preliminary experimental results, the piezoelectric paint appears to offer a promising sensing material for use in real-time monitoring of crack initiation and propagation in both metallic and composite structures.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.297-309
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• 2012

As a result of the medium coupling, propagation characteristics of ultrasonic waves guided by a multi-phase medium can be different from those in a homogeneous system. This phenomenon becomes prominent for a medium consisting of phases with considerably distinct material and physical properties (e.g., submerged structures or human bones covered with soft tissues). In this study, the coupling effect arising from both fluid and soft tissues on wave propagation in engineering structures and human bone phantoms, respectively, was explored and calibrated quantitatively, with a purpose of enhancing the precision of ultrasonic-wave-based non-destructive evaluation (NDE) and clinical quantitative ultrasound (QUS). Calibration results were used to rectify conventional NDE during evaluation of corrosion in a submerged aluminium plate, and QUS during prediction of simulated healing status of a mimicked bone fracture. The results demonstrated that with the coupling effect being appropriately taken into account, the precision of NDE and QUS could be improved.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.297-305
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• 2006

The thermal ratcheting deformation at the reactor baffle and upper internal structure of the liquid metal reactor (LMR) can occur due to movement of the hot sodium free surface. In in-service inspection of reactor internals of LMR, a new inspection technique should be developed for the detection of the thermal ratcheting damage. In this study, an inspection technique using ultrasonic guided wave is proposed for the detection of the thermal ratcheting damage of cylindrical vessels. A 316L stainless steel cylindrical shell specimen has been prepared. The thermal ratchet structural tests were cyclically performed by heat-up up to $550^{\circ}C$ with steep temperature gradients along the axial direction after cool-down by cooling water. Ultrasonic guided wave propagation has been characterized by analysis of dispersion curve of the stainless steel plate. The zero-order antisymmetric $A_0$ guided wave has been selected as the optimal mode for detection of the ratcheting deformation. It is confirmed that the thermal ratcheting deformation can be detected by the measurement of transit time difference of circumferentially propagated $A_0$ guided waves.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.373-379
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• 2009

Presented in this paper is a new experimental technique to measure material properties of lock plate of gas turbine plants by using ultrasonic guided wave. In comparison with the mechanical destructive testings, material characterization of the Inconel x-750 was nondestructively carried out in a more efficient manner to discriminate the change in elastic moduli and the poisson's ratio attributed to the variation of heat treatment condition. The proposed technique shows a satisfactory feasibility via the comparative experiments with the imported lock plate specimens. It is also expected that the guided wave technique can cover a longer and wider range as a new cost-&-time-saving inspection tool due to the interaction with a greater part of specimen, compared to a conventional local point-by-point scheme.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.594-604
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• 2003

A State-of-art methodologies on implementing conventional piezoelectric and flexible PVDF elements for generating ultrasonic guided waves in a tubing are presented. Comb transducers with PVDF can be efficiently applied to selectively excite a guided wave mode by wrapping around any size pipe while a conventional immersion type piezo-elements can be also possibly used with a modification of transducer fabrication. Technical comparisons between the use of angle beam probe and comb one will be also discussed in detail. The presented technique can be easily applied to NDE for a long range inspection of tubular structures.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.114-121
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• 2009

Ultrasonic guided waves have been widely utilized for long range inspection of structures. Especially, development of array guided waves techniques and its application for long range gas pipe lines(length of from hundreds meters to few km) were getting increased. In this study, focusing algorithm for array guided waves was developed in order to improve long range inspectability and accuracy of the array guided waves techniques for long range inspection of gas pipes, and performance of the developed techniques was verified by experiments using the developed array guided wave system. As a result, S/N ratio of array guided wave signals obtained with the focusing algorithm was increased higher than that of signals without focusing algorithm.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2012.10a
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• pp.611-612
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• 2012

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.185-197
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• 2013

We developed a simultaneous strain measurement and damage detection technique using a pair of surface-mounted piezoelectric transducers and a fiber connecting them. This is a novel sensor configuration of the fiber acoustic wave (FAW) piezoelectric transducer. In this study, lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) transducers are installed conventionally on a plate's surface, which is a technique used in many structural health monitoring studies. However, our PZTs are also connected with an optical fiber. A FAW and Lamb wave are simultaneously guided in the optical fiber and the structure, respectively. The dependency of the time-of-flight of the FAW on the applied strain is quantified for strain sensing. In our experimental results, the FAW exhibited excellent linear behavior and no hysteresis with respect to the change in strain. On the other hand, the well-known damage detection function of the surface-mounted PZT transducers was still available by monitoring the waveform change in the conventional Lamb wave ultrasonic path.