• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.197-211
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• 2014

An investigation of tunnel linings is performed at two tunnels in the US using complimentary noncontact techniques: air-coupled ground penetrating radar (GPR), and a vehicle-mounted scanning system (SPACETEC) that combines laser, visual, and infrared thermography scanning methods. This paper shows that a combination of such techniques can maximize inspection coverage in a comprehensive and efficient manner. Since ground-truth is typically not available in public tunnel field evaluations, the noncontact techniques used are compared with two reliable in-depth contact nondestructive testing methods: ground-coupled GPR and ultrasonic tomography. The noncontact techniques are used to identify and locate the reinforcement mesh, structural steel ribs, internal layer interfaces, shallow delamination, and tile debonding. It is shown that this combination of methods can be used synergistically to provide tunnel owners with a comprehensive and efficient approach for monitoring tunnel lining conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.696-702
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• 2012

In this study, a noncontact laser ultrasonic system is proposed for rail defect detection. An Nd-Yag pulse laser is used for generation of ultrasonic waves, and the corresponding ultrasonic responses are measured by a laser Doppler vibrometer. For the detection of rail surface damages, the shape of the excitation laser beam is transformed into a line. On the other hand, a point source laser beam is used for the inspection of defects inside a rail head. Then, the interactions of propagating ultrasonic waves with defects are examined using actual rail specimens. Amplitude attenuation was mainly observed for a surface crack, and reflections were most noticeable from an internal damage. Finally, opportunities and challenges associated with real-time rail inspection from a high-speed train are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.419-427
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• 2014

Nonlinear features of ultrasonic waves are more sensitive to the presence of a fatigue crack than their linear counterparts are. For this reason, the use of nonlinear ultrasonic techniques to detect a fatigue crack at its early stage has been widely investigated. Of the different proposed techniques, laser nonlinear wave modulation spectroscopy (LNWMS) is unique because a pulse laser is used to exert a single broadband input and a noncontact measurement can be performed. Broadband excitation causes a nonlinear source to exhibit modulation at multiple spectral peaks owing to interactions among various input frequency components. A feature called maximum sideband peak count difference (MSPCD), which is extracted from the spectral plot, measures the degree of crack-induced material nonlinearity. First, the ratios of spectral peaks whose amplitudes are above a moving threshold to the total number of peaks are computed for spectral signals obtained from the pristine and the current state of a target structure. Then, the difference of these ratios are computed as a function of the moving threshold. Finally, the MSPCD is defined as the maximum difference between these ratios. The basic premise is that the MSPCD will increase as the nonlinearity of the material increases. This technique has been used successfully for localizing fatigue cracks in metallic plates.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.1511-1519
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• 2012

Pipe structures contain many welded zones, and ultrasonic tests are increasingly being performed by using automated testing devices in order to evaluate the weld integrity. An electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) is a noncontact transducer that can transmit or receive ultrasonic waves without a couplant. Furthermore, it can easily generate specific guided waves such as SH (shear horizontal) or Lamb waves by altering the design of the coil and magnet. Therefore, an EMAT should be useful for application to an automated ultrasonic inspection system. In this study, SH waves generated using an EMAT were applied to inspect the pipe-weld zone. To analyze the specific SH mode (SH0) from the SH wave signals, wavelet transform was applied. It was found that flaws could be detected precisely because the intensity of the $SH_0$ mode-frequency, which is analyzed by using wavelet transform, is proportional to the length of the flaw.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.287-293
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• 2005

Ultrasonic guided waves are gaining increasing attention for the inspection of platelike and rodlike structures. At the same time, inspection methods that do not require contact with the test piece are being developed for advanced applications. This paper capitalizes on recent advances in the areas of guided wave ultrasonics and noncontact ultrasonics to demonstrate a superior method for the nondestructive detection of defects thinning simulating hidden corrosion in thin aluminum plates. The proposed approach uses EMAT(electro-magnetic acoustic transducer) for the noncontact generation and detection of guided waves. Interesting features in the dispersive behavior of selected guided modes are used for the detection of plate thinning. It is shown that mode cutoff measurements provide a qualitative detection of defects thinning. Measurement of the mode group velocity can be also used to quantify depth thinning.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.25-31
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• 1994

A system for EMAT, which generates ultrasound by electro-magnectic forces and performs nondestructive testing in noncontact, was established. By linking it with a 3 axis scanning system and a data acquisition and processing system the automation of EMAT testing was attempted. A EMAT sensor was fabricated and the directivity pattern of it was measured. To be suitable automation, it has a transmitter and a receiver in one case and the main beam direction of it can be controlled by the frequency of driving signal. A program which controls the EMAT system, the 3 axis scanner and the data acquisition and processing system was developed. It also processes acquired data and displays the processing results. IBM-PC/AT compatible PC was used as main controller and the stratage of the program is emulation of real devices on the PC monitor. To provide the performance of the established EMAT system, two aluminium blocks containing artificial flaws and a welded aluminium block were tested. The result of the tests were satisfactory.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.398-413
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• 2011

For railway safety, it is very important to detect damages of rails at their early stage because any undetected damage in a rail can break the rail and cause a serious railway accident. In this paper, several NDT applicable to rail inspections are described. Major damage types in rails are discussed first and the rail inspection technology using conventional piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers, which is widely adopted for damage detection of rails, is explained. Other NDT being researched or tested for rail inspection are also discussed as complementary technologies to the concurrent contact type ultrasonic inspection. Characteristics of each rail inspection technologies are evaluated in order to provide requirements for future development of a new rail inspection method.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2000

In this paper, ultrasonic wave in the thermoelastic regime was generated in a steel disk by illuminating a pulse laser (Q-switched Nd:YAG) on the surface of the sample and was detected on the other side by Michelson interferometer which was stabilized by feed back control. The experimentally detected displacement waveform of the ultrasonic wave showed good agreement with the theoretically expected one. Also it was shown that sound speeds of longitudinal and shear wave were similar to ones measured by pulse-echo method using a contact transducer. As an application of the noncontact ultrasonic measurement by using laser based ultrasonics, the sound speed in the sample was monitored while the sample was heated in a furnace, and the result showed that it decreased according to the increase of sample temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.226-232
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• 2014

In the present study, the characteristics of laser ultrasound in the ablation regime are investigated using simulations and experiments. The laser ultrasonic technique has been recognized as a noncontact method in the field of nondestructive tests (NDTs). In hostile environments (such as hot temperatures), this method has various advantages over the conventional contact ultrasonic method. In particular, in the ablation regime, the laser ultrasonic technique is suitable for inspecting internal defects because of the high amplitude and directivity of the longitudinal wave. In this paper, a simulation model for laser ultrasound in the ablation regime was developed. This model was subsequently applied to a defective specimen using the B-scan method to locate defects. Finally, we performed an experimental test to verify the simulation results. Consequently, the simulation demonstrated good agreement with the experimental test.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.34-41
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• 2001

More accurate and fast inspection method for mechanical parts and structure is required to guarantee the safety. Conventional methods using compliance method, eddy current method, ultrasonic wave, acoustic emission for non-destructive testing in mechanical parts and structure have been performed as the method of contact with objects to be inspected. With this reason these methods have been taken relatively much time, money, and manpower. In this study, in order to overcome these shortcomings, we used In-plane Electronic Speckle pattern Interferometry(In-plane ESPI) that was full-field measurement and noncontact method. We detected the cracks of the specimen at a real time and measured the length of the crack by using In-place ESPI system. Finally, we compared this results with conventional microscope method.