• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.232-240
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• 2013

This paper presents recent advances in damage visualization algorithms of laser generated ultrasonic propagation imaging(UPI) system. An effective damage evaluation method is required to extract correct information from raw data to properly characterize anomalies present in structure. A temporal-reference free imaging system provides easy and rapid defect inspection capability with less computational complexity. In this paper a number of methods such as ultrasonic wave propagation imaging(UWPI), anomalous wave propagation imaging(AWPI), ultrasonic spectral imaging(USI), wavelet ultrasonic propagation imaging(WUPI), variable time window amplitude mapping(VTWAM), time point adjustment(TPA), time of flight and amplitude mapping(ToF&Amp) and ultrasonic wavenumber imaging(UWI) are discussed with instances of successful implementation on various structures.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.283-292
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• 2009

Laser-based ultrasonic sensing requires the probe with fixed fecal length, but this requirement is not essential in laser-based ultrasonic generation. Based on this fact, we designed a pulsed laser-based ultrasonic wave propagation imaging (UWPI) system with a tilting mirror system for rapid scanning of target, and an in-line band-pass filtering capable of ultrasoaic mode selection. 1D-temporal averaging, 2D-spatial averaging, and 3D-data structure building algorithms were developed far clearer results allowing fur higher damage detectability. The imaging results on a flat stainless steel plate were presented in movie and snapshot formats which showed the propagation of ultrasound visible as a concentric wavefield emerging from the location of an ultrasonic sensor. A hole in the plate with a diameter of 1 mm was indicated by the scattering wavefields. The results showed that this robust UWPI system is independent of focal length and reference data requirements.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.467-475
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• 2016

Ultrasonic propagation imaging (UPI) has shown great potential for detection of impairments in complex structures and can be used in wide range of non-destructive evaluation and structural health monitoring applications. The software implementation of such algorithms showed a tendency in time-consumption with increment in scan area because the processor shares its resources with a number of programs running at the same time. This issue was addressed by using field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) that is a dedicated processing solution and used for high speed signal processing algorithms. For this purpose, we need an independent and flexible block of logic which can be used with continuously evolvable hardware based on FPGA. In this paper, we developed an FPGA-based ultrasonic propagation imaging system, where FPGA functions for both data acquisition system and real-time ultrasonic signal processing. The developed UPI system using FPGA board provides better cost-effectiveness and resolution than digitizers, and much faster signal processing time than CPU which was tested using basic ultrasonic propagation algorithms such as ultrasonic wave propagation imaging and multi-directional adjacent wave subtraction. Finally, a comparison of results for processing time between a CPU-based UPI system and the novel FPGA-based system were presented to justify the objective of this research.

• Composites Research
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.288-292
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• 2016

In this paper, a novel ultrasonic propagation imaging system, called a full-field pulse-echo ultrasonic propagation imaging (FF PE UPI) system is introduced. The system nondestructively inspected targets with two-axis translation stage. The coincident laser beams for ultrasonic sensing and generation are scanned and pulse-echo mode laser ultrasounds are captured. This procedure makes it possible to generate full-field ultrasound in through-the-thickness direction as large as the scan area. Structural inspection results in the form of full-field ultrasonic wave propagation videos are introduced, which are painted sandwich control surfaces. In addition, the inspection results of FF PE UPI system are compared with conventional ultrasonic testing methods such as waterjet and portable C-scan.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.564-572
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• 2012

Harmonic imaging is introduced in the present article and its principle and physical characteristics is described in contrast to conventional ultrasonic imaging. The principle of the conventional image which uses ultrasonic echoes reflected at the interfaces between tissues is presented, and the nonlinear ultrasonic propagation which results in harmonic components is conceptually described. The pulse inversion technique which effectively extracts the harmonic components from the ultrasonic echo signals is introduced, and the advantages of the constructed harmonic images are summarized comparing with those of conventional ultrasonic images. The harmonic images are classified according to the mechanism of harmonic production, and the typical harmonic images obtained from patients are presented in contrast to the corresponding sonograms. Clinical significance and prospects of harmonic imaging and the future research areas are discussed.

• Composites Research
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.356-364
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• 2017

Composite lattice structures are tried to be used in various fields because of its benefit in physical properties. With increase of demand of the composite lattice structure, nondestructive testing technology is also required to certificate the quality of the manufactured structures. Recently, research on the development of the composite lattice structure in Republic of Korea was started and accordingly, fast and accurate non-destructive evaluation technology was needed to finalize the manufacturing process. This paper studied non-destructive testing methods for composite lattice structure using laser ultrasonic propagation imaging systems. Pulse-echo ultrasonic propagation imaging system was able to inspect a rib structure wrapped with a skin structure. To reduce the time of inspection, a band divider, which can get signal in different frequency bands at once, was developed. Its performance was proved in an aluminum sandwich panel. In addition, to increase a quality of results, curvature compensating algorithm was developed. On the other hand, guided wave ultrasonic propagation imaging system was applied to inspect delamination in a rib structure. To increase an area of inspection, multi-source ultrasonic wave propagation image was applied, and defects were successfully highlighted with variable time window amplitude mapping algorithm. These imply that ultrasonic propagation imaging systems provides fast and accurate non-destructive testing results for composite lattice structure in a stage of the manufacturing process.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.389-397
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• 2015

Recently, wave propagation imaging based on laser scanning-generated elastic waves has been intensively used for nondestructive inspection. However, the proficiency of the conventional software based system reduces when the scan area is large since the processing time increases significantly due to unavoidable processor multitasking, where computing resources are shared with multiple processes. Hence, the field programmable gate array (FPGA) was introduced for a wave propagation imaging method in order to obtain extreme processing time reduction. An FPGA board was used for the design, implementing post-processing ultrasonic wave propagation imaging (UWPI). The results were compared with the conventional system and considerable improvement was observed, with at least 78% (scanning of $100{\times}100mm^2$ with 0.5 mm interval) to 87.5% (scanning of $200{\times}200mm^2$ with 0.5 mm interval) less processing time, strengthening the claim for the research. This new concept to implement FPGA technology into the UPI system will act as a break-through technology for full-scale automatic inspection.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.223-230
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• 2018

This study examines a non-contact laser scanning-based ultrasound system, called an angular scan pulse-echo ultrasonic propagation imager (A-PE-UPI), that uses coincided laser beams for ultrasonic sensing and generation. A laser Doppler vibrometer is used for sensing, while a diode pumped solid state (DPSS) Q-switched laser is used for generation of thermoelastic waves. A high-speed raster scanning of up to 10-kHz is achieved using a galvano-motorized mirror scanner that allows for coincided sensing and for the generation beam to perform two-dimensional scanning without causing any harm to the surface under inspection. This process allows for the visualization of longitudinal wave propagation through-the-thickness. A pulse-echo ultrasonic wave propagation imaging algorithm (PE-UWPI) is used for on-the-fly damage visualization of the structure. The presented system is very effective for high-speed, localized, non-contact, and non-destructive inspection of aerospace structures. The system is tested on an aluminum honeycomb sandwich with disbonds and a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) honeycomb sandwich with a layer overlap. Inspection is performed at a 10-kHz scanning speed that takes 16 seconds to scan a $100{\times}100mm^2$ area with a scan interval of 0.25 mm. Finally, a comparison is presented between angular-scanning and a linear-scanning-based pulse-echo UPI system. The results show that the proposed system can successfully visualize defects in the inspected specimens.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.109.4-109
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• 2001

We have developed a laser ultrasonic system for visualization of elastic waves propagating on a solid surface, in order to visualize ultrasonic waves propagating on opaque media. This system can produce a series of successive images as an animation of wave propagation, because of scanning an optical heterodyne probe to measure surface transient displacements. Using this visualization technique, we observed the scattering and diffraction of ultrasonic waves around various shapes of artificial defects, and examined its application to nondestructive inspection. This imaging system provides various kinds of visualization images such as propagation image, amplitude image, arrival time image and velocity image. We have been confident that this technique is available for nondestructive inspection and materials ...

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.301-309
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• 2022

Protective coatings are most widely used anticorrosive structures for steel structures. The corrosion under the coating damages the host material, but this damage is completely hidden. Therefore, a field-applicable under-coating-corrosion visualization method has been desired for a long time. Laser ultrasonic technology has been studied in various fields as an in situ nondestructive inspection method. In this study, a comparative analysis was carried out between a guided-wave ultrasonic propagation imager (UPI) and pulse-echo UPI, which have the potential to be used in the field of under-coating-corrosion management. Both guided-wave UPI and pulse-echo UPI were able to successfully visualize the corrosion. Regarding the field application, the guided-wave UPI performing Q-switch laser scanning and piezoelectric sensing by magnetic attachment exhibited advantages owing to the larger distance and incident angle in the laser measurement than those of the pulse-echo UPI. Regarding the corrosion visualization methods, the combination of adjacent wave subtraction and variable time window amplitude mapping (VTWAM) provided acceptable results for the guided-wave UPI, while VTWAM was sufficient for the pule-echo UPI. In addition, the capability of multiple sensing in a single channel of the guided-wave UPI could improve the field applicability as well as the relatively smaller size of the system. Thus, we propose a guided-wave UPI as a tool for under-coating-corrosion management.