Case Study: Modelling Ultrasonic Array Response of Real Cracks

Stress corrosion cracks can be a serious problem in many engineering industries, and especially so for critical parts. While an ultrasonic transducer can be used for the non-destructive evaluation of cracks with simple shapes, complex branching cracks, such as stress corrosion cracks, require ultrasonic arrays that consist of multiple transducers and are able to inspect at multiple angles.

This project involved optimising an ultrasonic array design using real stress corrosion crack shapes obtained with X-ray CT scans and a hybrid model for simulating complex ultrasonic array responses. The model combined a finite element (FE) method with simple ray tracing. Simpleware software was used to obtain the crack geometry from X-ray CT data, contributing towards an overall methodology for improving future ultrasonic NDE of cracks.

Thanks to: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bristol - M.V. Felice, A. Velichko, P.D. Wildox; NDE Laboratory, Rolls-Royce plc - T. Barden, T. Dunhill

Read more: http://simpleware.com/industries/materials/nde-and-reverse-engineering/case-study-simulating-ultrasonic-array-response.html

Full paper

Learn more about Simpleware at http:///simpleware.com