<p>I både kvalitets- och kontrollarbete finns det behov att kunskapsmässigt komma så nära verkligheten som möjligt vid fastställande av defektparametrar för oförstörande provning (OFP). Orsaken är att olika acceptanskrav och bedömningsgränser är svåra att klarlägga när man inte kan förlita sig på att uppgifter är realistiska. I projektet har olika erfarenheter använts för att få en bättre helhetsbild i området för defektparametrar och oförstörande provning.</p><p>Denna rapport redovisar den inledande delen av forskning och utvecklingsprojektet PLANT 2, där olika defektparametrar kartlagts och en teoretisk bedömning utförts med avseende på hur signalsvaret påverkas för OFP-metoderna virvelström (ET) och ultraljudsprovning (UT) i form av puls-eko (PE) och ”time-of-flight-diffraction” (TOFD).</p><p>Definitionen av redovisade defektparametrar följer i stort SKI-rapport 95:70 [1]. Defektparametrar i denna rapport redovisas i bilaga 1.</p><p>Vid bedömningen av defektparametrarnas inverkan på OFP-tekniker, har drift¬inducerande defekter och tillverkningsdefekter hanterats separat. För de driftinducerande defekterna delades bedömningen upp i en generell och en specifik bedömning. De defektparametrar som bedöms specifikt och klassats att påverka signalsvaret betydligt bör vara av mest intresse i nästkommande etapp. Följande defektparametrar bedömdes påverka signalsvaret betydligt:</p><p>• Form i ytan, antal sprickor och avstånd i gatstensmönster</p><p>(vid termisk ut¬mattning)</p><p>• Form i djupled</p><p>• Sprickbredd vid sprickspets och sprickspetsradie</p><p>För tillverkningsdefekter bedömdes defektparametrarnas form i djupled och geometri påverka signalsvaret betydligt för defekttyperna slagg och bindfel.</p><p>Vid utvärdering av UT-PE och UT-TOFD teknikerna överensstämde resultatet helt med den teoretiska bedömningen. För ET-tekniken stämde endast en av tre defektparametrar överens med den teoretiska bedömningen.</p> / <p>In quality control of defect parameters for Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) it’s essential to have good knowledge about the defects. The reason is that different acceptance criteria and assessments must be based on defects that correspond to real defects. In this project different experience has been analyzed to get a better overview between defect parameters and non-destructive testing.</p><p>This report shows the beginning of the research & development project PLANT 2. There are different flaw parameters that have been mapped and a theoretical assessment has been performed with regard to how the signal response is influenced by the NDT techniques eddy current, ultrasonic pulse echo and ultrasonic time-of-flight-diffraction.</p><p>The definition of the reported flaw parameters does in general follow the one presented in SKI-report 95:70 [1]. The actual flaw parameters in this report are presented in appendix 1.</p><p>In the assessment of the influences on the NDT techniques with regard to flaw parameters, service-induced flaws and manufactured flaws have been separated in to two categories. The service-induced flaws have further on been separated in a general and a specific assessment. Those flaw parameters that have been assessed to be specific and classified to influence the signal response considerably should be the ones of most interest in future studies. The following flaw parameters were assessed to affect the signal response considerably:</p><p>• Macroscopic shape in the surface direction, number of cracks</p><p>and cobblestone stone pattern distance (for thermal fatigue)</p><p>• Macroscopic shape in the through thickness direction</p><p>• Crack width at the crack tip and the crack tip radius</p><p>For flaws caused by the manufacturing process, type slag and lack of fusion, the flaw parameters “Macroscopic shape in the through thickness direction” and “the geometry” were influenced by the signal response considerably.</p><p>In the evaluation of signal response with the UT pulse echo and UT TOFD techniques, the result corresponded to the theoretical assessment. For the eddy current technique only one of three flaw parameters corresponded to the theoretical assessment.</p>

I både kvalitets- och kontrollarbete finns det behov att kunskapsmässigt komma så nära verkligheten som möjligt vid fastställande av defektparametrar för oförstörande provning (OFP). Orsaken är att olika acceptanskrav och bedömningsgränser är svåra att klarlägga när man inte kan förlita sig på att uppgifter är realistiska. I projektet har olika erfarenheter använts för att få en bättre helhetsbild i området för defektparametrar och oförstörande provning. Denna rapport redovisar den inledande delen av forskning och utvecklingsprojektet PLANT 2, där olika defektparametrar kartlagts och en teoretisk bedömning utförts med avseende på hur signalsvaret påverkas för OFP-metoderna virvelström (ET) och ultraljudsprovning (UT) i form av puls-eko (PE) och ”time-of-flight-diffraction” (TOFD). Definitionen av redovisade defektparametrar följer i stort SKI-rapport 95:70 [1]. Defektparametrar i denna rapport redovisas i bilaga 1. Vid bedömningen av defektparametrarnas inverkan på OFP-tekniker, har drift¬inducerande defekter och tillverkningsdefekter hanterats separat. För de driftinducerande defekterna delades bedömningen upp i en generell och en specifik bedömning. De defektparametrar som bedöms specifikt och klassats att påverka signalsvaret betydligt bör vara av mest intresse i nästkommande etapp. Följande defektparametrar bedömdes påverka signalsvaret betydligt: • Form i ytan, antal sprickor och avstånd i gatstensmönster (vid termisk ut¬mattning) • Form i djupled • Sprickbredd vid sprickspets och sprickspetsradie För tillverkningsdefekter bedömdes defektparametrarnas form i djupled och geometri påverka signalsvaret betydligt för defekttyperna slagg och bindfel. Vid utvärdering av UT-PE och UT-TOFD teknikerna överensstämde resultatet helt med den teoretiska bedömningen. För ET-tekniken stämde endast en av tre defektparametrar överens med den teoretiska bedömningen. / In quality control of defect parameters for Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) it’s essential to have good knowledge about the defects. The reason is that different acceptance criteria and assessments must be based on defects that correspond to real defects. In this project different experience has been analyzed to get a better overview between defect parameters and non-destructive testing. This report shows the beginning of the research &amp; development project PLANT 2. There are different flaw parameters that have been mapped and a theoretical assessment has been performed with regard to how the signal response is influenced by the NDT techniques eddy current, ultrasonic pulse echo and ultrasonic time-of-flight-diffraction. The definition of the reported flaw parameters does in general follow the one presented in SKI-report 95:70 [1]. The actual flaw parameters in this report are presented in appendix 1. In the assessment of the influences on the NDT techniques with regard to flaw parameters, service-induced flaws and manufactured flaws have been separated in to two categories. The service-induced flaws have further on been separated in a general and a specific assessment. Those flaw parameters that have been assessed to be specific and classified to influence the signal response considerably should be the ones of most interest in future studies. The following flaw parameters were assessed to affect the signal response considerably: • Macroscopic shape in the surface direction, number of cracks and cobblestone stone pattern distance (for thermal fatigue) • Macroscopic shape in the through thickness direction • Crack width at the crack tip and the crack tip radius For flaws caused by the manufacturing process, type slag and lack of fusion, the flaw parameters “Macroscopic shape in the through thickness direction” and “the geometry” were influenced by the signal response considerably. In the evaluation of signal response with the UT pulse echo and UT TOFD techniques, the result corresponded to the theoretical assessment. For the eddy current technique only one of three flaw parameters corresponded to the theoretical assessment.

The objective of this research is to develop a method to evaluate important weld dimensions in thin plates by using laser generated ultrasounds and EMAT receiver. The superimposed laser sources (SLS) technique is developed to generate narrowband Lamb waves with fixed wavelengths in thin plates. The method permits the flexibility of selecting desired wavelength. The signal processing procedure that combines wavenumber-frequency (k-w) domain filtering and synthetic phase tuning (SPT) is used to further reduce the complexity of Lamb waves. The k-w domain filtering technique helps to filter out the unwanted wave components traveling at the direction that is not of interest to us and the SPT technique is applied to amplify and isolate a particular Lamb wave mode. The signal processing procedure facilitates the calculation of reflection coefficients of Lamb waves that result from the presence of weld joints. The SLS and signal processing procedure are then applied to measure reflection coefficients in butt welds and lap welds. Two methods, the direct method and indirect method, are used to develop models that use reflection coefficients as predictors to predict these weld dimensions. The models developed in this research are shown to accurately predict weld dimensions in thin plates.

Non-destructive testing has become necessary to ensure the quality of materials and components either in-service or at the production stage. This requires the use of a rapid, robust and reliable testing technique. As a main testing technique, the ultrasound technology has unique abilities to assess the discontinuity location, size and shape. Such information play a vital role in the acceptance criteria which are based on safety and quality requirements of manufactured components. Consequently, an extensive usage of the ultrasound technique is perceived especially in the inspection of large scale composites manufactured in the aerospace industry. Significant technical advances have contributed into optimizing the ultrasound acquisition techniques such as the sampling phased array technique. However, acquisition systems need to be complemented with an automated data analysis procedure to avoid the time consuming manual interpretation of all produced data. Such a complement would accelerate the inspection process and improve its reliability. The objective of this thesis is to propose an analysis chain dedicated to automatically process the 3D ultrasound volumes obtained using the sampling phased array technique. First, a detailed study of the speckle noise affecting the ultrasound data was conducted, as speckle reduces the quality of ultrasound data. Afterward, an analysis chain was developed, composed of a segmentation procedure followed by a classification procedure. The proposed segmentation methodology is adapted for ultrasound 3D data and has the objective to detect all potential defects inside the input volume. While the detection of defects is vital, one main difficulty is the high amount of false alarms which are detected by the segmentation procedure. The correct distinction of false alarms is necessary to reduce the rejection ratio of safe parts. This has to be done without risking missing true defects. Therefore, there is a need for a powerful classifier which can efficiently distinguish true defects from false alarms. This is achieved using a specific classification approach based on data fusion theory. The chain was tested on several ultrasound volumetric measures of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers components. Experimental results of the chain revealed high accuracy, reliability in detecting, characterizing and classifying defects.

This research investigates wave propagation in an elastic half-space with a quadratic nonlinearity in its stress-strain relationship. Different boundary conditions on the surface are considered that result in both one- and two-dimensional wave propagation problems. The goal of the research is to examine the generation of second-order frequency effects and static effects which may be used to determine the nonlinearity present in the material. This is accomplished by extracting the amplitudes of those effects in the frequency domain and analyzing their dependency on the third-order elastic constants (TOEC). For the one-dimensional problems, both analytical approximate solutions as well as numerical simulations are presented. For the two-dimensional problems, numerical solutions are presented whose dependency on the material's nonlinearity is compared to the one-dimensional problems. The numerical solutions are obtained by first formulating the problem as a hyperbolic system of conservation laws, which is then solved numerically using a semi-discrete central scheme. The numerical method is implemented using the package CentPack. In the one-dimensional cases, it is shown that the analytical and numerical solutions are in good agreement with each other, as well as how different boundary conditions may be used to measure the TOEC. In the two-dimensional cases, it is shown that there exist comparable dependencies of the second-order frequency effects and static effects on the TOEC. Finally, it is analytically and numerically investigated how multiple reflections in a plate can be used to simplify measurements of the material nonlinearity in an experiment.

O aço SAE 1552 modificado é um desenvolvimento recente da família do aço carbono manganês ligado ao silício, sendo utilizado para confecção de grampo U que tem como finalidade prender o feixe de molas no eixo do veículo. A somatória das fases de produção dessa matéria prima introduz os limites de resistência mecânica final necessária para atender a classe de resistência normativa. A peça produzida com esse aço tem alcançado crescimento de utilização na indústria automotiva devido à mesma apresentar propriedades mecânicas que atendem a requisitos normativos de classe de resistência e com vantagem de evitar tratamento térmico na fase de confecção do grampo e sendo esse processo realizado a frio em todas as suas fases. O objetivo desse trabalho foi estudar falha de grampo na etapa do processo de dobramento em forma de U e aplicar ensaios como: programa de simulação de tratamento térmico Stecal 3.0, ultrassom, fadiga, teste de cela e análise de fratura para solucionar essas falhas. Também foi realizado ensaios para prever fraturas catastróficas como: elementos finitos através de programa de computador Abaqus, ensaio de extensometria, tenacidade a fratura e medições de tensões residuais através de técnica de difração de raios-x. Foi concluído através dos resultados dos estudos de microestrutura resultante de tratamento térmico da matéria prima que o processo com resfriamento controlado em esteira é mais adequado para a produção do aço para confecção de grampo. O ensaio de ultrassom antes e após ensaio de fadiga possibilitou dimensionar o crescimento da profundidade da trinca em cotovelo de grampo e através de elementos finitos e extensometria associado com mecânica da fratura foi possível conhecer as tensões em ponto de estudo e entender o motivo de não ocorrer falha catastrófica. O ensaio de difração de raios-x permitiu o entendimento das tensões residuais introduzidas na peça de estudo. / SAE 1552 steel modified is a recent development of manganese carbon steel group linked to silicon, which is used to manufacture u-bolt that aims to fix leaf spring at vehicle axle in the back part. The sum of production stages of this raw material introduces the final mechanical resistance limits to meet class rules resistance. The piece produced with this steel has achieved growth of use in the automotive industry due to the mechanical properties it presents, which meet regulatory requirements for strength class and the advantage of avoiding heat treatment during manufacturing of the u-bolt and all the phases of this process are carried out in cold. This work aims to study the u-bolt failure during the folding process in the form of U and apply tests such as heat treatment simulation -Stecal 3.0, ultrasonic test, fatigue test, cell testing and analysis of crack. Other tests have been carried out to predict catastrophic fractures such as: finite element through computer program called Abaqus, extensometry testing, toughness testing for fracture and residual stress measurement by X ray diffraction technique. Results of heat treatment studies, by microstructure analysis, allowed choosing appropriate process for steel production. Ultrasonic testing before and after fatigue testing enabled to measure growth of crack depth on u-bolt elbow, and through finite element and extensometry testing associated with Mechanical of Fracture it was possible to know the stress concentrated at a point and to understand why catastrophic failure did not occur. Residual stress understanding has provided overall vision of u-bolt studied and contributed to have precision in measurement at inner and outer part of the u-bolt elbow.

Disertační práce se zabývá studiem strukturních a mechanických vlastností anorganických materiálů. Cílem je nalezení jednotlivých fází ve zkoumaném materiálu a hlavně lokalizace (mechanicky) nejslabšího místa, jeho ovlivnění a následně výroba materiálu o lepších mechanických vlastnostech. Z důvodu velkého množství použitých metod je základní teorie vložena vždy na začátku příslušné kapitoly. Taktéž z důvodu značného množství výsledků jsou na konci kapitol uvedeny dílčí závěry. Práce je rozdělena na tři části, kdy první se zabývá seznámením s možnostmi modelování mikro-mechanických vlastností a provedením experimentů umožňujících posouzení rozsahu platnosti některého modelu. V druhé části je provedeno shrnutí současných možností indentačních zkoušek pro měření mechanických vlastností strukturních složek betonu a praktické zvládnutí metodiky vhodné k užití pro výzkum materiálů zkoumaných domovským pracovištěm. V třetí části je navržena metoda identifikace nejslabších článků struktury anorganických pojiv a její ověření na konkrétním materiálu zkoumaném na domovském pracovišti. V této dizertační práci jsou použity tyto metody: kalorimetrie, ultrazvukové testování, jednoosá pevnost v tlaku, nanoindentace, korelativní mikroskopie a rastrovací elektronová mikroskopie s energiově disperzním spektrometrem. Dílčími výsledky jsou kompletní charakterizace cementových materiálů, upřesnění stávajících poznatků a nalezení optimálního postupu pro charakterizaci. Hlavním výsledkem je inovativní přístup vedoucí k pozitivnímu ovlivnění materiálu.

Le contrôle non destructif est devenu nécessaire pour assurer la qualité des matériaux et des composants soit en service ou à l'étape de la production. Ceci nécessite l'utilisation d'une technique d’inspection rapide, robuste et fiable. En tant que technique de contrôle principale, la technologie des ultrasons a des capacités uniques pour évaluer la position, la taille et la forme des discontinuités. Ces informations ont un rôle essentiel dans les critères d'acceptation qui sont fondés sur la sécurité et les exigences de qualité des composants fabriqués. Par conséquent, un usage intensif de la technique des ultrasons apparaît notamment dans l'inspection des composites fabriqués à grande échelle dans l'industrie aérospatiale. D'importants progrès techniques ont contribué à l'optimisation des techniques d'acquisition par ultrasons telles que la technique de "Sampling Phased Array". Cependant, les systèmes d'acquisition doivent être complétés par une procédure d'analyse automatisée de données afin d'éviter l'interprétation manuelle fastidieuse de toutes les données produites. Un tel complément permet d'accélérer le processus d'inspection et d'améliorer sa fiabilité. L'objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une chaîne d’analyse dédiée au traitement automatique des volumes échographiques 3D obtenus en utilisant la technique Sampling Phased Array. Tout d'abord, une étude détaillée du bruit de speckle affectant les données échographiques a été effectuée, puisque ce type de bruit réduit la qualité des données échographiques. Ensuite, une chaîne d’analyse complète a été développée, constituée d'une procédure de segmentation suivie d'un processus de classification. La méthodologie de segmentation proposée est adaptée aux données ultrasonores 3D et a pour objectif de détecter tous les défauts potentiels à l'intérieur du volume d'entrée 3D. La procédure de segmentation étant en priorité dédiée à la détection des défauts qui est vitale, une difficulté principale est le taux élevé de fausses alarmes qui peuvent être détectées également. La classification correcte des fausses alarmes est nécessaire afin de réduire le taux de rejet des pièces saines. Cela doit être fait sans risquer la perte des vrais défauts. Par conséquent, la segmentation doit être suivie d'un processus de classification efficace qui doit distinguer les défauts réels des fausses alarmes. Ceci a été réalisé en utilisant une approche de classification spécifique basée sur une approche de fusion de données. La chaîne complète d'analyse a été testée sur plusieurs mesures ultrasonores volumiques de composites plastiques à renfort fibre de carbone. Les résultats expérimentaux de la chaîne ont révélé une grande précision ainsi qu'une très bonne fiabilité de détection, de caractérisation et de classification des défauts avec un taux très faible de fausses alarmes. / Non-destructive testing has become necessary to ensure the quality of materials and components either in-service or at the production stage. This requires the use of a rapid, robust and reliable testing technique. As a main testing technique, the ultrasound technology has unique abilities to assess the discontinuity location, size and shape. Such information play a vital role in the acceptance criteria which are based on safety and quality requirements of manufactured components. Consequently, an extensive usage of the ultrasound technique is perceived especially in the inspection of large scale composites manufactured in the aerospace industry. Significant technical advances have contributed into optimizing the ultrasound acquisition techniques such as the sampling phased array technique. However, acquisition systems need to be complemented with an automated data analysis procedure to avoid the time consuming manual interpretation of all produced data. Such a complement would accelerate the inspection process and improve its reliability. The objective of this thesis is to propose an analysis chain dedicated to automatically process the 3D ultrasound volumes obtained using the sampling phased array technique. First, a detailed study of the speckle noise affecting the ultrasound data was conducted, as speckle reduces the quality of ultrasound data. Afterward, an analysis chain was developed, composed of a segmentation procedure followed by a classification procedure. The proposed segmentation methodology is adapted for ultrasound 3D data and has the objective to detect all potential defects inside the input volume. While the detection of defects is vital, one main difficulty is the high amount of false alarms which are detected by the segmentation procedure. The correct distinction of false alarms is necessary to reduce the rejection ratio of safe parts. This has to be done without risking missing true defects. Therefore, there is a need for a powerful classifier which can efficiently distinguish true defects from false alarms. This is achieved using a specific classification approach based on data fusion theory. The chain was tested on several ultrasound volumetric measures of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers components. Experimental results of the chain revealed high accuracy, reliability in detecting, characterizing and classifying defects.

O interesse na medição do perfil de velocidade na área de fluidodinâmica tem crescido nos últimos anos devido a evolução das técnicas de medição. Nesse contexto, a técnica ultrassônica tem se destacado por ser não intrusiva, não invasiva e funcionar mesmo em fluidos opacos. Neste trabalho foi investigado a técnica de ultrassom Doppler para medição de perfis de velocidade, utilizando equipamentos ultrassônicos para ensaios-não-destrutivos (END). Tais equipamentos são mais acessíveis do que equipamentos convencionais de medição de velocidade por ultrassom. Também foi proposto o uso da técnica de autocorrelação estendida (EAM), para medição de velocidades além do limite de Nyquist. Essa restrição existe na grande maioria dos medidores, que utilizam a técnica convencional de autocorrelação (ACM). O EAM combina o ACM com o método da correlação cruzada (CCM), outro estimador amplamente conhecido, mas que não é muito utilizado devido a seu alto custo computacional. Desta forma, o EAM consegue medir velocidades maiores com um custo computacional intermediário, que não é tão baixo quanto o ACM e nem tão alto quanto o CCM. Para adquirir e processar os dados obtidos, foi desenvolvido um sistema para aquisição e processamento dos sinais baseado na linguagem LabView. O pulsador ultrassônico END e os estimadores de velocidade por EAM, CCM e ACM foram validados medindo o perfil de velocidade em um cilindro girante, capaz de fornecer velocidades controladas de fácil solução analítica. Os resultados mostram erros médios quadráticos abaixo de 2%, validando o equipamento e a técnica. O EAM também mediu velocidades acima no limite de Nyquist com um desempenho computacional de 9 vezes maior do que o CCM. Na segunda parte deste trabalho, a técnica ultrassônica de medição de velocidade foi aplicada para medição de escoamentos multifásicos em tubulações, tema de grande interesse da indústria de petróleo e gás. Um escoamento vertical líquido-gás-sólido foi analisado com o mesmo equipamento END. Primeiramente, o perfil de velocidade do escoamento liquido-sólido em regime laminar, foi medido e validado utilizando um equipamento Coriolis como referência. Em seguida, foram realizados testes adicionando gás ao escoamento. As velocidades superficiais de líquido e gás foram variadas para gerar os padrões de escoamento tipo bolhas dispersas, intermitente e intermitente aerado. Os resultados foram comparados a imagens de uma filmadora de alta velocidade. Foram obtidos parâmetros como perfil de velocidade das bolhas dispersas, velocidade do filme de líquido e velocidade da mistura dependendo do padrão de escoamento analisado. Assim, a medição de velocidade por ultrassom Doppler, utilizando um equipamento de END, foi aplicado com sucesso em dois problemas de fluidodinâmica. / Interest in knowing the instantaneous velocity profile in fluid dynamics has grown in recent years as new flow visualization techniques are improving. In this context, the ultrasonic Doppler velocity profiler (UVP) has desirable characteristics, as it is non-invasive, works with opaque liquids, and it is portable and easy to install if compared with other velocity profiler methods. In this work, the use of nondestructive ultrasonic devices in the UVP field is investigated. NDT systems are widely available and have lower cost if compared to traditional ultrasonic velocity profiler systems. The use of an extended autocorrelation method (EAM) for ultrasonic velocity estimation beyond Nyquist limit are also evaluated. The Nyquist limit causes a restriction on the maximum measurable velocity of the traditional autocorrelation method (ACM), present in most of ultrasonic velocity profiler systems. EAM combines the ACM technique with cross-correlation method (CCM) which is a well-established velocity estimator that does not suffer with Nyquist limit. However, the technique has a high computational cost that limits real time applications. EAM has the advantage of measure velocities beyond the Nyquist limit but with a lower computational cost than CCM. To evaluate the NDT device and the velocity estimation techniques ACM, CCM and EAM, a data acquisition system and a signal-processing unit based on LabView language were developed. The velocity profile of a rotating cylinder was used to validate all measurements. The techniques ACM, CCM and EAM successfully measured velocities within Nyquist limit with less than 2% deviation, validating the NDT system. EAM also measured velocities beyond Nyquist limit with a computational performance 9 times faster than CCM. The ultrasonic technique was also applied to measure the velocity profile of a multiphase flow in a pipeline, which are of great interest in oil and gas industry. Tests within a multiphase flow composed by different combinations of oil/sand/nylon-particles and gas were conducted in a vertical rig. A high-speed camera was used to validate the measurements. First the ultrasonic velocity profile measured was validated in a liquid-solid flow by using a Coriolis flowmeter as a reference. Next, superficial liquid and gas velocity were controlled to obtain different flow patterns such as bubbly flow and slug flow. The technique measured the bubbles velocity, the mixture velocity and the liquid film velocity depending on the flow pattern. Finally, the ultrasonic NDT system was successfully applied to investigate two different fluid engineering problems.