Ultrasonic Detection of Cracks in Studs and Bolts Using Dynamic Predictive Deconvolution and Wave Shaping

Bolt degradation has become a major issue in the nuclear industry since the 1980's due to failure during operation. If small cracks in stud bolt are not detected early enough, they grow rapidly and cause catastrophic disasters. Their detection, despite its importance, is known to be a very difficult problem due to the complicated structures of the stud bolts. This paper presents a method of detecting and sizing a small crack in the root between two adjacent crests in threads. The key idea is from the fact that the Rayleigh wave propagates slowly along a crack from the tip to the opening and is reflected from the opening mouth. When there exists a crack, a small delayed pulse due to the Rayleigh wave is detected between large regularly spaced pulses from the thread. The delay time is the same as the propagation delay time of the slow Rayleigh wave and is proportional to the size of the crack. To efficiently detect the slow Rayleigh wave, three methods based on digital signal processing are proposed : modified wave shaping, dynamic predictive deconvolution, and dynamic predictive deconvolution combined with wave shaping.