• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.137-144
• /
• 2009

In this paper, the signal analysis of eddy current array probe was performed to analyze the electromagnetic characteristics with the variation of FBH(flat bottomed hole) defects size on steam generator tube in NPP(nuclear power plants) using the electromagnetic finite element method. To obtain the electromagnetic characteristic of probes, the governing equation was derived from Maxwell's equations, and the individual problem was analyzed by using the 3-dimensional finite element method. For the simulation FBH defects were used. The depth of FBH defects were 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% of steam generator(SG) tube thickness, and it was assumed that the defects were located on the tube outside. And the operation frequencies of 100 kHz, 300 kHz and 400 kHz were used. Material of specimen was Inconel 600 which is usually used for SG tubes in NPP. The signal difference could be observed according to the size variation of depth of FBH defects and operation frequencies. The results in this paper can be helpful when the ECT(eddy current testing) signals from EC array probe are evaluated and analyzed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.53-58
• /
• 2002

New nondestructive inspection (NDI) technique to detect the defect in metal was developed in which an electromagnetic field is induced in a metal by AC current flowing in the magnetic coil and the leak magnetic-flux disturbed by defects is measured using a tape-recorder head with air gap. This technique can be applied in evaluating the location and sizing of surface defects in components of the ferromagnetic body by means of the non-contacting measurement. In this paper, we have applied this technique to the evaluation of two-dimensional surface cracks in ferromagnetic metal, and also investigated the influence of the various frequencies and lift-off. Defects were detected with maximum values in the distribution of voltage and it was found that the maximum values tend to increase with the defect depth. Although the maximum values for defects are affected by the frequency and lift-off, the depth of small defects can be estimated from the linear relationship between the depth and voltage rate$(V_0/V_{ave})$.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.501-510
• /
• 2000

Recently, advanced signal analysis which is called "time-frequency analysis" has been used widely in nondestructive evaluation applications. Wavelet transform(WT) and Wigner Distribution are the most advanced techniques for processing signals with time-varying spectra. Wavelet analysis method is an attractive technique for evaluation of material characterization nondestructively. Wavelet transform is applied to the time-frequency analysis of ultrasonic echo waveform obtained by an ultrasonic pulse-echo technique. In this study, the feasibility of noise suppression of ultrasonic flaw signal and frequency-dependent ultrasonic group velocity and attenuation coefficient using wavelet analysis of ultrasonic echo waveform have been verified experimentally. The Gabor function is adopted the analyzing wavelet. The wavelet analysis shows that the variations of ultrasonic group velocity and attenuation coefficient due to the change of material characterization can be evaluated at each frequency. Furthermore, to assure the enhancement of detectability and naw sizing performance, both computer simulated results and experimental measurements using wavelet signal processing are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the noise suppression of ultrasonic flaw signal obtained from austenitic stainless steel weld including EDM notch.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.73-80
• /
• 1995

In this paper, Polarity Thresholding(PT) algorithm has been studied to enhance the received signal in ultrasonic inspection of the stainless-steel(SUS 304) which is the primary piping material of a nuclear power plant. The spectral decomposition components obtained by splitting the spectrum of received signals are composed of dispersive signal of the interference pattern produced by the grain boundaries and nondispersive signal by the flaw. PT algorithm enhance the SNR of received signal by using above properties. In experiment the stainless-steel has been chosen as the sample and heat-treated at 1125, 1150, 1175, and $1200^\circ{C}$, respectively. And the flat-bottom hole type defects have been made artificially in samples. The pulse-echo signals from the sample by using ultrasonic transducer of center frequency 5 MHz have been processed by PT algorithm. It has been shown that PT algorithm enhanced the SNR by average 14.2 dB.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.7-13
• /
• 2013

The surface microcrack over a few tens of micrometers is one of severe problems of a steel wire rod to lead to the failure of the final products, so the method to evaluate crack depth has been required to develop. This work investigates the feasibility of electromagnetic acoustic resonance (EMAR) for this problem. EMAR is the method for measurement of resonant features using electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT). Generally, EMAR is sensitive to small variation of the structures and easy to apply it to the industrial field because of the feature of noncontact measurement. Through several EMAR experiments, the change of the resonant frequencies and attenuation in reverberation has been observed. The results confirms that the surface cracks of around 100 micrometer depth can be detected successfully with the present method.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.445-454
• /
• 1998

In order to establish a technical concept for the detection of defects in weldments in thin steel plate, an experimental and theoretical investigation was carried out for artificial defects in a steel plate having a thickness of 2.4mm by using the guided wave technique. In particular the goal was to find the most effective testing parameters paying attention to the relationship between the excitation frequency by a tone burst system and various incident angles. It was found that the test conditions that worked best was for a frequency of 840kHz and an incident angle of 30 or 85 degrees, most of the defects were detected with these conditions. Also, it was clear that a guided wave mode generated under an incident angle of 30 degrees was a symmetric mode, So, and that of 85 degrees corresponded to an antisymmetric mode, Ao. By using the two modes, most of all of the defects could be detected. Furthermore, it was shown that the antisymmetric mode was more sensitive to defects near the surface than the symmetric mode. Theoretical predictions confirmed this sensitivity improvement with Ao for surface defects because of wave structure variation and energy concentration near the surface.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.294-299
• /
• 1999

In this paper, the calibration system for contact transducer has been developed to improve the reliability of the inspection result of ultrasonic testing on rotors. This system consists of signal processing parts: (oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer, pulser/receiver), standard block, and user interface program. Signal processing for the calibration system was performed quickly with high accuracy. The developed system has been applied to a practical calibration of probe using the non-destructive testing on rotors, and demonstrated high sensitivity and precision.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 2001.04a
• /
• pp.102-104
• /
• 2001

This paper presents a numerical analysis of the eddy current testing for pipe with axi-symmetric defect according to frequency changes using the finite element method(FEM). The defects used in this analysis are inner and outer axi-symmetric type. In order to obtain the behaviors of the signals by changing the frequency, the defects with different depths are modeled and analyzed using FEM. It is important to choose proper frequency because of the effect of skin depth in eddy current testing. This paper describes signal characteristics of each defects as frequency is changed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.118-128
• /
• 1999

There are many ultrasonic measurement methods that are used in nondestructive testing applications. Some typical applications include material property determination, microstructural characterization. and flaw detection. Ultrasonic parameters such as velocity and attenuation are most commonly required in these applications. The accuracy and repeatability of testing results are dependent on both the hardware used to generate and receive the ultrasonic waves and on the analysis software for calculating these parameters. In this study, five analysis algorithms were implemented on a computer for measuring wave speed in a pulse echo. immersion testing configuration. In velocity measurements comparisons were made between the overlap. cross-correlation. Fourier transform. Hilbert transform, wavelet transform algorithms. Velocity measurement was applied to an isotropic steel sample using the five analysis algorithms. Frequency-dependent phase/group velocity and attenuation were also measured using the Fourier transform and wavelet transform algorithms on a composite laminate containing voids.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.510-517
• /
• 2001

This paper describes an initial study for the application of eddy current pattern recognition approaches to more realistic flaw characterization in steam generator tubes. For this purpose, finite-element model-based theoretical eddy current testing (ECT) signals are simulated from 5 types of OD flaws with the variation in flaw size parameters and testing frequency. In addition, three kinds of software are developed for the convenience in the application of steps in pattern recognition approaches such as feature extraction feature selection and classification by probabilistic neural networks (PNNs). The cross point of the ECT signals simulated from flaws with non-symmetric cross-sections shows the deviation from the origin of the impedance plane. New features taking advantages of this phenomenon are added to complete the feature set with a total of 18 features. Then, classification with PNNs are performed based on this feature set. The PNN classifiers show high performance for the identification of symmetry in the cross-section of a flaw. However, they show very limited success in the interrogation of the sharpness of flaw tips.