• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2010

Ultrasonic inspection of heavy walled cast austenitic stainless steel(CASS)welds is very difficult due to complex and coarse grained structure of CASS material. The large size of anisotropic grain strongly affects the propagation of ultrasound by severe attenuation, change in velocity, and scattering of ultrasonic energy. therefore, the signal patterns originated from flaws can be difficult to distinguish from scattered signals. To improve detection and sizing capability of ID connected defect for heavy walled CASS piping welds, the low frequency segmented TRL Pulse Echo and Phased Array probe has been developed. The experimental studies have been performed using CASS pipe mock-up block containing artificial reflectors(ID connected EDM notch). The automatic pulse echo and phase array technique is applied the detection and the length sizing of the ID connected artificial reflectors and the results for detection and sizing has been compared respectively. The goal of this study is to assess a newly developed ultrasonic probe to improve the detection ability and the sizing of the crack in coarse-grained CASS components.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2009

The results of crack evaluation by conventional UT(Ultrasonic Test)is highly depend on the inspector's experience or knowledge of ultrasound. Phased array UT system and its application methods for small crack length evaluation will be a good alternative method which overcome present UT weakness. This study was aimed at checking the accuracy of crack length evaluation method by electronic scanning and discuss about characteristics of electronic scanning for crack length evaluation. Especially ultrasonic phased array with electronic scan technique was used in carrying out both sizing and detect ability of crack as its length changes. The response of ultrasonic phased array was analyzed to obtain the special method of determining crack length without moving the transducer and detect-ability of crack minimal length and depth from the material. A method of crack length determining by electronic scanning for the small crack is very real method which has it's accuracy and verify the effectiveness of method compared to a conventional crack length determination.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.368-375
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• 2013

Failure of small bore piping welds is a recurring problem at nuclear power plants. And the socket weld cracking in small bore piping has caused unplanned plant shutdowns for repair and high economic impact on the plants. Consequently, early crack detection, including the detection of manufacturing defects, is of the utmost importance. Until now, the surface inspection methods has been applied according to ASME Section XI requirements. But the ultrasonic inspection as a volumetric method is also applying to enforce the inspection requirement. However, the conventional manual ultrasonic inspection techniques are used to detect service induced fatigue cracks. And there was uncertainty on manual ultrasonic inspection because of limited access to the welds and difficulties with contact between the ultrasonic probe and the OD(outer diameter) surface of small bore piping. In this study, phased array ultrasonic inspection technique is applied to increase inspection speed and reliability. To achieve this object, the 3.5 MHz phased array ultrasonic transducer are designed and fabricated. The manually encoded scanner was also developed to enhance contact conditions and maintain constant signal quality. Additionally inspection system is configured and inspection procedure is developed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.268-274
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• 2015

Weld overlay was first used in power plants in the US in the early 1980s as an interim method of repairing the welds of flawed piping joints. Weld overlaid piping joints in nuclear power plants must be examined periodically using ultrasonic examination technology. Portable phased array ultrasonic technology has recently become available. Currently, the application of preemptive weld overlays as a mitigation technique and/as a method to improve the examination surface condition for more complex configurations is becoming more common. These complex geometries may require several focused conventional transducers for adequate inspection of the overlay, the original weld, and the base material. Alternatively, Phased array ultrasonic probes can be used to generate several inspection angles simultaneously at various focal depths to provide better and faster coverage than that possible by conventional methods. Thus, this technology can increase the speed of examinations, save costs, and reduce radiation exposure. In this paper, we explain the general sequence of the inspection of weld overlay and the results of signal analysis for some PAUT (phased array ultrasonic testing) signals detected in on-site inspections.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.550-556
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• 2009

In an application of a time reversal(TR) focusing of array transducer on a defect inside the test material, we employ a new time delay focusing technique based the TR process. In order to realize this idea, a multi-channel ultrasonic system is constructed capable of applying necessary time delays to each channel. The TR-based focusing procedure first measures the backscattered signals after firing one of the array elements. A phase slope method is then used to determine the time-of-flights of the backscattered signals received by all elements of the array. These time delays are used to adjust the time of excitation of the elements for transmission focusing on the defect. In addition to the TR focusing, the classical phased array focusing is also considered for comparison. Experimental results show that the TR-based time delay focusing produces much stronger backscattered signals than the phased array focusing, demonstrating the enhanced capability of the TR focusing.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.78-82
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• 2010

The feeder pipe of Main Primary Heat Transfer System in Wolsong Nuclear Power Plant was inspected by the Ultrasonic Phase Array technique in 2010. It is the first time to apply this method to the construction at Nuclear Power Plant in Korea. The time required for UT technique is less than RT method. The UT method doesn't need to evacuate personnel who works nearby inspecting area and doesn't need to wait developing of film. For these reasons, the UT method is the fastest method among the volumetric inspections. As a result of the examination, it became clear that main defect of the feeder pipe is the Lack of fusion in the welded area. Moreover, the rate of defect was reduced gradually as improvement of welder's skill. If welding machine has problem, the defect has tended to same pattern(occurred same position in the welding area) but these defects were founded without specific rules. For these reasons, the creation of defect is dependent on the skill of worker not on the automatic welding machine. This evaluation of defect signal and collecting data would be useful to further examination in ISI.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2017

As the Non Destructive Test (NDT) for the welded structure, PT(Penetration Test). MT(Magnetic Test), RT (Radioisotope Test) and UT(Ultrasonic Test) methods are widely used in practice. These NDT methods have been developed toward high efficiency, low cost, real time, and high precise new NDT. For example, RT methods are developed to CT(Computed Tomography)and DR(Digital Radiography), and UT metheds are developed into Phased array, Guide wave, TOFD method. Moreover, the Infrared thermography and Laser ultrasonic technique are newly developed for applying in high temperature objects as the non-contact NDT methods. In this review paper the new high efficiency NDT methods for the welded structure are introduced and the trend of NDT rules applying in welded structure are described.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.578-595
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• 2020

Submarine pressure hulls must withstand high hydraulic pressure and be free of defects. To improve the precision of defect detection, we herein examined different probes for optimal defect assessment by applying the Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing (PAUT) method. Two sets of probe design parameters were selected by considering pressure hull characteristics and analyzed through modeling. PAUT probes were applied, and defect assessment results were compared based on ultrasonic signals of various simulated defects in specimens designed to be the same as actual pressure hulls. The final selected design parameters for the submarine probe, which were designed to minimize the grating lobe of wave interference effect and improve the ultrasonic resolution of pressure hull welds, were identified through the experiment. The improvement in the probe's ability to detect defects in a pressure hull was verified. Furthermore, the accuracy of defect length measurement was improved, enhancing the applicability of the technique.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.362-368
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• 2012

The objective of this study is to image the harmonic wave generated by contact acoustic nonlinearity in obliquely incident ultrasonic wave for early detection of closed cracks. A closed crack has been simulated by contacting two aluminum block specimens producing solid-solid contact interfaces and then acoustic nonlinearity has been imaged with contact pressure. Sampling phased array(SPA) and synthetic aperture focusing technique(SAFT) are used for imaging techniques. The amplitude of the fundamental frequency decreased with appling pressure. But, the amplitude of second harmonic increased with pressure and was a maximum amplitude at the simulation point of closed crack. Then, the amplitude of second harmonic decreased. As a result, harmonic imaging of contact acoustic nonlinearity is possible and it is expected to be apply for early detection of initial cracks.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.8 no.3 s.24
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• pp.31-36
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• 2004

Electrofusion(EF) joints have been widely used as they are easy to fuse and suitable for high-quality joints for polyethylene(PE) pipes. This paper studies the cause of defects and classifies 5 types of defects. The defect detection technique for electrofusion joints of polyethylene piping is utilized by the ultrasonic phased array technique to obtain ultrasonic images of electrofusion joints. Test sample joints have been designed and fabricated using artificial defects which were made using paper. Finally, we studied the condition of electrofusion in the field and analyzed the main causes of defects. And we classified the defect types as local lack of fusion, sand inclusion, voids or air inclusion, short stab, excess penetration or excess bead.