• Journal of Applied Reliability
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.240-249
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to find which technique, between the PAUT (Phased array ultrasonic test) that has been used widely in practice and RT (Radiographic test) that was used widely in the past, has the higher reliability as a non-destructive testing of welding points in water wall tubes. Methods: To evaluated the reliability of non-destructive testing, eleven test pieces that were fabricated intentionally, which have the most frequently occurred defect types in water wall tubes and then both the PAUT and RT were performed on those eleven test pieces to compare their reliability. Results: The differences of type of defect, length are occurred due to the characteristics of nondestructive testing. The RT could not detect the lack of fusion defect type in specimen #4 and #8 while PAUT could not detect the lateral crack and 1 mm size small porosity in specimen #11. Conclusion: It is concluded that applying both the RT and PAUT result the best reliability rather than applying only one test method, if it is possible, in nondestructive testing of weld water wall tube in thermal power plant boiler case.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.615-627
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• 2013

One of the most common defects in reinforced concrete bridge decks is corrosion of steel reinforcing bars. This invisible defect reduces the deck stiffness and affects the bridge's serviceability. Regular monitoring of the bridge is required to detect and control this type of damage and in turn, minimize repair costs. Because the corrosion is hidden within the deck, this type of damage cannot be easily detected by visual inspection and therefore, an alternative damage detection technique is required. This research develops a non-destructive method for detecting reinforcing bar corrosion. Experimental modal analysis, as a non-destructive testing technique, and finite element (FE) model updating are used in this method. The location and size of corrosion in the reinforcing bars is predicted by creating a finite element model of bridge deck and updating the model characteristics to match the experimental results. The practicality and applicability of the proposed method were evaluated by applying the new technique to a two spans bridge for monitoring steel bar corrosion. It was shown that the proposed method can predict the location and size of reinforcing bars corrosion with reasonable accuracy.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.290-295
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• 2000

The joint treatment of concrete is one of the technical problems in top down construction method. Joints created with the top down construction result in serious weakness from the aspects of both structural and water-barrier function. Ultrasonic method was used for the inspection of top down construction joints of a various column in SRC structure in this study. The advantages and limitations of this method for non-destructive inspection in top down construction joints are investigated. As a result, it has been verified that the semi-direct measurement method is more effective than the other methods for detecting the voids of construction joints using ultrasonic method.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.157-167
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• 1999

Among several non-destructive testing methods, ultrasonic pulse velocity method and rebound index method have been widely used for the evaluation of concrete strength. However, such methods might not provide accurate estimated results since factors influencing the relationship between strength and either ultrasonic pulse velocity or rebound index are not considered. In this paper, the evaluation method of concrete strength using rod-wave velocity measured by impact-resonance method is proposed. A basic equation is obtained by the linear regression of velocity vs, strength data at specific age and then, aging factor is employed in the equation to consider the difference of the increasing rate between wave velocity and strength. Strengths predicted by the proposed equation agree well with test results. Furthermore, the combined method of rod-wave velocity and rebound index is proposed.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.173-191
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• 2010

Damage detection plays a very important role to the maintenance of bridge structures. Traditional damage detection methods are usually based on structural dynamic properties, which are acquired from pre-installed sensors on the bridge. This is not only time-consuming and costly, but also suffers from poor sensitivity to damage if only natural frequencies and mode shapes are concerned in a noisy environment. Recently, the idea of using the dynamic responses of a passing vehicle shows a convenient and economical way for damage detection of bridge structures. Inspired by this new idea and the well-established tap test in the field of non-destructive testing, this paper proposes a new method for obtaining the damage information through the acceleration of a passing vehicle enhanced by a tapping device. Since no finger-print is required of the intact structure, this method can be easily implemented in practice. The logistics of this method is illustrated by a vehicle-bridge interaction model, along with the sensitivity analysis presented in detail. The validity of the method is proved by some numerical examples, and remarks are given concerning the potential implementation of the method as well as the directions for future research.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.11 no.7
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• pp.595-601
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• 2005

A mobile robot system utilizing NDT (Non-Destructive Testing) method is designed and fabricated f3r automatic integrity evaluation of large sized industrial reservoirs and pipelines. The developed mobile robot can crawl over the outer surface of the industrial facilities even though the shape of the structures is various and unsymmetric. The robot detects defects such as pinholes, cracks and thickness reduction at the wall of the facilities using EMAT (Electro-Magnetic Acoustic Transducer). Image processing technology for weld line detection at the surface of the target and host programs including defect detecting algorithms are also developed. Automation of defect detection for these kinds of large facilities using mobile robots is helpful to prevent significant troubles of the structures without danger of human beings under harmful environment.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.153-169
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• 2018

A submarine has a pressure hull that can withstand high hydraulic pressure and therefore, requires the use of highly advanced shipbuilding technology. When producing a pressure hull, periodic inspection, repair, and maintenance are conducted to maintain its soundness. Of the maintenance methods, Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) is the most effective, because it does not damage the target but sustains its original form and function while inspecting internal and external defects. The NDT process to detect defects in the welded parts of the submarine is applied through Magnetic particle Testing (MT) to detect surface defects and Ultrasonic Testing (UT) and Radiography Testing (RT) to detect internal defects. In comparison with RT, UT encounters difficulties in distinguishing the types of defects, can yield different results depending on the skills of the inspector, and stores no inspection record. At the same time, the use of RT gives rise to issues related to worker safety due to radiation exposure. RT is also difficult to apply from the perspectives of the manufacturing of the submarine and economic feasibility. Therefore, in this study, the Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing (PAUT) method was applied to propose an inspection method that can address the above disadvantages by designing a probe to enhance the precision of detection of hull defects and the reliability of calculations of defect size.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.640-648
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• 2004

This paper describes a new magnetization method for non-destructive testing with magneto-optical sensor (denoted as MO sensor) which have the following characteristic : high observation sensitivity, independence of the crack orientation, and precise imaging of a complex crack geometry such as multiple cracks. When a magnetic field is applied normally to the surface of a specimen which is significantly larger than its defects, approximately the same magnetic charge per unit area occurs on the surface of the specimen. If there is a crack in the specimen, magnetic charge per unit area has the same value at the bottom of the crack. The distribution of the vertical component of the magnetic flux density, B$\_$Z/, is almost uniform over the no-crack area (denoted as B$\_$Z,BASE/), while the magnetic flux density is smaller in the surroundings of the crack(denoted as B$\_$Z,CRACK/) If B$\_$Z, BASE/ is a bit larger than the saturated magnetic flux density of the MO sensor (B$\_$s/) , then small magnetic domains occur over the crack area and a large domain over the non-crack area because B$\_$Z,CRACK/ is smaller than B$\_$s/.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.427-439
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• 2006

Accurate estimates of in place thickness of early age (3 to 28 days after casting) concrete pavements are needed, where a thickness accuracy of ${\pm}6mm$ is desired. The impact-echo method is a standardized non-destructive technique that has been applied for this task. However, the ability of impact-echo to achieve this precision goal is affected by Vp (measured) and ${\beta}$ (assumed) values that are applied in the computation. A deeper understanding of the effects of these parameters on the accuracy of impact-echo should allow the technique to be improved to meet the desired accuracy goal. In this paper, the results of experimental tests carried out on a range of concrete slabs are reported. Impact-echo thickness estimation errors caused by material property gradients and sensor type are identified. Correction factors to the standard analysis method are proposed to correct the identified errors and to increase the accuracy of the standard method. Results show that improved accuracy can be obtained in the field by applying these recommendations with the standard impact-echo method.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.513-521
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• 2017

The purpose of this paper is to study the capabilities of the impulse response method in length and flaw detecting for concrete piles and provide a suggested method to find small-size flaws in piles. In this work, wavelet transform is used to decompose the recorded time domain signal into a series of levels. These levels are narrowband, so the mix of different dominant bandwidths can be avoided. In this study, the impulse response method is used to analyze the signal obtained from the wavelet transform to improve the judgment of the flaw signal so as to detect the flaw location. This study provides a new way of thinking in non-destructive testing detection. The results show that the length of a pile is easy to be detected in the traditional reflection time or frequency domain method. However, the small flaws within pile are difficult to be found using these methods. The proposed approach in this paper is able to greatly improve the results of small-size flaw detection within piles by reducing the effects of any noise and clarifying the signal in the frequency domains.