This paper reports experimental sizing of fatigue crack profiles that are initiated from artificially made circumferential starter notches in stainless steel pipes of 169 mm outer diameter and 14.33 mm thickness, which were subjected to cyclic bending loads in a four point bending load arrangement using two nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods: (a) phased array ultrasonic technique and (b) alternating current potential drop technique. The crack growth estimated using the two NDE techniques were compared with the beach marks that were present in the fracture surface. A simulation study using the ray tracing method was carried out to model the ultrasonic wave propagation in the test specimen, and the results were compared with the experimental results. Copyright © 2007 by ASME.

Krishnan Balasubramaniam

Department of Mechanical Engineering

C V Krishnamurthy

Department Of Physics

L. Satyarnarayan

Nondestructive examination

Ray tracing

Stainless steel

Steel pipe

ULTRASONIC MEASUREMENT

ULTRASONIC PROPAGATION

BEACH MARKS

CRACK SIZING

PHASED ARRAY ULTRASONIC MEASUREMENT

Fatigue crack propagation

IIT Madras is a public technical and research university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Founded in 1959, it is recognised as an Institute of National Importance.

IIT Madras has been ranked as the top engineering institute in India for four years in a row by the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the MHRD

It currently offers undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees across 16 disciplines in Engineering, Sciences, Humanities and Management. About 596 faculty belonging to science and engineering departments and centres of the Institute are engaged in teaching, research and industrial consultancy.

IIT Madras

Phased Array Ultrasonic Measurement of Fatigue Crack Growth Profiles in Stainless Steel Pipes

Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, Transactions of the ASME

The determination of depth profile of vertical fatigue cracks generated in thick cruciform samples using an ultrasonic phased array is investigated in this paper. The cracks were formed by conducting fatigue fracture test on two mild steel cruciform specimens of 135 mm thickness: one under room temperature and the other under subzero temperature (-70°C). A semi-elliptical surface starter notch of 2 mm width and more than 400 mm length was initially created in the specimens. Alternating current potential drop technique and phased array ultrasonic technique were attempted in order to determine the depth profiles of the starter notch as well as that of the crack. Virtual experiments carried out with a finite-difference time domain based numerical model were found to be advantageous in reducing actual experimental trials, facilitate an understanding of the echo signatures, and help assess the crack depth. The profiles of the crack and the notch were verified through destructive assay of the samples and subsequent dye penetrant assisted physical measurements. Copyright © 2009 by ASME.

Improved imaging of fatigue crack profile in thick cruciform samples using ultrasonic phased array models

New techniques developed using the array transducer, to image and size the bottom-surface and near-through-wall crack-like defects in thick carbon steel components are discussed. Three studies are reported here including (a) Optimal beam steering angle for focused and unfocused inspection using phased array method for bottom-surface crack sizing. (b) A front wall correction algorithm for sizing of near-through-wall crack-like defects. (c) A small aperture technique for sizing of near-through-wall crack-like defects. A Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) based simulation was used to study and verify the experimental observations. The application of time domain scheme relative arrival time technique (RATT), to measure the size of the near-through wall crack-like defects for the leak before break (LBB) criterion, was also investigated and found to be insufficient. A conventional SAFT algorithm was used for improving the sizing using the small aperture technique. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Journal of Nondestructive Evaluation

Sizing cracks in power plant components using array based ultrasonic techniques

This article reports simulation studies of ultrasonic wave generation and reception using the sector scan feature of a phased array transducer to image and size crack-like defects in large pipes, elbows, and tee sections. The simulations were based on a two-dimensional implementation of the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method. Experiments were conducted to validate modeling results for pulse-echo simulations of the phased array transducer on pipe samples with notches of three different sizes. The defects were imaged using the sector scan mode of the phased array and sized using the Absolute Arrival Time Technique (AATT). A 64 element, 5 MHz linear phased array transducer with the ultrasonic beam swept over an angular range of 10°-75° (refracted angles), directly in contact with the specimen, was used. Simulation and experimental studies were also conducted to image and size cracks in elbow and tee section pipes.

Research in Nondestructive Evaluation

Finite difference time domain simulation of ultrasonic phased array sector scan for imaging cracks in large pipes, elbows, and tee sections

Phased array ultrasonics can be used as a rapid tool for imaging and sizing crack-like defects. This paper reports the simulation of phased array ultrasonic wave interaction with the defects using the finite-difference time domain (FDTD) method. Experiments were conducted to validate modeling results for pulse-echo simulations of the phased array transducer on a mild-steel (MS) pipe sample with circumferential internal surface notches of three different sizes. Experiments were carried out on the MS pipe specimen using a conventional ultrasonic technique with a 5 MHz transducer at 45° refracted angle within the specimen and the defects were imaged and sized using the relative arrival time technique (RATT). The experimental B-scans obtained using the conventional ultrasonic techniques were compared with the experimental B-scans obtained using the phased array instrument. Simulation studies were also carried out by steering the beam to the requisite angles by the phased array transducer to study the effect of various angles of incidence on the defect definition, i.e., with respect to imaging and sizing, using the RATT. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping

Simulation of ultrasonic phased array technique for imaging and sizing of defects using longitudinal waves

A simulation program SIMULTSONIC is under development at CNDE to help determine and/or help optimize ultrasonic probe locations for inspection of complex components. SIMULTSONIC provides a ray-trace based assessment initially followed by a displacement or pressure field-based assessment for user-specified probe positions and user-selected component. Immersion and contact modes of inspection are available in SIMULTSONIC. The code written in Visual C++ operating in Microsoft Windows environment provides an interactive user interface. In this paper, the application of SIMULTSONIC to the inspection of very thin-walled pipes (with 450 um wall thickness) is described. Ray trace based assessment was done using SIMULTSONIC to determine the standoff distance and the angle of oblique incidence for an immersion mode focused transducer. A 3-cycle Hanning window pulse was chosen for simulations. Experiments were carried out to validate the simulations. The A-scans and the associated B-Scan images obtained through simulations show good correlation with experimental results, both with the arrival time of the signal as well as with the signal amplitudes. The scope of SIMULTSONIC to deal with parametrically represented surfaces will also be discussed. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Fulltext

AIP Conference Proceedings

Simultsonic: A simulation tool for ultrasonic inspection

Ultrasonic time of flight diffraction (TOFD) for sizing defects is based on the time of flight of the diffracted echo that is generated when a longitudinal wave is incident on a crack tip. This technique has the limitation during near-surface inspection due to signal superposition. Here, this limitation is overcome by using the shear wave-diffracted signal (instead of longitudinal wave) and hence called S-TOFD. Experiments were conducted on samples with defect tip closer to the surface of a flat plate sample to illustrate the utility of the S-TOFD technique. An increase in the flaw sizing accuracy, by using the shear wave-diffracted echoes from the tip and through the application of a signal processing technique (ESIT), was demonstrated. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

NDT and E International

Shear-wave time of flight diffraction (S-TOFD) technique

Nondestructive Evaluation of Materials

Phased Array Ultrasound

Ultrasonics

Depth gauging of defects using low frequency wideband Rayleigh waves

International Journal of Fatigue

In situ ultrasonic monitoring of surface fatigue crack initiation and growth from surface cavity

Phased array ultrasonic measurement of fatigue crack growth profiles in stainless steel pipes

Journal	Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, Transactions of the ASME
ISSN	00949930
Open Access	No