Self-Calibrating Ultrasonic Methods for In-Situ Monitoring of Fatigue Crack Progression
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0250 (United States)
- G.W.Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0405 (United States)
Ultrasonic sensors permanently affixed to aluminum coupons are used to monitor progression of damage during fatigue testing with the long term goal of structural health monitoring for diagnostics and prognostics. Necessary for success are proper design of the ultrasonic testing methods, robust transducer mounting techniques, and real-time signal processing for determining the state of the structure. It is also highly desirable for the overall system to be self-calibrating with built-in diagnostics in order to detect and compensate for sensor degradation or failure. Self-calibrating ultrasonic techniques are applied for monitoring of cracks initiating and propagating from the inaccessible inner diameters of rivet holes where the transducers are mounted on the accessible specimen surface. Angle beam ultrasonic methods are utilized that are suitable for detecting small defects in critical local regions of high stress. Results are presented for aluminum coupons subjected to low cycle fatigue and demonstrate ultrasonic tracking of crack growth.
- OSTI ID:
- 20655360
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 760, Issue 1; Conference: Conference on review of progress in quantitative nondestructive evaluation, Golden, CO (United States), 25-30 Jul 2004; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.1916884; (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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