TY - CONF A1 - Prabhakara, Prathik A1 - Mielentz, Frank A1 - Stolpe, Heiko A1 - Behrens, Matthias A1 - Lay, Vera A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Ultrasonic Investigation for the Quality Assurance of Sealing Structures in Radioactive Waste Repositories N2 - The structural integrity of sealing structures in underground repositories for radioactive waste is a major concern regarding safe disposal. Non-destructive testing plays a very important role in the safety of this sealing structures. Ultrasonic pulse echo technology has been established in the construction industry as a non-destructive testing method for locating potential defects and material characterization of concrete structures. A borehole probe is an ultrasonic pulse-echo device used to investigate the internal structures of salt concrete. A prototype borehole probe is successfully demonstrated with the existing research borehole in the test site using a commercially available flaw detector. A novel phased array borehole probe that allows the beam to be focused based on the delay law was constructed and tested. The directivity measurements on the semi-cylindrical concrete sample agree well with the simulation results for the different focusing angles. In combination with geophysical reconstruction methods, the optimized radiation pattern of the probe is expected to improve the signal quality and thus increase the reliability of the imaging results. In addition, a unique large aperture ultrasound system (LAUS) is expected to provide enhanced images of possible cracks and embedded objects in in-situ structures. LAUS will be optimized to reliably detect objects at depths greater than 9 m and, at the same time, provide good resolution. Modeling studies show the potential to increase the distance between the transducer arrays further, and the same configuration has been successfully tested on a thick concrete wall. Overall, the paper shows that quality assurance using ultrasonic testing is crucial for constructing safe sealing structures to dispose of radioactive or toxic waste. T2 - NDE 2022 CY - Gandhinagar, India DA - 24.12.2022 KW - Ultrasonic Testing KW - Engineered barrier KW - Phased array technique KW - Non-destructive testing civil engineering KW - Quality assurance PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56802 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabe, U. A1 - Pudovikov, S. A1 - Herrmann, H.-G. A1 - Wiggenhauser, H. A1 - Prabhakara, Prathik A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Evaluation of retroreflective corner echo for detection of surface breaking cracks in concrete by ultrasound N2 - The retroreflective corner echo is used, for example, in ultrasonic non-destructive testing of metals to find fatigue cracks in tubes or shafts. If the much weaker crack tip signal is additionally detected, the crack length can also be determined. A corner reflection occurs in cases of surface breaking cracks with predominantly perpendicular orientation to the surface. The intensity of the corner reflection depends on the angle of incidence and on the ultrasonic wave mode used. For the reliable detection of vertical surface breaking cracks in metals, transversal waves are commonly used, which propagate at an angle of 37° to 53° to the inspection surface. As shown in this contribution, the wide spread low frequency ultrasonic arrays with dry point contact sources available for ultrasonic testing of concrete also allow to receive corner echoes. These devices generate transversal waves in concrete structures with a large divergence of the sound field. A series of experiments was carried out with such dry point contact arrays on concrete specimens with artificial test defects and controlled induced cracks of different depths. The ultrasonic time-of-flight signals were recorded, exported and reconstructed utilising the SAFT (Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique) algorithm. The SAFT reconstruction parameters were adjusted to visualize the corner echo indication. As will be shown, with this targeted processing, the reproducible detection of surface breaking cracks in concrete is possible. The retroreflective corner echo can thus be exploited in civil engineering for non-destructive inspection of concrete. T2 - NDT-CE 2022 CY - Zurich, Switzerland DA - 16.08.2022 KW - Concrete KW - Crack depth KW - Ultrasound KW - SAFT PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-563365 UR - https://www.ndt.net/article/ndtce2022/paper/27256_manuscript.pdf IS - 27256 SP - 1 EP - 4 PB - NDT.net AN - OPUS4-56336 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Prabhakara, Prathik A1 - Mielentz, Frank A1 - Stolpe, Heiko A1 - Behrens, Matthias A1 - Lay, Vera A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Validation of novel ultrasonic phased array borehole probe by using simulation and measurement N2 - Low-frequency ultrasonic testing is a well-established non-destructive testing (NDT) method in civil engineering for material characterization and the localization of cracks, reinforcing bars and delamination. A novel ultrasonic borehole probe is developed for in situ quality assurance of sealing structures in radioactive waste repositories using existing research boreholes. The aim is to examine the sealing structures made of salt concrete for any possible cracks and delamination and to localize built-in components. A prototype has been developed using 12 individual horizontal dry point contact (DPC) shear wave transducers separated by equidistant transmitter/receiver arrays. The probe is equipped with a commercially available portable ultrasonic flaw detector used in the NDT civil engineering industry. To increase the sound pressure generated, the number of transducers in the novel probe is increased to 32 transducers. In addition, the timed excitation of each transducer directs a focused beam of sound to a specific angle and distance based on the previously calculated delay time. This narrows the sensitivity of test volume and improves the signal-to-noise ratio of the received signals. In this paper, the newly designed phased array borehole probe is validated by beam computation in the CIVA software and experimental investigations on a half-cylindrical test specimen to investigate the directional characteristics. In combination with geophysical reconstruction methods, it is expected that an optimised radiation pattern of the probe will improve the signal quality and thus increase the reliability of the imaging results. This is an important consideration for the construction of safe sealing structures for the safe disposal of radioactive or toxic waste. KW - Ultrasound KW - Phased array KW - Concrete KW - Borehole PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-565722 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/s22249823 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 22 IS - 24 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-56572 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Prabhakara, Prathik A1 - Mielentz, Frank A1 - Stolpe, Heiko A1 - Behrens, Matthias A1 - Lay, Vera A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Construction and validation of a novel phased array borehole probe for ultrasonic investigations at sealing structures in radioactive repositories N2 - A new type of ultrasonic borehole probe is currently under development for the quality assurance of sealing structures in radioactive waste repositories using existing research boreholes. The goal is to examine the sealing structures made of salt concrete for possible cracks, delamination, and embedded objects. Earlier prototype probes use 12 or 16 individual dry point contact (DPC) horizontal shear wave transducers grouped into a transmitter and a receiver array, each made up of six or eight individual transducers. They are operated with a commercially available portable ultrasonic flaw detector used in the civil engineering industry. To increase the generated sound pressure of the borehole probe, the number of transducers in the novel probe is increased to 32. In addition, timed excitation of each probe is used to direct a focused sound beam to a specific angle and distance based on calculated time delays. Hence, the sensitive test volume is limited, and the signal-to-noise ratio of the received signals is improved. This paper presents the validation of the newly developed phased array borehole probe by beam computation in CIVA software and experimental investigations on a semi-cylindrical test specimen to investigate the directional characteristics. In combination with geophysical reconstruction techniques, an optimised radiation pattern of the probe is expected to improve the signal quality and thus increase the reliability of the imaging results. This is of great importance for the construction of safe sealing structures needed for the disposal of radioactive or toxic waste. T2 - NDT-CE 2022 CY - Zurich, Switzerland DA - 16.08.2022 KW - Borehole probe KW - Phased array technique KW - SealWasteSafe KW - Monitoring KW - Engineered barrier; PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-568016 SN - 1435-4934 SP - 1 EP - 4 PB - NDT.net AN - OPUS4-56801 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Prabhakara, Prathik T1 - Construction and Simulation of a Novel Phased Array Borehole Probe for Ultrasonic Investigations at Sealing Structures in Radioactive Repositories N2 - A novel ultrasonic borehole probe is developed for the quality assurance of sealing structures in radioactive waste repositories using existing research boreholes. The goal is to examine the sealing structures made of salt concrete for possible cracks, delamination, and embedded objects. A prototype probe uses 12 individual horizontal dry point contact (DPC) shear wave transducers separated by equidistant transmitter/receiver arrays of six individual transducers each. It is operated with a commercially available portable ultrasonic flaw detector used in the civil engineering industry. To increase the generated acoustic pressure of the borehole probe, the number of transducers in the novel probe is increased to 32. In addition, a timed excitation of each probe directs a focused beam of sound to a specific angle and distance based on calculated time delays. This limits the sensitive test volume and improves the signal-to-noise ratio of the received signals. This paper presents the validation of the newly developed phased array borehole probe by investigating the directivity through beam computation in the CIVA software and experimental investigations on a semi-cylindrical test specimen. It is expected that an optimised radiation pattern of the probe in combination with geophysical reconstruction methods will improve the signal quality and thus increase the reliability of the imaging results. This is of great importance for the construction of safe sealing structures needed for the disposal of radioactive or toxic waste. T2 - ISNT NDE 21 CY - Online meeting DA - 09.12.2021 KW - Borehole probe KW - Engineered barrier KW - Phased array technique KW - SealWasteSafe KW - Monitoring PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-54498 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -