8.4 Akustische und elektromagnetische Verfahren
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Automated Wall Thickness Evaluation for Turbine Blades Using Robot-Guided Ultrasonic Array Imaging
(2024)
Nondestructive testing has become an essential part of the maintenance of modern gas turbine blades and vanes since it provides an increase in both safety against critical failure and efficiency of operation. Targeted repairs of the blade’s airfoil require localized wall thickness information. This information, however, is hard to obtain by nondestructive testing due to the complex shapes of surfaces, cavities, and material characteristics. To address this problem, we introduce an automated nondestructive testing system that scans the part using an immersed ultrasonic array probe guided by a robot arm. For imaging, we adopt a two-step, surface-adaptive Total Focusing Method (TFM) approach.
For each test position, the TFM allows us to identify the outer surface, followed by calculating an adaptive image of the interior of the part, where the inner surface’s position and shape are obtained. To handle the large volumes of data, the surface features are automatically extracted from the TFM images using specialized image processing algorithms. Subsequently, the collection of 2D extracted surface data is merged and smoothed in 3D space to form the outer and inner surfaces, facilitating wall thickness evaluation. With this approach, representative zones on two gas turbine vanes were tested, and the reconstructed wall thickness values were evaluated via comparison with reference data from an optical scan. For the test zones on two turbine vanes, average errors ranging from 0.05 mm to 0.1 mm were identified, with a standard deviation of 0.06–0.16 mm.
Human factors (HFs) are a frequently mentioned topic when talking about the reliability of non-destructive testing (NDT). However, probability of detection (POD), the commonly used measure of NDT reliability, only looks at the technical capability of an NDT system to detect a defect.
After several decades of research on the influence of HFs on NDT reliability, there is still no commonly accepted approach to rendering HFs visible in reliability assessment. This paper provides an overview of possible quantitative and qualitative methods for integrating HFs into the reliability assessment. It is concluded that reliability assessment is best carried out using both quantifiable and non-quantifiable approaches to HFs.
Ultrasonic probes for high-temperature applications are provided with metallic wedges, which can withstand the contact with the high temperature of the inspected structure. The ultrasonic signal travels within the wedge and gets reflected from its boundaries, causing interference signals called “ghost echoes”. The current work presents an investigation of the additional damping effect provided by porous sintered metal plates applied onto the surface of the wedge. In particular, the study evaluates the effect of damping plate thickness on the interference signal level at different transmission frequencies. Damping plates made of sintered metal SIKA-R 15 AX were attached to a wedge prototype made of steel 1.4301. The study revealed, that the most effective thickness of damping plates in the selected frequency interval of 1 to 4 MHz is equal to 4 mm. The evaluation of the interference signal has shown that the application of such damping plates to the wedge surface contributes to an additional attenuation of an interference signal of 10 to 30 dB after 500 μs of signal propagation.
Hollow axle inspection can be performed without demounting the axles and without dismantling the wheels and the brake discs by using the drilling for the scan. To increase inspection reliability and inspection speed, the application of phased array systems instead of conventional probes is a good choice. For solid shaft inspection phased array setups became standard in the recent years. Nevertheless, for hollow axle inspection typically a number of conventional probes rotating through the axles drilling are applied.
The new approach uses an electronically steered rotating sound field from a phased array for the circumferential scan. This is realized by a cone shaped phased array which operates in immersion technique. That allows a significant increase in inspection speed and a reduction of the mechanical effort of the inspection system. The inspection can be carried out by a linear movement of the probe setup along the axles drilling. Applying additional focal laws allows exact inclination and focusing of the sound beam in the plane vertical to the specimen axis to concentrate the sound in the zones close to the external surface. An additional focus in the plane of incidence increases overall resolution and sensitivity.
The cone type phased array probe has been optimized to detect transversal flaws in and close to the outer surface of the hollow axle with orientation in the radial-radial plane. The prototype probe system, sound field simulations and measurement results are presented.
Increased speed, heavier loads, altered material and modern drive systems result in an increasing number of rail flaws. The appearance of these flaws also changes continually due to the rapid change in damage mechanisms of modern rolling stock. Hence, interpretation has become difficult when evaluating non-destructive rail testing results. Due to the changed interplay between detection methods and flaws, the recorded signals may result in unclassified types of rail flaws. Methods for automatic rail inspection (according to defect detection and classification) undergo continual development. Signal processing is a key technology to master the challenge of classification and maintain resolution and detection quality, independent of operation speed. The basic ideas of signal processing, based on the Glassy-Rail-Diagram for classification purposes, are presented herein. Examples for the detection of damages caused by rolling contact fatigue also are given, and synergetic effects of combined evaluation of diverse inspection methods are shown.
Matrix phased array probes are becoming more prominently used in industrial applications. The main drawbacks, using probes incorporating a very large number of transducer elements, are needed for an appropriate cabling and an ultrasonic device offering many parallel channels. Matrix arrays designed for extended functionality feature at least 64 or more elements. Typical arrangements are square matrices, e.g., 8 by 8 or 11 by 11 or rectangular matrixes, e.g., 8 by 16 or 10 by 12 to fit a 128-channel phased array system. In some phased array systems, the number of simultaneous active elements is limited to a certain number, e.g., 32 or 64. Those setups do not allow running the probe with all elements active, which may cause a significant change in the directivity pattern of the resulting sound beam. When only a subset of elements can be used during a single acquisition, different strategies may be applied to collect enough data for rebuilding the missing information from the echo signal. Omission of certain elements may be one approach, overlay of subsequent shots with different active areas may be another one. This paper presents the influence of a decreased number of active elements on the sound field and their distribution on the array. Solutions using subsets with different element activity patterns on matrix arrays and their advantages and disadvantages concerning the sound field are evaluated using semi-analytical simulation tools. Sound field criteria are discussed, which are significant for non-destructive testing results and for the system setup.