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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number EP/M022528/1
Title Nonlinear Inspection Using Phased Arrays
Status Completed
Energy Categories Nuclear Fission and Fusion(Nuclear Fission, Nuclear supporting technologies) 20%;
Not Energy Related 60%;
Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electric power conversion) 20%;
Research Types Basic and strategic applied research 100%
Science and Technology Fields PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Metallurgy and Materials) 100%
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator Dr AJ Croxford
No email address given
Mechanical Engineering
University of Bristol
Award Type Standard
Funding Source EPSRC
Start Date 01 October 2015
End Date 30 April 2021
Duration 67 months
Total Grant Value £777,381
Industrial Sectors Aerospace; Defence and Marine; Energy
Region South West
Programme NC : Engineering
 
Investigators Principal Investigator Dr AJ Croxford , Mechanical Engineering, University of Bristol (100.000%)
  Industrial Collaborator Project Contact , BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies Limited (0.000%)
Project Contact , Foster Wheeler (0.000%)
Project Contact , E.ON New Build and Technology Ltd (0.000%)
Project Contact , Rolls-Royce PLC (0.000%)
Web Site
Objectives
Abstract Ageing infrastructure and the move towards more advanced materials raises new, currently unsolved, inspection challenges. Fatigue and creep damage are two of the most common modes of failure in engineering structures, yet both are extremely difficult to detect in early stages of development. Similarly, there is a growing need to inspect bonded joints, be it adhesively bonded composites for major engineering components, or diffusion bonded metal components such as super-plastically deformed fan blades. This lack of inspection technique is artificially limiting the lifetimes and use of engineering components and was recently highlighted as a key requirement on the 5-10 year horizon by a group of industrial end-users of Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE). They specifically highlighted the need for ``techniques identified for crack precursors, difficult and new engineering materials''.This fellowship will enable the applicant to develop practical and deployable nonlinear ultrasonic inspection techniques for monitoring of each of these damage scenarios, making use of recent developments in ultrasonic equipment, specifically highly flexible phased array systems and novel experimental techniques. The use of phased arrays, which are specifically tailored for NDE, is key. They allow multiple measurements without sensor repositioning, eliminating the high coupling and alignment variability that can readily mask the extremely small nonlinear signals. Even more importantly, the approach in this fellowship will enable localisation of nonlinearity within a specimen. This is currently not possible with any degree of reliability and represents a key barrier to wider adoption of this exciting inspection approach.
Publications (none)
Final Report (none)
Added to Database 10/11/15