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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Ultrasonic-Based Condition Assessment Of Wooden Utility Poles, Yishi Lee Jan 2020

Ultrasonic-Based Condition Assessment Of Wooden Utility Poles, Yishi Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

More than 300 million utility poles shoulder the utility grid in the United States. However, the ineffectiveness of the current inspection process causes roughly a third of utility poles removed from the service deemed suitable for reuse. Due to the utterly essential role of the power infrastructure, budget shrinkage, and the structural degradation of the modern distribution grid, this Ph.D. dissertation addresses the challenges by proposing a physics-based signal analysis method with a jointly developed ultrasonic UB1000 system c to enhance the objectivity in ultrasonic-based nondestructive evaluation (NDE). The proposed methodology has been deployed commercially in the field and featured …


Ultrasonic Nondestructive Evaluation Of Metal Additive Manufacturing., Venkata Karthik Nadimpalli May 2018

Ultrasonic Nondestructive Evaluation Of Metal Additive Manufacturing., Venkata Karthik Nadimpalli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) is increasingly being used to make functional components. One of the barriers for AM components to become mainstream is the difficulty to certify them. AM components can have widely different properties based on process parameters. Improving an AM processes requires an understanding of process-structure-property correlations, which can be gathered in-situ and post-process through nondestructive and destructive methods. In this study, two metal AM processes were studied, the first is Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM) and the second is Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF). The typical problems with UAM components are inter-layer and inter-track defects. To improve the …


Nondestructive Evaluation Of Salvage White Spruce, Tyler Hovde Jan 2018

Nondestructive Evaluation Of Salvage White Spruce, Tyler Hovde

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Knowledge of wood quality in dead standing trees is an important topic with recent increases in defoliation across North America. Obtaining wood quality information for defoliated trees would help stakeholders in the timber products industry sort and sell salvaged material for the highest possible value. This research investigates the ability to measure wood quality of white spruce (Picea glauca) after spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) attack using acoustic nondestructive evaluation. We compared stress wave velocities measured on standing trees to trees’ visual appearance. After harvest and processing of selected trees into bolts, standing-tree stress wave velocities were compared to bolt acoustic …


Comparison Of Lock-In And Pulse-Phase Thermography For Defect Characterization In Frp Composites Applied To Concrete, Jeff Brown, Sai Harsha Chittineni Jan 2015

Comparison Of Lock-In And Pulse-Phase Thermography For Defect Characterization In Frp Composites Applied To Concrete, Jeff Brown, Sai Harsha Chittineni

Publications

Thermal imaging is a well-established technique for the non-destructive evaluation of FRP composites applied to reinforced concrete. Defect characterization using IR thermography, however, remains a topic of on-going research, and there are currently no universally accepted standards for data collection or interpretation. This research involved large scale thermography inspection of two FRP strengthened bridge girders that were removed from service after approximately 10 years of service in a potentially corrosive marine environment. Trial inspections were performed on test areas where defects could be identified using sounding methods. Two procedures showed the most promise for identifying and characterizing defects: sinusoidal (lock-in …


Characterization Of Waviness In Wind Turbine Blades Using Air Coupled Ultrasonics, Sunil Kishore Chakrapani, Vinay Dayal, David K. Hsu, Daniel J. Barnard, Andrew Gross Aug 2014

Characterization Of Waviness In Wind Turbine Blades Using Air Coupled Ultrasonics, Sunil Kishore Chakrapani, Vinay Dayal, David K. Hsu, Daniel J. Barnard, Andrew Gross

Sunil Kishore Chakrapani

Waviness in glass fiber reinforced composite is of great interest in composite research, since it results in the loss of stiffness. Several NDE techniques have been used previously to detect waviness. This work is concerned with waves normal to the plies in a composite. Air‐coupled ultrasonics was used to detect waviness in thick composites used in the manufacturing of wind turbine blades. Composite samples with different wave aspect ratios were studied. Different wavy samples were characterized, and a three step process was developed to make sure the technique is field implementable. This gives us a better understanding of the effect …


Inspection And Evaluation Of Dry Fibers In Thick Composites, Vinay Dayal, Sunil Chakrapani, Daniel Barnard Aug 2014

Inspection And Evaluation Of Dry Fibers In Thick Composites, Vinay Dayal, Sunil Chakrapani, Daniel Barnard

Sunil Kishore Chakrapani

This paper presents the investigation of dry fibers in thick composites. Dry fibers can be defined as lack of epoxy in localized regions. These local regions act as potential defects in thick composites under compressive loads and act as an initiation point for defects such as matrix cracking and delamination. Detection and characterization of dryness in glass/epoxy composites, with thickness greater than one inch, is presented in this paper. One inch samples with dry fibers were fabricated and tested. Detection is carried out with the help of air coupled ultrasonics in both through transmission and singled sided inspection. To characterize …


Ultrasonic Testing Of Adhesive Bonds Of Thick Composites With Applications To Wind Turbine Blades, Sunil Kishore Chakrapani, Vinay Dayal, Ryan Krafka, Aaron Eldal Aug 2014

Ultrasonic Testing Of Adhesive Bonds Of Thick Composites With Applications To Wind Turbine Blades, Sunil Kishore Chakrapani, Vinay Dayal, Ryan Krafka, Aaron Eldal

Sunil Kishore Chakrapani

This paper discusses the use of pulse echo based ultrasonic testing for the inspection of adhesive bonds between very thick composite plates (thickness greater than 30 mm). Large wind turbine blades use very thick composite plates for its main structural members, and the inspection of adhesive bond-line is very vital. A wide gamut of samples was created by changing the thickness of plate and the adhesive. The influence of experimental parameters such as frequency on measurement is studied in this paper. Two different frequencies are chosen, and the measurement error bars are determined experimentally. T-Ray measurements were used to verify …


Ultrasonic Rayleigh Wave Inspection Of Waviness In Wind Turbine Blades: Experimental And Finite Element Method, Sunil Kishore Chakrapani, Vinay Dayal, Daniel J. Barnard, Aaron Eldal, Ryan Krafka Aug 2014

Ultrasonic Rayleigh Wave Inspection Of Waviness In Wind Turbine Blades: Experimental And Finite Element Method, Sunil Kishore Chakrapani, Vinay Dayal, Daniel J. Barnard, Aaron Eldal, Ryan Krafka

Sunil Kishore Chakrapani

This paper presents the investigation of discrete, out-of-plane waviness in thick composite plates with applications to wind turbine blades. The investigation was carried out with the help of air coupled ultrasonics and a two-step procedure was framed to assist production line implementation. The first step involved detection of marcels, and the second step involved the characterization of these marcels with the help of an index called aspect ratio. A set of standardized samples with known aspect ratios were fabricated and used for this study. Finite element models were created to understand the wave propagation in wavy composite plates. All the …


Inspection Of Helicopter Rotor Blades With The Help Of Guided Waves And "Turning Modes": Experimental And Finite Element Analysis, Daniel J. Barnard, Sunil Kishore Chakrapani, Vinay Dayal Aug 2014

Inspection Of Helicopter Rotor Blades With The Help Of Guided Waves And "Turning Modes": Experimental And Finite Element Analysis, Daniel J. Barnard, Sunil Kishore Chakrapani, Vinay Dayal

Sunil Kishore Chakrapani

Modern helicopter rotor blades constructed of composite materials offer significant inspection challenges, particularly at inner structures, where geometry and differing material properties and anisotropy make placement of the probing energy difficult. This paper presents an application of Lamb waves to these structures, where mode conversion occurs at internal geometric discontinuities. These additional modes were found to successfully propagate to the targeted regions inside the rotor and back out, allowing evaluation of the structure. A finite element model was developed to simulate wave propagation and mode conversion in the structure and aid in identifying the signals received in the laboratory experiment. …


Investigation Of Waviness In Wind Turbine Blades: Structural Health Monitoring, Sunil Kishore Chakrapani, Vinay Dayal, Daniel J. Barnard Aug 2014

Investigation Of Waviness In Wind Turbine Blades: Structural Health Monitoring, Sunil Kishore Chakrapani, Vinay Dayal, Daniel J. Barnard

Sunil Kishore Chakrapani

Waviness in composite wind turbine blades was detected and characterized with the help of air coupled ultrasonics. Based on the aspect ratio, the detected marcels are either accepted or rejected. A passive structural health monitoring approach has been presented here to monitor the accepted marcels above a threshold. The fatigue life of specimen is most affected in the presence of a marcel. Hence this study focused on the damage evaluation after fatigue testing. Wavy laminate was subjected to fatigue load to investigate the fracture mechanisms near the marcel. Different types of defects were identified from this study and were used …


Experimental Verification Of The Linear Relationship Between Stress And The Reciprocal Of The Peak Barkhausen Voltage In Astm A36 Steel, Orfeas Kypris, Ikenna Nlebedim, David Jiles Jan 2012

Experimental Verification Of The Linear Relationship Between Stress And The Reciprocal Of The Peak Barkhausen Voltage In Astm A36 Steel, Orfeas Kypris, Ikenna Nlebedim, David Jiles

Orfeas Kypris

This study presents an experimental validation of a model theory for determining the relationship between a nondestructive measurement parameter and a property of interest. It was found that the reciprocal of the peak envelope amplitude of the Barkhausen emission voltage follows a linear relationship with stress. A linear relationship between stress and the reciprocal of the root mean square voltage was also obtained. These observations represent an important step towards improving the use of Barkhausen signals for magnetic non-destructive evaluation of stress as a function of depth in ferromagnetic load bearing structures.


Heating Methods And Detection Limits For Infrared Thermography Inspection Of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites, Jeff R. Brown, H. R. Hamilton Jan 2007

Heating Methods And Detection Limits For Infrared Thermography Inspection Of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites, Jeff R. Brown, H. R. Hamilton

Publications

The use of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites to strengthen existing civil infrastructure is expanding rapidly. Many FRP systems used to strengthen reinforced concrete are applied using a wet lay-up method in which dry fibers are saturated on site and then applied to the surface. This research investigated using infrared thermography (IRT) as a nondestructive evaluation (NDE) tool for detecting air voids and epoxy-filled holes in FRP systems bonded to a concrete substrate. Four small-scale specimens with FRP thicknesses ranging from 1 to 4 mm (0.04 to 0.16 in.) containing fabricated defects were constructed and inspected in a laboratory setting. Three …


Pulsed Optoacoustics In Solids, Zibiao Wei Apr 2000

Pulsed Optoacoustics In Solids, Zibiao Wei

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Optoacoustic techniques are widely used to probe and characterize target materials including solids, liquids and gases. Included in such applications are diagnoses of thin films and semiconductor materials. The need to obtain greater spatial resolution requires the generation of shorter optoacoustic pulses. For such pulses, non-thermal effects may be quite important. On the other hand, even when an optoacoustic pulse is generated by an initially non-thermal technique, the thermal aspects become important in its evolution and propagation. The research undertaken in this Ph.D. dissertation included the generation and detection of optoacoustic signals through the thermal elastic mechanism. Several applications in …