Enhancement of reflection and backscattering components by plane wave imaging for estimation of surface roughness

In the early stage of atherosclerosis, the luminal surface of the arterial wall becomes rough. Methods for distinguishing between the reflected and backscattered components in the ultrasonic echo from the arterial wall has the potential to be used as a method for assessment of the roughness of the arterial wall. In this study, we proposed a method to distinguish between the reflected and backscattered components using a technique based on plane wave compounding. This method was evaluated by experiments using planar phantoms with rough surfaces made of polyurethane rubber. The coefficient of variation calculated from the mean value of the reflection component and the standard deviation of the backscattering component was proportional to the roughness of the rubber phantom. This result shows the potential usefulness of this method for analyzing surface roughness of the arterial wall.

Ultrasonic Echo Localization Using Seismic Migration Techniques in Engineered Barriers for Nuclear Waste Storage

In the framework of non-destructive-testing advanced seismic imaging techniques have been applied to ultrasonic echo data in order to examine the integrity of an engineered test-barrier designed to be used for sealing an underground nuclear waste disposal site. Synthetic data as well as real multi-receiver ultrasonic data acquired at the test site were processed and imaged using Kirchhoff prestack depth migration reverse time migration (RTM). In general, both methods provide a good image quality as demonstrated by various case studies, however deeper parts within the test barrier containing inclined reflectors were reconstructed more accurately by RTM. In particular, the image quality of a specific target reflector at a depth of 8 m in the test-barrier has been significantly improved compared to previous investigations using synthetic aperture focusing technique, which justifies the considerable computing time of this method.

Development and experimental testing of the technique of ultrasonic control of brazed joints of heat exchangers

High reliability requirements are imposed on the quality of the soldered joints. Typical defects in the soldered joints of heat exchangers are non-soldered. The minimum size of the non-penetration area that must be detected is about 1 square millimeter. The existing assessment of the quality of soldering is reduced to destructive tests. These tests include hydraulic and pneumatic tests. There are control technologies that use non-destructive methods. For example, the applicability of the ultrasonic echo method based on thermo-optical (laser) excitation of ultrasonic waves has been proven. However, continuous inspection of the liquid-propellant engine chamber using the traditional echo method is not rational, since the inspection speed is limited by the size of detected defects (1 square millimeter) and amounts to a few millimeters per minute. In order to increase the scanning speed without losing the ability to reliably detect defects such as “non-soldered”, it is proposed to use phased array antennas (PA) as a means of implementing the ultrasonic echo method. The paper considers the issues related to the interpretation of the information obtained when scanning the soldered joint, as well as issues related to modeling the acoustic field in the model of the soldered joint of the heat exchanger.

Peculiarities and Applications of Stochastic Processes with Fractal Properties

In this paper, the fractal properties of stochastic processes and objects in different areas were specified and investigated. These included: measuring systems and sensors, navigation and motion controls, telecommunication systems and networks, and flaw detection technologies. Additional options that occur through the use of fractality were also indicated and exemplified for each application. Regarding the problems associated with navigation information processing, the following fractal nature processes were identified: errors of inertial sensors based on the microelectromechanical systems called MEMS, in particular gyroscopic drift and accelerometer bias, and; the trajectory movement of mobile objects. With regard to navigation problems specifically, the estimation problem statement and its solution are given by way of the Bayesian approach for processing fractal processes. The modified index of self-similarity for telecommunication series was proposed, and the self-similarity of network traffic based on the R/S method and wavelet analysis was identified. In failure detection, fractality manifested as porosity, wrinkles, surface fractures, and ultrasonic echo signals measured using non-destructive sensors used for rivet compound testing.

An Effective Feature Extraction Method of Quantitative Recognition of Ultrasonic Echo for Bonding Quality of Composite Sheet

In this paper, a set of effective ultrasonic echo feature extraction method is proposed for the quantitative identification of thin plate composite bonding quality, which opens up a new research idea for the research of ultrasonic echo feature extraction for quantitative identification of thin plate bonding quality, and also lays a foundation for further quantitative identification of bonding structure debonding degree of thin plate. In addition to the time and frequency domain analysis, the empirical mode time-frequency analysis method is used to highlight the time-frequency characteristics of the echo signal, improve the resolution of the signal analysis, and expand the space for the echo signal feature extraction. The feature validity evaluation theory of fault diagnosis is introduced to evaluate the feature validity of high-dimensional signal parameters, and the invalid signal parameters are eliminated to obtain an effective echo signal feature set with low dimension. Using the exhaustive search strategy of feature selection theory, geometric distance measurement and information measurement evaluation criteria, and through the classification verification of support vector machine classifier, the effective feature vector for quantitative identification of adhesive quality is obtained.

Determination of thickness and quality of refractory linings in industrial furnaces using acousto ultrasonic echo

Refractory linings in metallurgical furnaces undergo deterioration and wearing with time. The deterioration is caused mainly by thermomechanical mechanisms leading to cracks, chemical degradation and loss of heat transfer capability. Any sudden failure of the lining is dangerous and could affect the structural integrity of the furnace, leading to production loss and costly refurbishment. Non-destructive testing (NDT) and monitoring of refractory lining would lead to better safety, longer use of the vessel, production optimization, controlled maintenance and increased production. Thickness measurements and monitoring of the refractory lining in operating furnaces is possible using Acousto Ultrasonic -Echo (AU-E) technique. This technique uses stress waves of both acoustic and ultrasonic ranges in order to determine thickness and integrity. This thesis presents the details of AU-E technique in addition to laboratory measurements to determine parameters leading to the in-situ measurements. Finally, three case studies are presented to substantiate the theoretical and laboratory measurements.