Optimization of mechanized ultrasonic testing parameters for extended welds

The requirements for the speed, pitch and scanning direction, and also for ensuring acoustic contact maintenance and taking into account the anisotropy of rolled products during mechanized ultrasonic testing of extended welds of steel structures are formulated based on the research conducted and the analysis of the literature data on the conditions of diagnostics for main pipelines facilities. The relevance of the work is determined by a large amount of welded joints inspection, including butt and longitudinal pipe welds, casings of pig-trap stations, filters of different application purposes, and steel tank wall structures. The article formulates the general principles of choosing mechanized scanning parameters and shows the need to consider ultrasound scattering indicatrix on various defects. The issues of setting the monitoring parameters are considered, including the possibility of using vertical drilling (vertical cylindrical reflector) for the adjustment and check of the equipment during mechanized scanning.

A Ka-Band Cylindrical Paneled Reflectarray Antenna

Cylindrical parabolic reflectors have been widely used in those applications requiring high gain antennas. Their design is dictated by the geometric relation of the parabola, which relate the feed location, f, to the radiating aperture, D. In this work, the use of reflectarrays is proposed to increase D without changing the feed location. In the proposed approach, the reflecting surface is loaded with dielectric panels where the phase of the reflected field is controlled using continuous metal strips of variable widths. This solution is enabled by the cylindrical symmetry and, with respect to rectangular patches or to other discrete antennas, it provides increased gain. The proposed concept has been evaluated by designing a Ka-band antenna operating in the Rx SatCom band (19–21 GHz). A prototype has been designed and the results compared with the ones of a parabolic cylindrical reflector using the same feed architecture. Simulated results have shown how this type of antenna can provide higher gain in comparison to the parabolic counterpart, reaching a radiation efficiency of 65%.

Comprehensive method for evaluating results of ultrasonic testing of parts and components of rolling stock when adjusting the sensitivity for different reflectors

Operation of railway rolling stock is accompanied by high costs of maintaining its operating condition throughout the entire period of operation. To improve the operation efficiency of rolling stock, methods and diagnostics tools have been developed, which are used both in its manufacture and in carrying out maintenance and repairs, and as an independent technological process. Diagnostics allows to increase the availability factor and the probability of uptime of the rolling stock, reduce the complexity and cost of periodic maintenance of its nodes. The article proposes a new integrated method for estimating discontinuities in parts and units of railway rolling stock according to the amplitude — distance — diameter diagrams by the standardless method with the possibility of determining the type of discontinuity by the dual-frequency method of flaw-detection with a manual ultrasonic testing with a single-channel ultrasonic flaw detector. Developed method is most relevant in the control of cast parts of railway rolling stock, since castings can be equally likely to contain bulk (pores, shells, nonmetallic inclusions, etc.) and planar discontinuities (cracks of different origin; flocks; segregations that lead to violation continuity, etc.). Proposed method allows estimating the discontinuity by comparing the amplitude of the echo signal from it with the corresponding type of tuning reflector: if the discontinuity is planar as a result of using the two-frequency flaw-detection method, the comparison is carried out with the amplitude of the flat-bottomed cylindrical reflector; if the discontinuity is volumetric, then the comparison is made with the amplitude from the spherical reflector. The article describes the algorithm that was developed to automate the calculation of the parameters of the amplitude — distance — diameter diagram, the parameters of the use of the two-frequency method, and also the estimation of the detected discontinuities, and, based on it, the NDTRT-25 software that allows ensuring the convenience of the operator-diagnostician.