Feature Extraction Approach for Defect Inspection in Eddy Current Pulsed Thermography

The eddy current pulsed thermography(ECPT)technique is a research focus in the non-destructive testing(NDT)area for defect inspection.Defect feature extraction for defect information analysis in ECPT is limited by image contrast,heat diffusion,background interference,etc.In this paper,a defect feature extraction approach in ECPT has been proposed to improve the quality of defect features,which is based on image partition,local sparse component evaluation,and feature fusion.This method can extract complete defect features by enhancing the defect area and removing background interference,such as noises and heating coil.Two typical steel specimens are utilized to testify the validity of the proposed approach.Compared with other three common feature extraction algorithms in ECPT,the proposed method can reserve more complete defect features and suppress more background interference.

Pulsed electromagnetic non-destructive evaluation and applications

This paper introduces recent research work in the field of pulsed electromagnetic non-destructive testing/evaluation.These are pulsed eddy current,pulsed magnetic flux leakage and eddy current pulsed thermography.This paper introduces pulsed electromagnetic techniques and their different case studies on defect detection as well as stress characterisation.Experimental tests have been validated and future research plans are discussed.This paper demonstrates pulsed electromagnetic non-destructive testing and evaluation for not only depth information,but also for multiple parameter measurement and multiple integration,which are important for future development.

Successes and challenges in non-destructive testing of aircraft composite structures

Composite materials are increasingly used in the aerospace industry.To fully realise the weight saving potential along with superior mechanical properties that composites offer in safety critical applications,reliable Non-Destructive Testing(NDT)methods are required to prevent catastrophic failures.This paper will review the state of the art in the field and point to highlight the success and challenges that different NDT methods are faced to evaluate the integrity of critical aerospace composites.The focus will be on advanced certificated NDT methods for damage detection and characterization in composite laminates for use in the aircraft primary and secondary structures.

Information Entropy of Angular Spectrum for Quantitatively Evaluating Eddy Current Distribution Varying in Time Domain

Eddy current (EC) distribution induced by EC sensors determines the interaction between the defectin the testing specimen and the EC, so quantitatively evaluating EC distribution is crucial to the design of ECsensors. In this study, two indices based on the information entropy are proposed to evaluate the EC energyallocated in different directions. The EC vectors induced by a rotational field EC sensor varying in the timedomain are evaluated by the proposed methods. Then, the evaluating results are analyzed by the principle ofEC testing. It can be concluded that the two indices can effectively quantitatively evaluate the EC distributionsvarying in the time domain and are used to optimize the parameters of the rotational EC sensors.

Generalization of the Second Order Vector Potential Formulation for Arbitrary Non-Orthogonal Curvilinear Coordinates Systems from the Covariant Form of Maxwell's Equations

A great number of semi-analytical models, notably the representation of electromagnetic fields by integral equations are based on the second order vector potential (SOVP) formalism which introduces two scalar potentials in order to obtain analytical expressions of the electromagnetic fields from the two potentials. However, the scalar decomposition is often known for canonical coordinate systems. This paper aims in introducing a specific SOVP formulation dedicated to arbitrary non-orthogonal curvilinear coordinates systems. The electromagnetic field representation which is derived in this paper constitutes the key stone for the development of semi-analytical models for solving some eddy currents moelling problems and electromagnetic radiation problems considering at least two homogeneous media separated by a rough interface. This SOVP formulation is derived from the tensor formalism and Maxwell’s equations written in a non-orthogonal coordinates system adapted to a surface characterized by a 2D arbitrary aperiodic profile.