JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #83 - August/September 2013 - 73

Fig. 7: 3D and top views of an L-shaped
composite part with a tight radius

into three sections: the top section
corresponds to the vertical wall (short
leg of the “L”), the middle section to
the radius, and the bottom section to
the large panel region. Without SAUL,
it was difficult to obtain acceptable
results for the radius section. With
SAUL, full coverage of the radius is
achieved as can be seen in the C-scans.
To simulate probe misalignment
arising from part variability or poor

Fig. 8: Amplitude and time-of-flight C-scans for
the part pictured in Figure 7 obtained with a 2D
matrix probe and SAUL

positioning, the part was shifted by 5
mm in the long direction (X axis) and
re-inspected with the probe position
and scan plan unchanged. The shift
in position results in the probe being
at the wrong angle with respect to the
part because of the curvature in the
X-Y plane. This is evident in the timeof-flight (TOF) C-scan (right-hand
image in Figure 9), particularly for
the vertical wall and radius sections.
The non-uniform time-of-flight data
indicates that the relative position of
the probe and part has changed and is
different from the scan plan (compared
to the TOF C-scan shown in Figure
8 obtained with the correctly aligned
probe). In spite of the probe misalignment, the amplitude C-scan obtained
using SAUL (left-hand image in Figure
9) compares very well to the C-scan
obtained with the probe correctly
positioned (left-hand image in Figure
8). The agreement of the two amplitude scans demonstrates that SAUL
has successfully compensated for the
misaligned probe.

Conclusions
Advanced technologies do not nec-

Fig. 9: Amplitude and time-of-flight C-scans
obtained with the matrix probe and SAUL for
the same part as in Figure 8 with part position
shifted 5mm to simulate probe misalignment

essarily equate to a state-of-the-art
system. Integration is the key. Not only
should the NDT solution be capable of
meeting the inspection challenges, but
the integrated system should also be
able to meet the production requirements. Quality has to be ensured
while also maintaining high production volumes. CAD/CANDT reduces
the entire manufacturing cycle time,
as NDT and CAD personnel become
part of a unified team. SAUL has the
ability to compensate for misalignment
and part variability, and is therefore
an important tool in achieving system
compliance in the face of industrial
realities.
A fully-integrated CAD/CANDT
system with SAUL is an industrial solution that has been demonstrated to be
capable of meeting today’s demanding
challenges in composite manufacturing. n
More information:
www.bercli.net
www.contourdynamics.com
References
[1] D. Hopkins, G. Neau, W. V. Johnson, L. Le Ber, and P. Calmon, “Surface
Adaptive Ultrasound for Phased-Array
Inspection of Complex Composite
Specimens,” presented at Review of
Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation, Burlington, Vermont,
2011.
[2] D. Hopkins, G. Neau, and L. Le Ber,
“Advanced Phased Array Technologies
for Ultrasonic Inspection of Complex
Composite Parts,” in Proc. of International Workshop on Smart Materials,
Structures & NDT in Aerospace, NDT
in Canada 2011, 2-4 Nov., Montreal,
Quebec.
[3] S. Mahaut, O. Roy, S. Chatillon, and
P. Calmon, “Modeling and Application
of Phased Array Techniques Dedicated
to Complex Geometry Inspection,” in
Review of Progress in Quantitative
Nondestructive Evaluation 21, edited
by D. O. Thompson and D. E. Chimenti,
AIP Conference Proceedings vol. 615,
American Institute of Physics, Melville,
NY, 2002.

No83 August - September 2013

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JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #83 - August/September 2013

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