EPSRC logo

Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/M016315/1
Title: Integrated Ultrasonic Imaging for Inspection of Near-Surface Defects in Safety-Critical Components
Principal Investigator: Lowe, Professor M
Other Investigators:
Huthwaite, Dr P
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Amec Foster Wheeler UK Rolls-Royce Plc (UK)
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Organisation: Imperial College London
Scheme: Standard Research
Starts: 01 January 2015 Ends: 31 December 2017 Value (£): 293,822
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Materials testing & eng.
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Aerospace, Defence and Marine Energy
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Panel DatePanel NameOutcome
08 Oct 2014 Engineering Prioritisation Panel Meeting 8th October 2014 Announced
Summary on Grant Application Form
The project aims to bring a step change improvement to the sensitivity of ultrasonic array imaging for Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) to address the needs of the power generation industry. This will be based on the processing of the Full Matrix Capture (FMC) set of signals between all pairs of transducer elements, as is already established for state-of-the-art Beam-Forming (BF) imaging, but the approach for treating the signals will be entirely different. Instead of calculating a direct image from the FMC measurements, an inverse scattering approach will be pursued: this will involve iterations of unknowns in an integrated forward model of the array configuration, material properties and geometry, to find a best match to the measured signals. This approach has been shown to overcome conventional BF limitations in the context of the imaging of biological tissues, achieving intensified sensitivity and sub-wavelength resolution. This project will develop the concept for NDE, employing a specific, but commonly encountered, critical inspection task as a realistic example to focus the work.

The proposal is being submitted within the UK Research Centre in NDE (RCNDE) to its targeted research programme. The proposal has been reviewed internally by the RCNDE, approved by the RCNDE board, and supported financially by two RCNDE industrial members.
Key Findings
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Potential use in non-academic contexts
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Impacts
Description This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Summary
Date Materialised
Sectors submitted by the Researcher
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Project URL:  
Further Information:  
Organisation Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk