PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF

ADVANCED NDT: PAUT & ToFD

Dheeraj P R
ASNT & PCN NDT Level III
ExxonMobil Chemical Operations Pte Ltd
April 24th 2018
MTI Asia TAC Spring Conference
NTU North Buona Vista Campus, Singapore
 Agenda
• NDT Overview

• Ultrasonic Testing

• Advanced UT - PAUT & TOFD

• Case Study 1 - Effectiveness of Scan Plan

• Case Study 2 - Stainless Steel Inspection

• Statistical Analysis

2
 NDT Overview

ELECTRONICS ENERGY OIL & GAS

OIL & GAS CHEMICAL

CHEMICAL METAL AUTOMOBILE RAILWAY

3
 Ultrasonic Testing

THICKNESS GAUGING WELD FLAW DETECTION

4
 Evolution of Ultrasonics

Sampling Phased Array (FMC-TFM)

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020..?!
Advantages of Advanced UT Techniques
• No safety hazards.
• Better defect detection and sizing.
• No stoppage of near-by work unlike RT.
• Less time is required for inspection, saving on cost
and schedule
 PAUT & ToFD Inspection
Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing Time of Flight Diffraction
• Phased array consists of a number • It is based on diffraction of ultrasonic
of ultrasonic elements arranged in a waves on tips of discontinuities,
single probe (transducer), each of instead of geometrical reflection on
which can be pulsed independently. the interface of the discontinuities.
 PAUT & ToFD Inspection
Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing Time of Flight Diffraction

Cluster porosity Lack of Fusion Toe Crack

• Multiple ultrasonic elements are • Developed in nuclear industry for

arranged in a single array monitoring cracks
• The beams can be focused and • Widely used in pressure vessels &
steered electronically thick walled pipes
• Needs multiple Sectorial or Linear • Less sensitive to surface defects &
scans comparing to ToFD requires two side access
 PITCH
ELEMENT
QUANTITY
PROBE
OFFSET
PROBE BEAM INCIDENCE ANGLE

ADVANCED UT PARAMETERS
RANGE OF
ANGLES FOCUSING
APERTURE
FOCAL
BEAM DEPTH
FREQUENCY
WEDGE

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 Beam Incidence Angle

Mis-oriented
Oriented
defects
defects
Slag, porosity
LOF & LOP
& crack
Defect detection
Defect detection
depends highly on
depends highly on
the incident angle
range of the beam
of the beam
angles incident

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Case Study 1: Effectiveness of scan plan

11
Case Study 1: Effectiveness of Scan plan

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Case Study 1: Effectiveness of Scan plan
Scan plan 1 Scan plan 2

One unfocused S-scan (40°-70°) Two focused S-scans (55°-65°)

covering complete bevel with BIA 10° covering complete bevel with BIA 5°

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 Case Study 1: Effectiveness of Scan plan
Scan plan 1 Scan plan 2

One Unfocused S-scan (40°-70°) covering Two focused S-scans (40°-70°) covering
complete bevel with BIA 10° has resulted in complete bevel with BIA 5° has resulted in
poor detection and resolution between the good detection and resolution between the
defects defects.

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Case Study 2: Stainless Steel Inspection

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Carbon Steel Stainless Steel
vs
Inspection Inspection

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 Austenitic Stainless Steel Material
Austenitic SS Material Properties
SCATTERING, DISPERSION &
ATTENUATION
Anisotropy
• Physical characteristics of the material
(sound velocity, attenuation, beam
skewing) depend on crystal orientation.
Coarse grain structure
• Large grain structure causes more
attenuation and absorption of energy.
More attenuation
• Beam skewing, dispersion & scattering.
Inspection challenges by Conventional Techniques
Conventional UT techniques uses shear wave which experiences more absorption & scattering in SS
materials due to coarse grain structure.

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 Inspection Solution for SS weld
Dual Matrix Array Probes (DMA)
• Longitudinal waves have the ability to better penetrate
the large austenitic grains.
• Matrix probe has (2/4 rows) which enables better
spatial focusing.
• TRL mode- Separate transmitter/receiver arrangement
with reduced noise and zero dead zone.

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 Stainless Steel CIVA Simulation

• In Conventional PAUT, the beam gets attenuated and scattered on entering the SS weld.
• Whereas incase of DMA, the beam is focused and un-scattered inside the weld, leading
to effective inspection with higher Probability of Detection (POD).

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Typical PAUT Technique

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Typical ToFD Technique

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 Defect detection: LOF Simulation

DEFECT DEFECT
MISSED! DETECTED
Generally, LOF on the opposite side of the fusion bevel is difficult to detect, so a simulation to study the
detection capability of opposite LOF is studied.

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Typical PAUT Inspection Result

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 Typical ToFD Inspection Result

The use of PAUT/TOFD in lieu of RT has significant savings in-terms of schedule and
cost by enabling round the clock work without hindering other activities.

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CIVA Statistical Analysis: SS Inspection

a90/95 = 2.75 mm
Any surface crack of depth
above 2.75 mm are likely
POD

to be detected with 95%

confidence level for the
specific thickness studied.

Crack size

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 Reference
• Effect of Focal Law Parameters on Probability of Detection in Phased Array Ultrasonic
Examination using Simulation and case study approach, Materials Evaluation 74 (11), 1574-1591
(Slides 10, 12, 13 &14). Reprinted with the permission of the American Society for
Nondestructive Testing, Inc.

• Ultrasound Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Imaging with Transducer Arrays and Adaptive
Processing, Sensors 2012, 12(1), 42-54 (Slide 5 last image)

• www.olympus-ims.com [All images in slides - 3 (except the rightmost), 4, 5 (except the last), 6, 7,

8, 10 (except the top image), 17, 18]

• www.extende.com

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