NDTnet 1998 Aug, Vol.3 No.8

Full-Text - Abstract

The inspection of some components in the nuclear power plants, in addition to the problems of gaining access to these areas, present other difficulties resulting from the complexity of their geometry. supposed orientation of the possible defects adds a new difficulty to the automatic inspection of these areas.
The new ultrasonic inspection techniques, developed by new equipment and reinforced by ARRAY technology, have made it possible to advance in the field of defect characterization, localization and sizing in these components. This report presents the recent development done by Tecnatom to inspect inner radius' nozzlesand CRD (Controls Rod Drivers) boiling water reactor vessel and turbine blades.

In these developments attempts have been made:

• To facilitate the localization, characterization and sizing of the defects.
• To simplify and improve the ultrasonic inspection to reduce the acquisition time.
• To position automatically the ultrasonic data.

To achieve this the following development have been done:

• New array transducers have been designed and manufactured.
• New mechanical equipment have been designed and manufactured.
• New data acquisition system has been developed.
• New programs have been developed to analyse data and to simulate the ultrasonic tests.
• Mock-up have been manufactured to validate the results.

Figure 1shows the components the inspections of which will be described in this report.

Figure 1.

Abstract Source:
Book of Abstracts, 7th European Conference on Non-Destructive Testing, 26-29 May 1998, ISBN: 87-986898-0-00

Full-Text Source:
Proceedings of the 7th European Conference on Non-Destructive Testing, 26-29 May 1998, ISBN:

Publication Contact:
7th ECNDT, Park Alle 345, DK-2605 Broendby, Denmark, Fax: +45 46 26 70 11, Email: 101373.3414@compuserve.com