Paper number 531

NONDESTRUCTIVE INSPECTION AND EVALUATION METHODS FOR COMPOSITES USED IN THE MARINE INDUSTRY

J. R. Weitzenböck1 , A. T. Echtermeyer1 , P. K. Grønlund2 , F. Artiga-Dubois3 , and M. Parmar4

1Det Norske Veritas, Veritasveien 1, 1322-Høvik, Norway
2Kvaerner Mandal a.s, P O Box 283, 4501-Mandal, Norway
3DCN Indret, 44620 La Montagne, France
4Pera International, Melton Mowbray, UK

Summary The paper reports on a test and evaluation programme to compare different non-destructive inspection and evaluation methods for the inspection of single skin and sandwich panels and joints. As part of the benchmark test programme a number of T-joints and top hat stiffener specimens were built using single skin and sandwich construction. These specimens contained defects of various sizes which were located at different depths. The specimens were tested in the laboratory using ultrasonic and thermographic methods. In dition field tests on ship structures were carried out in ship yards to determine the performance of the ultrasound, infrared and automated coin tap methods in a production environment. These included tests on an old 2/3 scale section of a single-skin GRP minesweeper and a small ship section of sandwich construction which had been used in explosion trials. The paper summarises the results, comparing the different methods and showing their respective capabilities and limitations.
Keywords non-destructive evaluation (NDE), infrared thermography, ultrasonics, automated coin tap, field testing, joints

Theme : NDE and Reliability

[ HOME ]  [ BACK ]