The inspection of aircraft wiring has been given high priority because of recent catastrophic failures when frayed wire insulation has caused short circuits that have ignited aviation fuel. Long range ultrasonics has become an excepted tool for screening pipelines for corrosion, but when the opportunity arose within a TSB supported collaborative project to explore this technology for testing wires, it was apparent from the start that there were major hurdles to overcome. There was the obvious reduction in scale from a test piece of several centimetres in diameter to one of only a millimetre. There was also the added complication of cables being bundled together and twisted. Computer modelling was used to determine the viability of the ultrasound propagation and this was supported with experiments using piezo-electric and magneto-strictive transducers. Eventually pulse-echo ultrasound propagation was achieved over distances of 10 m, using MFC transducers and subsequently a new NDT tool has been developed for testing wires where they are obscured by bulkheads. This paper will describe the computer models used to derive dispersion curves for ultrasound propagation through wires, show some experimental results using laboratory equipment and describe the system being developed for field use.
Long Range ultrasonic testing of ageing aircraft wires
Weitreichende Ultraschallprüfung von gealterten elektrischen Flugzeugkabeln
2010
10 Seiten, 13 Bilder, 1 Tabelle, 3 Quellen
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Datenträger
Englisch
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