Development of new non-destructive diagnostic system that combines advanced ultrasonic measurement and computational mechanics

We conducted a research on the development of a new ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation method for FRP. We focused on the ultrasonic testing (UT) in this research. In general, the ultrasonic waves in FRP does not propagate isotropically because FRP has anisotropic property. Therefore, it is difficult for UT inspectors to understand the ultrasonic wave propagation behavior and this characteristic sometimes causes reduced accuracy to FRP inspection. To overcome the difficulty, we visualized complex ultrasonic wave propagation behavior in FRP using some simulation techniques, and utilized the visualization for UT for FRP. In addition, we developed basic non-destructive testing methods for FRP using advanced ultrasonic measurement methods such as laser ultrasonic waves and ultrasonic array transducers.