Surgical Nondestructive Evaluation (SuNDE)
Abstract
This report summarizes the results of the Air Force program, Surgical NDE (SuNDE), and provides recommendations for the development and implementation of SuNDE to relevant limited access inspection applications. The motivation for SuNDE development is derived from the need to reduce costly disassembly and to extend inspection intervals by detecting smaller remote flaws. This report is an assessment of the needs and opportunities for cavity and obscured view inspections. The method chosen to bring the inspection challenges to light has been to develop and test a general SuNDE Tool on selected applications in an aircraft maintenance environment. That tool demonstrated the ability to perform eddy current cavity inspections from outside a wingbox with sensitivity to smaller size cracks around fasteners, which could enable extension of the current inspection interval over the present method. Special features of the tool included microvideo assistance for sensor placement and monitoring motions of the probe, self alignment of the sensor and automated rotation scanning. This report makes specific recommendations for continued development based upon the results of the tool evaluation and discussions with potential SuNDE users. In defining a future state for SuNDE, we also describe the opportunities for implementing autonomous NDE platforms, specifically, robotic snakes.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA549006
Entities
People
- Bill Motzer
- Gary Georgeson
- Paul Rutherford
Organizations
- Boeing