MEC4801 Assignment

This assignment contributes 10% to the entire unit.

Individual assignment
Due date: 5pm, Monday, 4th May 2015
Submit to: Dr. Wang Xin, room 5-4-10
Q1 [25 marks]
a)

Figure 1. Gas Turbine Engine Turbine Blade

Figure 1 shows a gas turbine blade made from a ferromagnetic steel alloy. The figure also
shows the blade contains a crack open to the specimen surface of length 30mm and of depth 1
mm and it is not visible to the naked eye. The crack is orientated at ninety degrees to the
blade surface. The wall thickness of the blade where the crack is, is 8 mm. State whether
liquid penetrant, magnetic particle inspection, eddy current, radiography and ultrasonics can
determine (or not determine) the presence, length, depth, position and shape of the crack.
Describe briefly the principles of the techniques and state which technique you would choose
to determine the presence of the crack.
b) The external perimeter of the blade cross section where the crack is in part a) is 80 mm.
Write a magnetic particle inspection technique to test only all the aerofoil surfaces of the blade
giving the orientation of defects which can be detected for each magnetization procedure. Use
1.7 amps AC RMS per mm of perimeter.
Q2 [10 marks]
An aircraft fuselage skin is composed of two layers of aluminum plates, riveted together
(Figure 2). First layer thickness is 1mm, second layer thickness is 1.5mm. How would you
determine whether a crack occurred in the first or the second layer? Calculate the necessary
testing frequencies.

1/5

Given

Figure 2

Q2 [20 marks]
A specimen consists of two horizontal metal plates, each 20 mm thick, fused together with no
air gap between them. The top plate is designated A and the bottom plate B. An
ultrasonic instrument is calibrated for 0 to 100mm for shear wave testing in plate A. This
instrument is used to drive a shear wave probe, which when placed on top of plate A,
produces an angle of 45 degrees to the normal in the plate. A small spherical defect is
detected in plate B which produces a signal which appears at a range of 50 mm on the
ultrasonic screen. What is the horizontal and vertical distance of the defect from the probe
index (or emission) point? The velocity of a shear wave in plate A is 3,230 m/s and in plate
B it is 3,000 m/s.
Q3 [25 marks]
a) The total unsharpness for a radiographic technique is 0.2828 mm. The film unsharpness is
0.2 mm. Calculate a radiographic technique to test welding defects for a steel plate of
thickness, 29 mm, using an x-ray instrument of 180 KV (Kilo Volts) and requiring a film
density of 2.5. Use Figures 3 and 4.
Given:
Instrument source size=3mm
Instrument maximum tube currrent=4mA
2/5

Film to be used is MX

Figure 3 Exposure chart for Steel (Fe), MX film, sfd = 1000mm, lead screens, density = 2

3/5

Figure 4 Film curves

b) The film is scanned and Figure 5 is the scanned radiographic image for the above. Use image
processing technique to enhance the image contrast and inspect if there is any defect in the steel
plate. In the submitted assignment, please include :
(i) the Matlab code,
(ii) the image before processing and the image after processing ,
(iii) identify the defect type,
(iv) describe briefly the principles of the image processing techniques you used.

4/5

Figure 5

Q4 [20 marks]
The pipe is vulnerable to attack by internal and external corrosion, cracking, third party
damage and manufacturing flaws. Such problems can cause expensive stoppages and serious
harm to the environment and people. Therefore early detection of any damage, preventive
maintenance and condition monitoring are essential. When a pipeline is built, NDT
technicians may use visual, X-ray, magnetic particle, ultrasonic and other inspection methods
to evaluate the welds and ensure that they are of high quality. Once the pipe is buried, it is
undesirable to dig it up. Please investigate the NDT techniques which can be used to inspect a
buried pipeline and describe briefly the principles of the techniques. (If you read any
articles or books in preparing your work, you need quote sources and put some of
the reference information in the text.)

5/5