Automated Evaluation of Three Dimensional Ultrasonic Datasets

The application of Carbon Fibers Reinforced Polymers composites has remarkably increased over the late years especially in the aeronautical and automotive fields as well as in the civil infrastructures. The quality of the manufactured composites structures is subjected to very high requirements in order to ensure that the structure performs satisfactorily. The major non-destructive testing technique to inspect the quality of these components is the ultrasound modality. Manual ultrasonic testing has often provided a solution for conventional small scale inspection tasks. However, manual testing and evaluation of the scanning results are no more acceptable as a solution for inspecting large composite components. Nowadays, a rapid acquisition of ultrasound data over large structures is possible by using automated acquisition systems which often integrate the phased array technique. Still, a rapid acquisition is only a part of the solution for an automated NDT testing. The second issue which has to be solved is the analysis of the enormous amount of the generated data. This work proposes an approach that provides a solution for the data evaluation issue.