Affiliations: [a] School of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangnan University,
Wuxi, Jiangsu, China | [b] Research Centre for Inspection and Evaluation of
Nuclear Structural Integrity, State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration
of Mechanical Structures, School of Aerospace, Xi'an Jiaotong University,
Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Yong Li, Research Centre for Inspection
and Evaluation of Nuclear Structural Integrity, State Key Laboratory for
Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, School of Aerospace, Xi'an
Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. Tel.: +86 0 29 8266 5721; E-mail:
yong.li@mail.xjtu.edu.cn
Abstract: Pulsed Eddy Current Testing (PECT) is one of the advanced
Electromagnetic Nondestructive Evaluation (ENDE) technology. In applications
for crack detection and evaluation, rectangular probes are found superior to
the cylindrical ones in terms of the directional characteristics and capability
of creating uniform eddy current distributions. In this paper, in a bid to
investigate the influence of parameters of a rectangular probe on inspection
sensitivity and seek the optimal probe structure, a numerical model for
conductivity/defect assessment with a rectangular probe is built up by using
Comsol. Following this, experiments on flaw evaluation are undertaken by using
the probe with the optimal parameters found in Finite Element Modelling (FEM).
Through simulations and experiments, it can be seen that the rectangular probe
with dimensions in the proportion of 2:1:1.5 (length:width:height) is optimal
for conductivity evaluation.
Keywords: Electromagnetic nondestructive evaluation, pulsed eddy current, rectangular probe, conductivity, defect detection and evaluation, finite element simulation
