Dynamic thermal tomography for nondestructive inspection of aging aircraft

Nancy K. Del Grande; Kenneth W. Dolan; Philip F. Durbin; Michael R. Gorvad; Arthur B. Shapiro

doi:10.1117/12.163856

3 December 1993 Dynamic thermal tomography for nondestructive inspection of aging aircraft

Nancy K. Del Grande, Kenneth W. Dolan, Philip F. Durbin, Michael R. Gorvad, Arthur B. Shapiro

Proceedings Volume 2001, Nondestructive Inspection of Aging Aircraft; (1993) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.163856
Event: SPIE's 1993 International Symposium on Optics, Imaging, and Instrumentation, 1993, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

We apply dual-band infrared (DBIR) imaging as a dynamic thermal tomography tool for wide area inspection of a Boeing 737 aircraft (owned by the FAA/AANC at the Sandia hangar in Albuquerque, NM) and several Boeing KC-135 aircraft panels (used for the round robin experiment conducted at Tinker AFB, OK). Our analyses are discussed in this report. After flash-heating the aircraft skin, we record synchronized DBIR images every 40 ms, from onset to 8 seconds after the heat flash. We analyze selective DBIR image ratios which enhance surface temperature contrast and remove surface-emissivity clutter (from dirt, dents, tape, markings, ink, sealants, uneven paint, paint stripper, exposed metal and roughness variations). The Boeing 737 and KC-135 aircraft fuselage panels have varying percent thickness losses from corrosion. We established the correlation of percent thickness loss with surface temperature rise (above ambient) for a partially corroded F-18 wing box structure (with a 2.9 mm uncorroded thickness) and several aluminum plates (with 1.0, 1.1, 2.3, and 3.9 mm thicknesses) which had 6 to 60% thickness losses at milled flat-bottom hole sites.

Citation Download Citation

Nancy K. Del Grande, Kenneth W. Dolan, Philip F. Durbin, Michael R. Gorvad, and Arthur B. Shapiro "Dynamic thermal tomography for nondestructive inspection of aging aircraft", Proc. SPIE 2001, Nondestructive Inspection of Aging Aircraft, (3 December 1993); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.163856

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