Detection of fatigue cracks in cladded blocks

A nuclear reactor pressure vessel (RPV) operates at high temperatures. Feedwater nozzles are susceptible to thermal fatigue; and, after a large number of plant startup/shutdown cycles, thermal fatigue cracking may be initiated at these nozzles. In order to address this problem, ultrasonic data were acquired from five cladded specimens with overall approximate 4-mm thick stainless steel cladding; the specimens contained one fatigue crack each. The study evaluates the application of signal processing and pattern recognition methods to discriminate between base metal-to-clad interface signals and fatigue crack signals. Details are presented