Detection and depth determination of corrosion defects in embedded bolts using ultrasonic testing technique

A great number of anchor bolts are used to fix various components to concrete foundation in thermal and nuclear power plants. As aging power plants degrade, it is feared that defects resulted from corrosion may occur underground. In this paper, a measurement method utilizing the phased array technique is developed to detect such defects. Measurement results show that this method can detect local and circumferential corrosion defects introduced artificially, but defect echo position appears to be farther away from the bolt head than is actually the case. A finite element simulation of wave propagation shows that longitudinal waves excited by a phased array probe are mode converted and reflected at the defect and at bolt wall, which results in the position of the defect echo appearing to be farther away than the defect actually is. Moreover, an approach for determining the depth of defects using measurement results is also proposed based on numerical results. The depths determined by the proposed approach agree with the actual depths with a maximum error of 1.8 mm and a RMSE of 1.06 mm. (author)