DEVELOPMENT OF AN ULTRASONIC SYSTEM FOR SUBMARINE HULL ACOUSTIC CLADDING INSPECTION

A computer controlled ultrasonic measurement and data analysis system has been developed to establish the bonding characteristics of polymer based tiles used on the external hulls of UK submarines to reduce son ar reflection and radiated noise, This paper describes the evolvement of the system from laboratory to field site and discusses the selectio n of hardware components, system integration and the development of th e specialized software necessary to initiate and monitor the scanning procedure. The system has been developed to have the Versatility to su rvey individual or a number of adjacent tiles. Measurement of disbond characteristics is accomplished by the use of C-scan techniques suppor ted by B-scan data and other software processes. Absolute and percenta ge disbond areas can be calculated to allow acceptance criteria to be applied. The system can also be used as a training and OA tool. Trials on a submarine in refit have demonstrated the efficacy of the techniq ue and early results are given. Crown copyright (C) 1997.