Information reuse of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) data sets

To achieve added value from data spaces and data sets in general, an essential condition is to ensure the high quality of the stored information and its continuous availability. Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) processes represent an information source with potential for reuse. These provide essential information for the evaluation and characterization of materials and components. This information, along with others such as process parameters, is a valuable resource for data-driven added value, e.g., for process optimization or as training data for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. However, this use requires the continuous availability of NDE data sets as well as their structuring and readability. This paper describes the steps necessary to realize an NDE data cycle from the generation of information to the reuse of data.</p

Parameter Influences on HVDC Transformer Insulation and Its Link to Conduction Processes

HVDC (high voltage direct current) transmission is an effective way to transport electrical power over long distances by using direct current. The insulation system of HVDC components has to be designed for both AC and DC field distributions. It consists of mineral oil and pressboard. The used insulation material behavior has not been completely understood under DC stress. In this paper, electrical conductivity of pressboard is evaluated and conduction processes are considered. Therefore, conductivity measurements are linked to a number of RC network elements in order to achieve a network model representative for the insulation material behavior under DC stress. Time-constants are determined under different temperatures and different electric field strengths. In addition, the performed simulations provide evaluation of parameters affecting the dielectric behavior of the insulation system oil and pressboard, which are not measured or even cannot be determined by measurement

Parameter Influences on HVDC Transformer Insulation and Its Link to Conduction Processes

HVDC (high voltage direct current) transmission is an effective way to transport electrical power over long distances by using direct current. The insulation system of HVDC components has to be designed for both AC and DC field distributions. It consists of mineral oil and pressboard. The used insulation material behavior has not been completely understood under DC stress. In this paper, electrical conductivity of pressboard is evaluated and conduction processes are considered. Therefore, conductivity measurements are linked to a number of RC network elements in order to achieve a network model representative for the insulation material behavior under DC stress. Time-constants are determined under different temperatures and different electric field strengths. In addition, the performed simulations provide evaluation of parameters affecting the dielectric behavior of the insulation system oil and pressboard, which are not measured or even cannot be determined by measurement

Witness: The Modern Writer as Witness

Editor\u27s Note [Excerpt] The United States, as a society, is on the brink of profound and positive change. Demographically and culturally, things are improving, and the reason is obvious to people who study history: Conflict pushes us to be better, to strive for principled goals. Consider the inspired eco-advocacy of Greta Thunberg. Or the swearing in of most diverse class of lawmakers in history into the 116th Congress. Or billionaire Robert F. Smith’s pledge to pay off every Morehouse College (in Atlanta, Georgia) student’s debt. Indeed, there are many good people helping and great moments happening in spite of a bleak 24-hour news cycle designed to ruin happiness and to limit our understanding of our human potential. We at Witness see this yearning for transformation in the works we selected. The doorway must be crossed, and the voices and characters we featured in our Winter 2019 issue stand at the vestibule, ready for the light to warm them, primed to fight for that necessary illumination.https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/witness/1000/thumbnail.jp

Sequestration and Scavenging of Iron in Infection

The proliferative capability of many invasive pathogens is limited by the bioavailability of iron. Pathogens have thus developed strategies to obtain iron from their host organisms. In turn, host defense strategies have evolved to sequester iron from invasive pathogens. This review explores the mechanisms employed by bacterial pathogens to gain access to host iron sources, the role of iron in bacterial virulence, and iron-related genes required for the establishment or maintenance of infection. Host defenses to limit iron availability for bacterial growth during the acute-phase response and the consequences of iron overload conditions on susceptibility to bacterial infection are also examined. The evidence summarized herein demonstrates the importance of iron bioavailability in influencing the risk of infection and the ability of the host to clear the pathogen

Subsampling approaches for compressed sensing with ultrasound arrays in non-destructive testing

Full Matrix Capture is a multi-channel data acquisition method which enables flexible, high resolution imaging using ultrasound arrays. However, the measurement time and data volume are increased considerably. Both of these costs can be circumvented via compressed sensing, which exploits prior knowledge of the underlying model and its sparsity to reduce the amount of data needed to produce a high resolution image. In order to design compression matrices that are physically realizable without sophisticated hardware constraints, structured subsampling patterns are designed and evaluated in this work. The design is based on the analysis of the Cramér–Rao Bound of a single scatterer in a homogeneous, isotropic medium. A numerical comparison of the point spread functions obtained with different compression matrices and the Fast Iterative Shrinkage/Thresholding Algorithm shows that the best performance is achieved when each transmit event can use a different subset of receiving elements and each receiving element uses a different section of the echo signal spectrum. Such a design has the advantage of outperforming other structured patterns to the extent that suboptimal selection matrices provide a good performance and can be efficiently computed with greedy approaches

Locally optimal subsampling strategies for full matrix capture measurements in pipe inspection

In ultrasonic non-destructive testing, array and matrix transducers are being employed for applications that require in-field steerability or which benefit from a higher number of insonification angles. Having many transmit channels, on the other hand, increases the measurement time and renders the use of array transducers unfeasible for many applications. In the literature, methods for reducing the number of required channels compared to the full matrix capture scheme have been proposed. Conventionally, these are based on choosing the aperture that is as wide as possible. In this publication, we investigate a scenario from the field of pipe inspection, where cracks have to be detected in specific areas near the weld. Consequently, the width of the aperture has to be chosen according to the region of interest at hand. On the basis of ray-tracing simulations which incorporate a model of the transducer directivity and beam spread at the interface, we derive application specific measures of the energy distribution over the array configuration for given regions of interest. These are used to determine feasible subsampling schemes. For the given scenario, the validity/quality of the derived subsampling schemes are compared on the basis of reconstructions using the conventional total focusing method as well as sparsity driven-reconstructions using the Fast Iterative Shrinkage-Thresholding Algorithm. The results can be used to effectively improve the measurement time for the given application without notable loss in defect detectability

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Precipitate Strengthened High Entropy Alloy Al₁₀Co₂₅Cr₈Fe₁₅Ni₃₆Ti₆ with Additions of Hafnium and Molybdenum

High entropy or compositionally complex alloys provide opportunities for optimization towards new high-temperature materials. Improvements in the equiatomic alloy Al17Co17Cr17Cu17Fe17Ni17 (at.%) led to the base alloy for this work with the chemical composition Al10Co25Cr8Fe15Ni36Ti6 (at.%). Characterization of the beneficial particle-strengthened microstructure by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and observation of good mechanical properties at elevated temperatures arose the need of accomplishing further optimization steps. For this purpose, the refractory metals hafnium and molybdenum were added in small amounts (0.5 and 1.0 at.% respectively) because of their well-known positive effects on mechanical properties of Ni-based superalloys. By correlation of microstructural examinations using SEM with tensile tests in the temperature range of room temperature up to 900 &#176;C, conclusions could be drawn for further optimization steps

Total Focusing Method with Subsampling in Space and Frequency Domain for Ultrasound NDT

In this paper, we present a compressed sensing model for 2D Full Matrix Capture data from a uniform linear array. Data is reconstructed via a matrix-free implementation of the Total Focusing Method (TFM) combined with the Fast Iterative Shrinkage/ Thresholding Algorithm. This results in reduced measurement times and data volumes without sacrificing image quality. Our approach is compared to standard TFM by applying the techniques on real measurement data, both synthetically compressed and complete