IMPROVEMENTS RESULTING FROM A COMBINATION OF TWO ADVANCED NONDESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION (NDE) TECHNIQUES.

IMPROVEMENTS RESULTING FROM A COMBINATION OF TWO ADVANCED NONDESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION (NDE) TECHNIQUES. THSES ARE: 1) ACOUSTIC HOLOGRAPHIC IMAGING, AND 2) DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING USING ADAPTIVE LEARNING NETWORKS (ALN'S). EACH THESE TECHNIQUES SHOW DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENTS IN FLAW ASSESMENT OVER THAT AVAILABLE FROM CONVENTIONAL NDE TECHNIQUES. A SUCCESSFUL UNION OF THE TWO PROVIDES AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL TOOL FOR INSPECTING CRITICAL COMPONENTS IN THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY. A HIGH DEGREE OF CERTAINTY COULD BE ATTAINED IN FLAW SIZING AND IN RESULTANT GO/NO-GO DECISIONS. UNDER THE PHASE I WORK, ALN METHODS ARE APPLIED TO THE HOLORAPHIC IMAGE AS WELL AS TO THE RF ACOUSTIC DATA. THE RESULTANT ABILITY FOR IMPROVED FLAW SIZING IS ASSESSED FOR A SELECTED SET OF SYNTHETIC FLAWS.