Real-Time Gun Barrel Condition Monitoring for the Future Combat System

"FBS, Inc. proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of a real time gun barrel condition monitoring system using ultrasonic guided wave technology. Guided wave technology is especially suited to the cylindrical and plated (layered) geometry of a gun barrel.Under user control, guided waves can be channeled to specific portions of a gun barrel's volume and used to detect defects in those volume portions. This capability is key as crack arrays, occurring in gun barrels cause serious decreases in barrel fatigueand/or erosion life. Barrel impacts with external objects such as trees, rocks, and etc. can also manifest their damage in these volumes. FBS, Inc. will use its guided wave modeling capability and field experience knowledge base to isolate those aspectsof guided wave technology most appropriate to gun barrel condition monitoring. FBS, Inc. will design a gun barrel condition monitoring system, build a prototype system, and demonstrate it to the U.S. Army. The research conducted here will advanceinspection technology in many areas including tubes, plates, composite and multi-layered structures, etc. This project's use of modeling concepts, transducer design, signal processing, system construction, and control software will move the technologyforward. Utilization of real time monitoring for tubular structures is highly desired throughout many industries (e.g., gas and oil, chemical, electric power generation, etc.). The steps taken he