Rocket Motor Acoustic Tomographic Inspection

To address the Navy’s need for detection of Trident II D5 missile system rocket motor propellant slumping and insulation gaps in bonds, Intellisense Systems, Inc. (ISI) proposes to develop a new Rocket Motor Acoustic Tomographic Inspection (ROMATI) system based upon new nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques. Specifically, innovations in fusion of acoustic multi-modal near-field and far-field phased array focusing, packaged in a small form factor to fit into confined spaces (<1”), combined with inverse tomographic signal processing algorithms, will enable the system to inspect the rocket stages in the field and/or during missile production operations. This technology removes the risk, downtime, and expense of removing the Trident rocket motors from the tubes and/or reduces production operation costs, which directly addresses the Trident II D5 missile system Acquisition Category I program’s requirements. In Phase I, ISI will demonstrate the feasibility of ROMATI for detection of slumping and disbonds by building a prototype and performing laboratory testing on a small-scale mock-up rocket motor with similar material properties. In Phase II, ISI plans to improve upon the design, and manufacture and demonstrate a scaled-up prototype to collect performance data in relevant environments to compare with legacy high-energy computed tomography (HECT) data.