The invention relates to a method for providing a structural condition of a structure, comprising providing an excitation wave generator; providing an excitation wave sensor; injecting an excitation burst wave into the structure using the excitation wave generator; obtaining a measured propagated excitation burst wave using the excitation wave sensor; correlating the measured propagated excitation burst wave with one of a plurality of theoretical dispersed versions of the excitation burst wave; and providing an indication of the structural condition of the structure corresponding to the correlated measured propagated excitation burst wave. The method may offer a better localization of the reflection points and thus of the potential defects present in a structure under inspection, when compared with a group velocity-based or time-of-flight (ToF) approach. The method may be particularly useful for structural health monitoring (SHM) and Non-Destructive Testing (NDT). The method may also enable determination of the mechanical properties of the structure.

The invention relates to a device for detecting faults of a structure (STR), the device comprising a calculation unit and a plurality of transducers (100) intended to be positioned on or in the structure (STR), first transducers (E) of the plurality de transducers (100) being capable of being in an emission mode, second transducers (R) of the plurality of transducers (100) being capable of being in a reception mode,
characterized in that the first transducers (E) form a hexagonal meshing so as to delimit between them several mutually adjacent mesh cells, the second transducers (R) being positioned on respective emission circles of the first transducers (E), each emission circle of a first transducer (E) being centered on the first transducer (E).

A method of forming a probe holder includes forming a plurality of layers from at least one body material, wherein adjacent ones of the plurality of layers are bonded to one another to define a body of an ultrasonic probe holder. The body can include a distal end, a chamber, and a fluid channel. The distal end can secure the body to a proximal end of a wear sole. The chamber can be configured to receive an ultrasonic probe and a volume of fluid couplant. A fluid channel can extends through a portion of the body to the distal end and the fluid channel can be configured to receive a flow of fluid couplant. The plurality of layers can define a first region including a first probe holder material exhibiting a first acoustic or structural property and a second region including a second probe holder material exhibiting a second acoustic or structural property.

Method for manufacturing a pipe for a pipeline, wherein at least part of the pipe is manufactured by additive manufacturing process, wherein at least one space for an ultrasonic transducer is formed inside the material of the pipe during the additive manufacturing process. The additive manufacturing process is interrupted before the space in closed, and the ultrasonic transducer is inserted in the open space, and the additive manufacturing process for manufacturing the pipe is continued. The invention also relates to such a pipe.

A vibration amplification and detection device may include a coiled diaphragm coupled to a pin that is also coupled to a substrate. The coiled diaphragm may be coupled to the pin via at least one axle and a fulcrum disc, and the vibration detection device may be coupled to a surface via the substrate. Responsive to vibration associated with or proximate the surface, the coiled diaphragm may receive and amplify the received vibration. In addition, a sensor associated with the vibration detection device may capture or detect the received and amplified vibration. Further, the detected vibration may be processed and compared with known vibrations and associated properties. Moreover, one or more actions may be instructed based on the detected vibration and associated properties.

A system includes a sensor comprising a sensor bonding layer disposed on a surface of the sensor, wherein the sensor bonding layer is a metallic alloy. An inlay includes a planar outer surface, wherein the inlay may be disposed on a curved surface of a structure. A structure bonding layer may be disposed on the planar outer surface of the inlay, wherein the structure bonding layer is a metallic alloy. The sensor bonding layer is coupled to the structure bonding layer via a metallic joint, and the sensor is configured to sense data of the structure through the metallic joint, the structure bonding layer, and the sensor bonding layer. The inlay comprises at least one of a modulus of elasticity, a shape, a thickness, and a size configured to reduce strain transmitted to the sensor.

Methods and systems for analyzing an industrial structure are provided. With a plurality of sensors (e.g. FBGs and/or piezoelectric transducers and/or electromagnetic acoustic transducers) deployed in, on or in proximity to the structure, sensors are interrogated and a function representative of the impulse response of the structure is determined by passive inverse filter. Subsequently, a map of the propagation of the elastic waves through the structure is determined via various modalities, and in particular by tomography (of bulk or guided waves, by analysis of time of flight or of the complete signal). Embodiments especially relate to the management of the number and position of the sensors, to the use of artificial noise sources, and to automatically controlling the sensors and/or noise sources to monitor the health of the structure, or even to view the dynamic behavior of the structure.

A method of manufacturing a part having at least one piezoelectric measurement device integrated inside, the method comprising the following successive steps: Using an additive method to obtain at least a first portion of the part, with at least one cavity being at least partly formed in said portion; Stopping the additive method; Placing at least one piezoelectric transducer of the piezoelectric measurement device in said cavity; and Using an additive method to create at least a second portion of the part so that the at least one transducer is held captive between at least the first and second portions.

A method and system for inspecting a rail by guided waves, the rail being instrumented by sensors. The method comprises the steps of receiving elastic wave measurements from one or more sensors, as a train passes, releasing energy as guided waves into the rail; and of determining a function representative of the impulse response of the rail and the sensors. Developments describe how to determine the existence, position and characterisation of a defect in the rail (e.g. fracture, incipient fracture, etc.), the use of inter-correlation analyses, correlation of the coda of correlations, Passive Inverse Filter, imaging techniques. Other aspects are described for exploring rail defects: sensor position and movement, acquisition time, sampling frequency, frequency filters, amplifications, techniques for learning during successive train passes, signal injection by transducers. Software aspects are described.

A structural health monitoring method includes directly forming an acoustic transducer on a surface of a structure to be monitored; generating, by the acoustic transducer, an acoustic wave to apply stress loading to a region of interest on the structure; and detecting a presence of a defect in the region of interest. Detecting includes a non-contact optical imaging of the region of interest with and without the stress loading and an analysis of imaging data from the non-contact optical imaging.