The Ultrasonic Imaging
Laboratory at UC
Francesco Simonetti
Ultrasonic Imaging Laboratory
School of Aerospace Systems
University of Cincinnati
http://www.ase.uc.edu/USIL
Email: f.simonetti@uc.edu, Tel.: (513) 556-3532
Francesco Simonetti
 Sep. 1994 - Oct. 1999
MEng in Aeronautical Engineering
Univ. of Palermo, Italy
 Feb. 2000 – Jan. 2001
Military service
Italian Navy
 Apr. 2001 – Jan. 2004
PhD Mechanical Engineering
Imperial College London
Research Associate
Imperial College London
 Jan. 2004 – July 2005
 Aug. 2005 – July 2010
Research Fellow
Royal Academy of Engineering
 June 2006 – Current
Faculty Affiliate
Los Alamos National Laboratory
 Feb. 2007 – Mar. 2011
Assistant Professor
Imperial College London
 April 2011 – Current
Associate Professor
University of Cincinnati
The Laboratory
Over 1200 Sqft, the Ultrasonic Imaging Laboratory (USIL) was established in
2011 under the Ohio Research Scholar Program. USIL is at the forefront of
modern imaging technology with the mission to develop the next-generation
sensing technology for applications in industry and medicine. Key focus
areas include:
 Integrated sensing technology for
life-cycle operation and
management
 High-sensitivity and specificity
damage detection methods
 Earlier diagnosis of diseases
Core facilities
In addition to standard equipment for basic and applied research over the entire
ultrasonic regime, the Lab has state-of-the-art instrumentation including:
• Ultrasonic Microscope for
testing up to 300MHz
• 128-channel programmable
controller to drive array
probes up to 20MHz
• Microwave Vector Network
Analyser up to 64GHz
• High resolution Infrared
Camera
• Laser Doppler
Interferometer 24MHz
bandwidth
• Computer workstation with
32 cores and 256GB RAM
Research areas covered
 Ultrasonic imaging
• Conventional beamforming
• Tomography
• Super-resolution imaging
• Augmented reality
 Guided waves
• Ultrasonic
• Microwave
 Material Characterization
• Mechanical properties
• Electromagnetic properties
Application areas covered
 NDE (Aerospace, Nuclear, Power, Oil & Gas)
•
CMC materials
•
Austenitic steel castings
•
Steel manufacturing
 Structural Health Monitoring (Aerospace, Oil & Gas)
•
Fuselage skin
•
Corrosion in pipelines
 Medical diagnostics
•
Breast cancer detection
•
Needle biopsy
 Geophysics (Los Alamos National Lab)
•
CO2 sequestration monitoring
•
Oil reservoir imaging
People
Over the past two years the Lab has supported five graduate students, two
undergraduates and one research associate
The current team members
Industrial support
Total industrial support is $1.2 M over three years, with
the main sponsors being
 GE Aviation
• NDE methods for CMC materials
• Vibration analysis of damping coatings
 Electric Power Research Institute
• Ultrasonic inspection of austenitic steel
Research focuses on solving real problems
The research activity ranges from the underpinning mathematical and
physical aspects of advanced sensing technology to the design and
testing of prototype systems. Theoretical modeling, numerical
simulations, and experiments are central to our work.
Commercialization
An example: Corrosion depth monitoring
It is estimated that the direct cost of corrosion to industrialized countries
represents a significant proportion of the gross domestic product (GDP),
with some analysts suggesting that the cost of corrosion to the US alone is
as high as 3.1% of its GDP
• Depth monitoring is currently done with hand-held probes
• Hand-held probes require direct access to the corroded area
• Often access is limited due to physical obstacles or remote location
• Guided ultrasonic waves enable remote inspections
• Our solution is to combine guided wave technology with advanced
tomography algorithms
Pipe testing configuration
Transmit and receive ring arrays of guided ultrasonic wave transucers are
used to inspect the full section of pipe between the two rings. The
transducers use a novel design for superior thermal stability.
First prototype
Current prototype
Advanced imaging algorithms
We have translated our experience in breast ultrasound tomography to corrosion
monitoring.
Advanced Ultrasonics
Conventional
Ultrasound
X-ray CT
m/s
20mm
1560
20mm
1540
1520
1500
1480
1460
Simonetti et al. App. Phys. Lett. 95 (2009)
Simonetti et al. Med Phys. 36 (2009)
20mm
Advanced modelling algorithms
Developed new physical models to describe the interaction of ultrasonic guided
signals with complex shape defects in complex structures. These forward models
are integral parts of our imaging algorithms
Reconstructed wall thickness loss map
With tomography we provide point-by-point maps of wall thickness loss.
The measurement accuracy that we obtain is better than 1% of the wall
thickness
50
10
45
9
40
8
35
7
30
6
25
5
20
4
15
3
10
2
5
1
0
-30
-20
-10
0
X-axis [cm]
10
20
30
0
% of wall thickness
Y-axis [cm]
Maximum Depth 0.76 mm
Innovation
We are introducing a shift of paradigm in the
field of NDE technology by integrating
advanced computing with ultrasonic hardware
for the first time.
1. Transducers: New non-contact
transducer design with higher
sensitivity and stability
Transducer System
Control System
Pre-processing System
2. Control System: Custom made
electronics for the new transducer
design
Inversion System
3. Software: Imaging algorithm more
advanced than those used in x-ray
CT.
Operator Terminal
Cincinnati NDE, Ltd.
A start-up form the University of Cincinnati that is targeting commercial
applications in the oil and gas, nuclear, and aerospace industries.
Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMC)
CMC materials promise to improve the efficiency and reduce the
emission of jet engines. Enabling aspects of CMC technology are
• Allows higher turbine temperature
• Improves efficiency of thermodynamic cycle
• Significantly lighter than superalloys
• Reduces or eliminates the need for coolant
NDE of CMC at UC
CMC materials are very different from other aerospace materials and
therefore require new NDE methods. At UC we work closely with GE
Aviation to develop the next generation NDE technology for CMCs and the
different aspects of the life cycle of CMC components
 Quality Control
 CMC Substrate
 Coatings for CMC
 Damage progression monitoring
 Room temperature
 High Temperature
 In-service Inspections
 Module level
 Piece part level
Conclusions
• The research scholar award has been instrumental to the
creation of USIL
• USIL is helping local aerospace industries developing
innovative materials for jet engines
• Cincinnati NDE, ltd. has been established as the first spin
off from the research at USIL
• USIL is training the next generation of NDE engineers