3-D Numerical Modeling of the Thermo-Inductive Technique Using Shell Elements

Thermo-inductive testing is a new technique used for health investigations on different components of automotive and aeronautic industries. In this technique, eddy current deviation around the default creates local heating which can be detected by an infrared camera. The purpose of this work is to develop a 3-D finite-element model as a support tool to study the reliability of the technique. To reduce the number of unknowns, shell elements are introduced to model defects or thin conductive regions. Inspected materials are classified into metallic and composites. Investigations on various parameters of the technique and crack dimensions are performed in order to optimize the method. Experimental and simulation results show that the method is well suited.

I. Introduction

Cracks constitute one of the major problems threatening the security of systems subjected to mechanical, thermal or chemical constraints. In order to detect and characterize these defects in different materials and situations, researches try to combine the NDT techniques to obtain the best performances. In this context, we propose a new method called thermo-inductive technique, which combines the advantages of both eddy current and infrared thermography techniques [1].