The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Sep. 28, 2004

Filed:

Mar. 28, 2003
Applicant:
Inventors:

Colin P. Ratcliffe, Millersville, MD (US);

Roger M. Crane, Arnold, MD (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 1/900 ; G01B 5/28 ; C21B 7/24 ; G01N 2/902 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 1/900 ; G01B 5/28 ; C21B 7/24 ; G01N 2/902 ;
Abstract

A nondestructive inspection method for composite structures, including thick core structures, is disclosed that imparts a vibration force into the structure and analyzes the response over a range of frequencies to find possible damaged areas. The composite structure is struck to induce vibration at a series of test points and the response of the composite structure as a function of acceleration at each test point is measured. The structural anomalies in the composite structure occur at structural stiffness irregularities near anomalies and are detected with a Gapped Smoothing Method operating on the data and plotting a structural irregularity index as a function of frequency and position.


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