INVESTIGATION OF THE NDE POTENTIAL ON OFFSHORE STRUCTURES UTILIZING GLOBAL ULTRASONICS AND THE ACOUSTIC EMISSION TECHNIQUES.

Experiments were conducted simultaneously in a dynamic fatigue test on a 1/3 scale model K joint. The results of this study are presented here. The topics discussed in this paper are: (1) Ultrasonic and signal processing concepts of a global ultrasonic inspection for a single joint are reviewed, critical ultrasonic wave modes and parameters on scale model joints are discussed; (2) While instrumented for ultrasonics, the study model was also instrumented for acoustic data; and (3) Finally, the utility of each technique for this application is discussed and presented for comparison. Data and results are presented.