Evaluation of Crack Depth Meter - An investigation of the crack depth meters possibilities and limitations for commonly occurring damage mechanisms

Sammanfattning: In this master thesis, the accuracy of the crack depth meter RMG 4015 was evaluated for different types of cracks with various damage mechanisms. In total, 61 crack depth measurements were conducted with the crack depth meter on 56 cracks which were located in the 23 different test pieces supplied by Kiwa. The measured crack depths were then compared to the true crack depths, which were determined by cutting the test pieces and measuring directly on the cross-sections of the cracks using a light optical microscope. The results of the comparison showed that the RMG 4015, which uses potential drop techniques, was very accurate at measuring both strain induced and alkaline stress corrosion cracks. However, the results also showed that the crack depth meter underestimates chloride induced stress corrosion cracks, corrosion fatigue cracks and stress corrosion cracks/hydrogen embrittlement cracks at varying degrees. Therefore, the main recommendation for Kiwa is to switch the RMG 4015 to a crack depth meter that uses ultrasonic techniques instead. The master thesis also explored the possibilities to improve an FE model produced by Kiwa in a previous project which involved an analysis of a cracked component. The present crack depth measure program included a test piece from this component. The stress distribution in the original model did not represent the cracks found in the real structure and it was suspected to be the result of some boundary conditions not corresponding to those acting in the actual pipe system. Some adjustments to the boundary conditions and contact regions were made and a new improved model with a better representing stress distribution was found.