Introduction to DC11

Welcome to my (rather obscure) blog dear reader! 

 

This blog is primarily intended to function as a means of communicating my research to the general public as well as providing any updates based on my research status.

1.  A little about me

My name is Nalin Kamath, I am from Denmark (born in Bangalore-India for anyone curious about my very non-Danish name 😁) and I am doctoral Candidate number 11, within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network (MSCA-DN) USES2 project within Non-Destructive Testing and Waveform Processing. I am based at the University of Bristol within the UNDT (Ultrasonic Non-Destructive Testing) Lab under the supervision of Professor Anthony Croxford. My background is primarily within Electrical Engineering (bachelors and Masters from the Technical University of Denmark) and Mechanical Engineering (Masters from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology).

 

2. My Topic

As part of my Project I will optimize wireless inductively coupled piezoelectric sensors currently in use by the  Inductosense (a University of Bristol spin-off Company), for use in embedded guided wave applications. While the core concept of this has already been established by my Supervisor and Cheng-Huan Zhong (or Bamboo for short 🪴), there still are some challenges regarding the implementation of this technology in real-life settings.

 

The basic concept behind the WAND (Wireless and Non-Destructive) system, is that the operator can use a probe (the inspection wand) in order to obtain a one-shot measurement of a sensor embedded within the structure that is being tested. This allows for the sensor to work with relatively little wiring and allows for fast, repeatable and reliable measurements. 

3. Challenges

Sensors embedded in electrically conductive materials such as Carbon Fibre Composites can experience significant signal attenuation. In addition, misalignment between the Probe and the sensor causes amplitude reductions and (minor) frequency shifts, which make can adversely affect the repeatability of measurements obtained by the WAND system. Finally like all guided wave SHM (structural health monitoring) techniques, the measurements obtained by the guided wave WAND system are heavily affected by EOCs (Environmental and Operational Conditions), chief amongst them being temperature fluctuations and gradients. 

4. Contact 

Should you wish to contact me regarding any of my research or general inquiries feel free to send me a mail at - yh24161@bristol.ac.uk. Until then stay tuned for more research and overall project updates!