A CAD Interfaced Simulation Tool for X-Ray NDE Studies

Abstract

Quantitative nondestructive evaluation, which aims at recovering information regarding certain parameters of the materials from the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) measurements, has attracted attention of the researchers in an increasing manner over the last decade. The work presented here represents the ongoing effort in quantitative nondestructive evaluation in the form of a computer simulation of the image formation process (1,2) and represents the x-ray component of broad effort to model all of the major inspection methods (3). To date one of the major limitation of this process modeling effort is the inability to handle complex part geometries. The developed code targets simulating x-ray inspection of parts designed through computer aided design (CAD) packages. For such a simulation tool to have practical applications, the physics of initial x-ray beam generation, x-ray and target interactions, x-ray and detector interactions should be modelled with sufficient accuracy and flexibility that the effects of the adjustable parameters found on the x-ray inspection systems can be simulated. While the physics in the undertaken work is modelled after well established principles, the information regarding the geometrical representation of the target object is provided by a CAD package through the developed interface.