Modelling of radiographic inspections

Abstract

Computer modelling of non-destructive testing methods has come a long way from the beginnings in the mid 90s to today. Radiographic modelling for components with higher wall thicknesses, as they are typical for nuclear applications, must include precise predictions of scattered radiation and its impact in terms of contrast reduction. Dedicated or general purpose Monte Carlo methods with the ability to calculate higher order scattering events are the state of the art for these applications. Aerospace applications, on the other hand, have stronger requirements on the modelling code's capabilities to import complex CAD geometries, and can benefit from faster analytical scatter models, limited to first or second order scattering events. Similar distinctions can be made for the various approaches proposed to accurately model geometrical and film unsharpness, film granularity, film responses, film/foil cartridges and photon noise. This article presents a state-of-the-art review of radiographic modelling from the perspective of two important application domains with very different requirements, nuclear and aerospace. © RILEM 2013.