The investigation on the optimal design of rectangular PECT probes for evaluation of defects in conductive structures

Pulsed Eddy Current Testing (PECT) is one of the advanced Electromagnetic Nondestructive Evaluation (ENDE) technology. In applications for crack detection and evaluation, rectangular probes are found superior to the cylindrical ones in terms of the directional characteristics and capability of creating uniform eddy current distributions. In this paper, in a bid to investigate the influence of parameters of a rectangular probe on inspection sensitivity and seek the optimal probe structure, a numerical model for conductivity/defect assessment with a rectangular probe is built up by using Comsol. Following this, experiments on flaw evaluation are undertaken by using the probe with the optimal parameters found in Finite Element Modelling (FEM). Through simulations and experiments, it can be seen that the rectangular probe with dimensions in the proportion of 2:1:1.5 (length:width:height) is optimal for conductivity evaluation.