Application of Ultrasonics to Nonintrusive Vibration Measurement

This paper outlines a nonintrusive vibration measurement method using standard, off-the-shelf commercial ultrasonic instruments designed for flaw detections, together with digital signal analysis techniques. This method was incorporated into a commercial package designed for nonintrusive check valve monitoring and has been extensively tested in both the laboratory and the field. It can detect valve disk flutter as small as 0.02-in. (0.50 mm) peak-to-peak, without disassembly of the valve. In simulated tests, it quantitatively measured, remotely and nonintrusively, stationary vibration amplitudes as small as 0.0001 in. (0.0025 mm). Other potential applications include in-service vibration monitoring of internal components of nuclear reactors, steam generators, heat exchangers, pumps and valves, and in the laboratory or in the field, when the vibration frequency is too low for accelerometers and the strain is too low for strain gages.