ALBERT

All Library Books, journals and Electronic Records Telegrafenberg

X
feed icon rss

Your email was sent successfully. Check your inbox.

An error occurred while sending the email. Please try again.

Proceed reservation?

Export
  • 1
    facet.materialart.
    Unknown
    High-Resolution Millimeter Wave Detection of Vertical Cracks in the Space Shuttle External Tank (ET) Spray-on-Foam Insulation (SOFI) (2006)
    In:  Other Sources
    Details
    Publication Date: 2019-07-18
    Description: Space Shuttle Columbia's catastrophic failure has been attributed to a piece of spray-on-foam insulation (SOFI) that was dislodged from the external tank (ET) and struck the leading edge of the left wing. A piece of SOFI was also dislodged in the Space Shuttle Discovery's flight in 2005 and recently a crack was detected in its ET foam prior to its successful launch. Millimeter wave nondestructive testing methods have been considered as potential effective inspection tools for evaluating the integrity of the SOFI. Recently, in a specific investigation into the potential of these methods for detecting vertical cracks in SOFI was explored using a focused millimeter wave reflectometer at 150 GHz. The results showed the capability of these methods for detecting tight vertical cracks (also as a function of crack opening dimension) in exposed SOFI panels and while covered by a piece of SOFI ramp simulating a more realistic and challenging situation. Some crack-like anomalies were also detected in a blind SOFI panel. This paper presents the background for these techniques as well as representative images of the vertical crack in the SOFI panel, crack-like anomalies in the blind panel and a discussion of the practical attributes of these inspection methods.
    Keywords: Space Transportation and Safety
    Type: 33rd Annual Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation (QNDE); Jul 30, 2006 - Aug 04, 2006; Portland, OR; United States
    Format: text
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
    NASA TECHNICAL REPORTS
  • 2
    facet.materialart.
    Unknown
    High Resolution Millimeter Wave Detection of Vertical Cracks in the Space Shuttle External Tank Spray-On-Foam Insulation (SOFI) (2006)
    In:  CASI
    Details
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: Space Shuttle Columbia s catastrophic failure, the separation of a piece of spray-on-foam insulation (SOFI) from the external tank (ET) in the Space Shuttle Discovery s flight in 2005 and crack detected in its ET foam prior to its successful launch in 2006 emphasize the need for effective nondestructive methods for inspecting the shuttle ET SOFI. Millimeter wave nondestructive testing methods have been considered as potential and effective inspection tools for evaluating the integrity of the SOFI. This paper presents recent results of an investigation for the purpose of detecting vertical cracks in SOFI panels using a focused millimeter wave (150 GHz) reflectometer. The presented images of the SOFI panels show the capability of this reflectometer for detecting tight vertical cracks (also as a function of crack opening dimension) in exposed SOFI panels and while covered by a piece of SOFI ramp simulating a more realistic and challenging situation.
    Keywords: Space Transportation and Safety
    Type: 33rd Annual Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation (QNDE); Jul 30, 2006 - Aug 04, 2006; Portland, OR; United States
    Format: application/pdf
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
    NASA TECHNICAL REPORTS
  • 3
    facet.materialart.
    Unknown
    Comparison of Focused and Near-Field Imaging of Spray on Foam Insulation (SOFI) at Millimeter Wave Frequencies (2007)
    In:  CASI
    Details
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: Millimeter wave imaging techniques can provide high spatial-resolution images of various composites. Lens antennas may be incorporated into the imaging system to provide a small incident beam footprint. Another approach may involve the use of horn antennas, which if operating in their near-fields, images with reasonably high spatial-resolutions may also be obtained. This paper gives a comparison between such near-field and focused far-field imaging of the Space Shuttle Spray on Foam Insulation (SOFI) used in its external fuel tank at millimeter wave frequencies. Small horn antennas and lens antennas with relatively long depth of focus were used in this investigation.
    Keywords: Space Transportation and Safety
    Type: 3rd International Conference on Electromagnetic Near-Field Characterization and Imaging (ICONIC 2007); Jun 27, 2007 - Jun 29, 2007; Saint Louis, MO; United States
    Format: application/pdf
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
    NASA TECHNICAL REPORTS
  • 4
    facet.materialart.
    Unknown
    Microwave and Millimeter Wave Testing for the Inspection of the Space Shuttle Spray on Foam Insulations (SOFI) and the Acreage Heat Tiles (2005)
    In:  CASI
    Details
    Publication Date: 2019-07-11
    Description: The utility of microwave and millimeter wave nondestructive testing and evaluation (NDT&E) methods, for testing the Space Shuttle's external he1 tank spray on foam insulation (SOFI) and the acreage heat tiles has been investigated during the past two years. Millimeter wave NDE techniques are capable of producing internal images of SOFI. This paper presents the results of testing several diverse panels with embedded voids and debonds at millimeter wave frequencies. Additionally, the results of testing a set of heat tiles are also presented. Finally, the attributes of these methods as well as the advantageous features associated with these systems are also provided.
    Keywords: Space Transportation and Safety
    Format: application/pdf
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
    NASA TECHNICAL REPORTS
  • 5
    facet.materialart.
    Unknown
    Millimeter Wave Detection of Localized Anomalies in the Space Shuttle External Fuel Tank Insulating Foam (2006)
    In:  CASI
    Details
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: The Space Shuttle Columbia's catastrophic accident emphasizes the growing need for developing and applying effective, robust and life-cycle oriented nondestructive testing (NDT) methods for inspecting the shuttle external fuel tank spray on foam insulation (SOFI). Millimeter wave NDT techniques were one of the methods chosen for evaluating their potential for inspecting these structures. Several panels with embedded anomalies (mainly voids) were produced and tested for this purpose. Near-field and far-field millimeter wave NDT methods were used for producing images of the anomalies in these panels. This paper presents the results of an investigation for the purpose of detecting localized anomalies in several SOFI panels. To this end, reflectometers at a relatively wide range of frequencies (Ka-band (26.5 - 40 GHz) to W-band (75 - 110 GHz)) and utilizing different types of radiators were employed. The resulting raw images revealed a significant amount of information about the interior of these panels. However, using simple image processing techniques the results were improved in particular as it relate s to detecting the smaller anomalies. This paper presents the results of this investigation and a discussion of these results.
    Keywords: Space Transportation and Safety
    Type: IEEE Special Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference; Jan 01, 2005; Unknown
    Format: application/pdf
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
    NASA TECHNICAL REPORTS
  • 6
    facet.materialart.
    Unknown
    Inspection of Spray on Foam Insulation (SOFI) Using Microwave and Millimeter Wave Synthetic Aperture Focusing and Holography (2006)
    In:  CASI
    Details
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: The Space Shuttle Columbia s catastrophic failure is thought to have been caused by a dislodged piece of external tank spray on foam insulation (SOFI) striking and significantly damaging the left wing of the orbiter, which may have been due to a flawed section of SOFI. Microwave and millimeter wave nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods have shown great potential detecting anomalies in SOFI such as small air voids using a horn and lens in a (real) focused configuration. Synthetic focusing methods may also be used to detect air voids in SOFI and may additionally offer the ability to locate the defect in three dimensions. To this end, two different methods were investigated; namely, frequency domain synthetic aperture focusing technique (FD-SAFT) and wide-band microwave holography. To illustrate the performance of these methods they were applied to two different SOFI samples. The results of these investigations demonstrate the capabilities of these methods for SOFI inspection.
    Keywords: Space Transportation and Safety
    Type: IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology; Apr 24, 2006 - Apr 27, 2006; Sorrento; Italy
    Format: application/pdf
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
    NASA TECHNICAL REPORTS
  • 7
    facet.materialart.
    Unknown
    Microwave and Millimeter Wave Imaging of the Space Shuttle External Fuel Tank Spray on Foam Insulation (SOFI) using Synthetic Aperture Focusing Techniques (SAFT} (2005)
    In:  CASI
    Details
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: The Space Shuttle Columbia s catastrophic failure is thought to have been caused by a dislodged piece of external tank spray on foam insulation (SOFI) striking the left wing of the orbiter causing significant damage to some of the reinforced carbodcarbon leading edge wing panels. Microwave and millimeter wave nondestructive evaluation methods have shown great potential for inspecting SOFI for the purpose of detecting anomalies such as small air voids that may cause separation of the SOFI from the external tank during a launch. These methods are capable of producing relatively high-resolution images of the interior of SOFI particularly when advanced imaging algorithms are incorporated into the overall system. To this end, synthetic aperture focusing techniques (SAFT) are being developed. This paper presents some of the preliminary results of this investigation using SAFT-based methods and microwave holography at relatively low frequencies illustrating their potential capabilities for operation at millimeter wave frequencies.
    Keywords: Space Transportation and Safety
    Type: Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluaiton Conference; Jul 31, 2005 - Aug 05, 2005; Brunswick, ME; United States
    Format: application/pdf
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
    NASA TECHNICAL REPORTS
Close ⊗
This website uses cookies and the analysis tool Matomo. More information can be found here...