Miniaturised non-contact ultrasonic inspection of fusion reactors

About the Project

Significant research is being done into designing fusion reactors, but with limited consideration of maintenance and inspection. Maintenance of service pipes in a fusion device involves inspecting a large number of welded joints non-destructively during the reactor downtime. Because of the stringent environmental conditions, such as high temperature, radiation, vacuum, residual electromagnetic field, as well as limited human access, etc., this will be done using remotely operated tools from in bore – including inspection of the quality and integrity of the structure. Whilst ultrasonic inspection can offer an excellent characterisation tool, application in-situ can be challenging due to the requirement for physical contact and couplant between ultrasound transducer or array and the sample under test. Alternatives to piezoelectric transducers can offer the removal of couplant and ability to work at high temperatures and in other harsh environments, but come with extra safety implications (laser ultrasonics) or large transducer size (standard electromagnetic acoustic transducers, EMATs). In this PhD project, we will explore and develop alternative, miniaturised EMATs which are designed to investigate defects in welds, and look into the prospects for automated inspection and analysis. The research will include several steps; 1. Development of miniaturised EMATs and data processing techniques; adapting to low signal to noise ratio (SNR) inherent from reducing the size of the EMATs, e.g. filtering and coded sequences, or use of arrays. Balance is required between SNR needs and geometry restrictions. 2. Adaption to operation at high temperatures; typical high temperature EMATs require water cooling, but by using magnets with a high Curie temperature plus shielding, the water cooling can be removed. However, this comes with a further reduction in SNR. 3. Focused high temperature transducers; using either curved coil designs or arrays, complemented by finite element modelling and Huygen’s models. 4. Tests on samples with calibration and real defects; looking at whether miniaturisation enables small crawler robots to be used for automation of the inspection, identifying strategies for full inspection of a structure. 5. Presentation of results at conferences, to internal audiences, through publications, and through outreach events – a package of public-facing activities (e.g. schools activities, festivals) will be designed to work alongside the research. This project is fully funded. Part of the funding is from UKAEA through RACE, and part through the EPSRC DLA. You will work as part of a team investigating EMATs.

RACE (Remote Applications in Challenging Environments, http://www.race.ukaea.uk/) was founded in 2014 as part of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) fusion research and development programme - to create robots for operating in some of the most challenging environments imaginable. UKAEA’s wider mission is to lead the commercial development of fusion power and related technology, and position the UK as a leader in sustainable energy. Based at Culham Campus near Oxford and at a new technology facility in South Yorkshire, UKAEA runs the UK’s fusion research programme and operated the Joint European Torus (JET) fusion experiment on behalf of scientists from 28 European countries, until its closure in 2023. Now UKAEA is responsible for decommissioning JET. UKAEA is expanding its technology capabilities, to ensure the UK remains at the forefront of fusion research and development - providing key research support for the UK’s own future fusion powerplant - STEP Fusion.

Eligibility

You must have or expect at least an upper second class BSc honours, MSci or MPhys or equivalent in Physics or related subject

For students whose first language is not English, we require a score of 6.5 in IELTS or equivalent, for further information please see English Language Information & Entry Requirements (warwick.ac.uk)

How To Apply

For further information on how to apply please see our postgraduate webpage Postgraduate - Department of Physics(warwick.ac.uk)

Funding Notes

The project will provide a full UK-standard annual tax-free stipend of £ 21,805 rising with inflation, plus allocations for conference travel and consumables.

42 months funded