Patent ID: 8839673

Claim:
An ultrasonic inspection system for the non-destructive evaluation of an inanimate object comprising: a phased-array ultrasonic inspection probe for scanning an internal volume of an inanimate scanned object, the scanning penetrating at least fifty percent (50%) of central internal volume when oriented in a first stationary probe position external to an exterior periphery of the inanimate object, the probe having a plurality of transmitters for transmitting a series of ultrasonic waves through the internal volume at varying sectorial angles, and a plurality of receivers for receiving reflected waveforms therefrom; an inspection fixture for moving and selectively orienting the probe at a plurality of scanning positions about the exterior periphery; a data acquisition system coupled to the probe receiver, for acquiring reflected waveform receipt time and amplitude data collected at the plurality of probe scanning positions about the exterior periphery and creating waveform data sets correlated with the scanning positions; a data analysis system coupled to the data acquisition system for identifying a discontinuity in the internal volume and for correlating reflected waveform data sets with a size and a position of the identified discontinuity using a Distance-Gain-Size analysis technique, wherein energy data within the reflected waveform data sets are compared to pre-stored energy response data from a known equivalent reflector size (ERS) at varying distances from the probe receivers, the ERS selected from the group consisting of flat bottom holes (FBH) and side drilled holes (SDH).