Presentation and analysis enhancements of the NDT Workbench a software package for ultrasonic NDT data

This paper describes significant developments in 3-D ultrasound data display and analysis, in the form of an enhanced version of the NDT Workbench as presented at QNDE’98. A central feature of the Workbench is the tight integration between NDT datasets and 3D CAD geometries of the inspected components, allowing proper account to be taken of surface reflections during the image reconstruction process. The ultrasound image is presented in ‘3-D’ within the CAD geometry, with extensive tools for image manipulation and interrogation, including real-time ‘3-D’ rotation and interactive slicing along any plane. A number of facilities have been added to increase overall functionality and the options for data display: a) import of ‘.sat’ format files from commercial CAD packages; b) versatile internal CAD editor; c) multiple windows with independent functionality for displaying different 3-D datasets; d) overlay of 3-D images with individual control of image transparency; e) ‘snap to 3-D grid’ tool at user-defined ...