Guided wave acoustical trunnion rod crack detection system

A trunnion rod testing distributed computer apparatus with memory and processing components comprised of:

• a computer processor that receives input to generate an activation signal at time T1;
• a waveform generator configured to receive said activation signal and to produce and transmit an electric pulse signal;
• a transducer configured to receive said electric pulse signal from said waveform generator and to produce an acoustic signal;
• wherein said transducer is operatively coupled to a trunnion rod to form a transducer/rod-end interface;
• wherein said transducer/rod-end interface is a physical point of the contact with said trunnion rod from which said transducer transmits said acoustic signal through said trunnion rod at time T2;
• wherein a reflection of said acoustic signal is received by said transducer at said transducer/rod-end interface;
• and
• wherein said transducer receives said reflection of said acoustic signal and converts said reflection to an electric analog return signal;
• and
• an oscilloscope configured to receive said electric analog return signal from said transducer and transmit it as a digital return signal;
• and
• wherein said computer processor is a virtual processing component that receives said T1 and digital return signal at time T3 and calculates an output travel time (T3−T1).