Nondestructive examination of high pressure turbine cylinders

A method for inspecting a cylinder component of high-pressure cylinders of steam turbines, wherein the cylinder component has an axial dimension, comprising the steps of:

• supporting a linear phased array of ultrasonic transducers at an axial location along a surface of the cylinder component;
• moving the linear phased array of ultrasonic transducers axially while monitoring linear phased array of ultrasonic transducers' output to identify an axial location to be monitored;
• fixing the linear phased array of ultrasonic transducers at the axial location to be monitored;
• moving the linear phased array of ultrasonic transducers circumferentially around the surface of the cylinder component at least 360° at the axial location while noting outputs of the linear phased array of ultrasonic transducers indicative of fatigue induced flaws in a wall of the cylinder component;
• routing the linear phased array of ultrasonic transducers circumferentially around the fixed axial location where a most significant flaw was noted from the linear phased array of ultrasonic transducers outputs during the step of moving the linear phased array of ultrasonic transducers circumferentially;
• and
• successively focusing the linear phased array of ultrasonic transducers at different depths in the wall where the most significant flaw was noted to further characterize the depth and size of the flaw.