Eddy current method

I work in inverse problems arising in nondestructive evaluation. The problem arise in the context of determining corrosion in aircraft. My hope is that the work will lead to useful computational technology that adds value to existing methods such as the eddy current testing.

Eddy current method works on the principle of electromagnetics. Current is passed through a probe consisting of a wire loop. The probe hovers over the specimen while generating an EM field, and measuring it. The measurement is the impedance in the loop. The inverse problem is to give a quantitative estimate of the corrosion from the impedance measurement over the specimen. A carricature of the process is shown in the figure below.

We have analyzed the mathematical problems related to the eddy current method based on some assumption of the corrosion damage.

Reference material

  1. Nondestructive evaluation of corrosion damage using electrostatic measurements. (with P. Kaup), Journal of Nondestructive Evaluation, 14 (1995), pages 127-136.
  2. A method for imaging corrosion damage in thin plates from electrostatic data. (with P. Kaup and M. Vogelius), Inverse Problems, 12 (1996), pages 279-293. (view)
  3. Nondestructive evaluation of plates using eddy current methods. (with D. Dobson), International Journal of Engineering Science, 36 (1998), pages 395-409. (view)
  4. Quantitative imaging of corrosion in plates by eddy current methods. (with B. Luong), SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, 58 (1998), pages 1509-1531. (view)