Ultrasonic Wedges for Testing Of Turbine Blade Roots

The integrity of turbine blade roots and attachments is fundamental to the power infrastructure. Therefore, it requires the adoption of appropriate wedges with an effective ultrasonic testing system. Turbine components have complicated geometry which ordinarily impedes proper coupling to the wedge. However, different configurations of the ultrasonic wedge have been developed to obviate this constraint. In this paper, the various types of ultrasonic wedge are reviewed vis-a-vis their conformability to the turbine blade root geometry. Also, the possible application of cylindrical multiple flat-faced wedges is discussed.