Thu, 26 October, 2023
TWI has been innovating in the field of glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) structure inspection through the use of our automated acoustic percussive inspection system.
GFRP materials are reinforced with glass fibres that provide high strength and moderate stiffness with a reduced weight when compared to many other materials.
The system has been used to inspect the structure of an RNLI Tamar Class lifeboat at the RNLI’s all-weather lifeboat centre in Poole.
Our IntACom software was used to acquire, visualise and analyse 3D data from hull of the 16.3m vessel.
In addition to the inspection method used here, this modular software also supports numerous other automated inspection processes for many different material types.
The collaborative robot system allows for the rapid inspection of these types of large structures, with the software providing a 3D digital twin where the data can be viewed and analysed in the context of the asset CAD model.
You can see a video of the inspection, below: