Bolts are one of the most common joining techniques and are used in most critical and demanding industries, including infrastructure, power generation, oil & gas, mining, construction. They do however represent stress concentrators that can bring down a structure if not properly installed and maintained. The US Bureau of Safety and Environment Enforcement has stated that prescribed inspection practices are no longer sufficient . Innerspec´s existing range of products incorporate advanced applications tailored to specific markets. Innerspec is aiming at providing a universal solution that can be applied to any installed bolt and does not rely on previous knowledge of each specific bolt. This method will be based upon our novel dual wave (Shear and Longitudinal) technique which combines two physical phenomena, bolt elongation (Hooke's Law) and acousto-elasticity. The ratio between the Time of flight (TOF) of the two waves and applied load has been shown to be linear. However in recent trials on batches of bolts from different manufacturers, we have found that in some circumstances, whilst the slope of the graphs of TOF against varying load are identical ,the initiation points are quite different leading to variations in accuracy of +/-100kN. Previous research work on this topic have identified the cause to be the variable nature of the bolts crystalline structure, even within bolts from the same batch. We are therefore seeking to undertake a study supported by NPL and NMG to better understand how the differences in the crystalline structure of bolts affect the measurements of load with ultrasonic transducers and to identify a cost effective , site deployable method to overcome this.

World Corrosion Organization estimates the annual cost of corrosion to be €1.3-1.4 trillion (3.1-3.5% of world GDP). According to Vanson-Bourne-2017 study, 82% of companies worldwide have experienced at least one unplanned downtime outage in a span of 3years. All sectors require reduced non-productive time and improved workflow efficiency. Covid-19 has exacerbated this and according to a Rystad Energy impact analysis severe spending cuts and Covid-19 will see O&M spend in UK fall to $2.9 billion, the lowest level since 1990\. This leads to an urgent need for technologies that enable lifetime extension , remote working and sustained performance. We aim to develop 5G digital-twin hardware and software providing continuous feedback on generalized corrosion extant in pipes based through 5G links with miniaturised sensors pulsed with AC current that, when placed on the corrosion susceptible surface, capture any Magnetic Flux Leakage and links with asset integrity assessment software.. It will enable the integration of 1\. Asset integrity standards with 2\. NDT thickness mapping, all together into 3\. Digitally interactive platform with prediction modelling and smart display in real-time. A [report from PSB Research][0], which surveyed over 3,500 people including business decision leaders, analysts and technologists, found that 91% expect new 5G based products and services , yet to be invented. 5G digitisation will open viable opportunities for remote digital-twins of high sustainability, and will boost all sectors with unexpected demand increase. [0]: https://www.qualcomm.com/documents/psb-public-survey-report

Renewable Energy is a global requirement and increasing in demand due to decarbonisation and the need to reduce pollution generated from brown energy. There were 341,320 wind turbines spinning around the world at the end of 2016, which equates to a capacity of 486.8GW globally. The total capacity at the end of 2019 is 651GW, an increase of 10% compared to 2018\. Although there is an increasing demand of wind turbines, market surveys show that current inspection methods are inadequate. Due to WTB's large size and stress caused by wind gusts, wear is fast, thus there is a regular need for inspection and maintenance. There are a variety of inspection techniques that have been widely used in the wind industry, but few of them can be applied to inspect a wind turbine blade (WTB) onsite and in-situ. Ultrasonic testing is a pointwise contact inspection technique for homogeneous materials, thus is difficult to use to inspect the inhomogeneous composite material parts of a WTB on-site. Radiography has safety issues because of the use of radiation. Thermography is a promising NDT technique, but its capability of inspecting a WTB on-site is not proven, because the ambient temperature change due to wind flow will add strong noise to the captured thermal images. It is also highly susceptible to emissivity of the blade surface, which means any changes in emissivity caused by rain, snow and other contaminations will result in false alarms. The use of drones to inspect wind asset including WTBs is attracting more attention in recent years, however it is limited to visual inspection for surface defects only. Shearography, as a non-contact inspection technique, is widely used to inspect various materials including composite in industry to identify subsurface defects. However, it requires a very stable working condition such as in a test lab or a test facility. The use of shearography in-situ for WTB inspection is not yet fully demonstrated, because WTBs are in constant vibration even when they are stopped for maintenance and inspection at good weather with low wind speed. We have identified a way to address the stability problem for shearography by introducing a stabilising mechanism to the shearography so that it can work properly on a WTB in-situ. The ShearWin system will be the first shearography product in the world that allows human inspectors to deploy it on a WTB in-situ. A prototype system will be developed at the end of the project. With the technique protected by a patent (pending), the project consortium is confident that the innovative ShearWin product will be further developed into a commercial product to reach the wind energy service market within 1-2 years after the successful completion of this project.