Abstract

In order to evaluate the sensitivity of defect inspection systems, it is convenient to examine simulated data. This gives the possibility to tune the parameters of the inspection method and to test the performance of the system in critical cases. Among the non-destructive testing and evaluation community there are three approaches that produce this simulated data. The first technique attempts to simulate flaws by superimposing masks with different grey values on to real X-ray images. The second approach makes a simulation of the entire X-ray imaging process, in which casting and flaws are simulated using CAD models. The third method simulates only the flaws (and not the whole X-ray image of the object under test) by superimposing projections of 3D models on to real X-ray images. In this paper, a review of the mentioned approaches of flaw simulation in castings is presented. References, advantages, disadvantages and examples are given for each technique.