Non-Destructive Testing and Structural Health Monitoring Lab
The Non-Destructive Testing and Structural Health Monitoring (NDT & SHM) Lab is part of UGent's Mechanics of Materials and Structures (MMS) research group.
The lab specialises in advanced inspection, damage detection and structural health monitoring of engineering materials and components, with particular expertise in fibre-reinforced composites and bonded structures.
The lab combines advanced ultrasonic, vibration-based and infrared thermographic techniques with experimental and numerical analysis to detect, locate and characterise defects and damage, and to relate these to mechanical performance. This expertise is complemented by the broader MMS group's capabilities in experimental and computational mechanics, impact behaviour and fatigue of composite materials.
For offshore wind, these capabilities are particularly relevant to wind turbine blades and other composite components, supporting the assessment of manufacturing defects, impact damage, delamination, adhesive bond integrity and damage evolution.
Key testing equipment and capabilities
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Facility / Equipment |
Key Capabilities & Specifications |
Why it's important for offshore wind |
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Ultrasonic scanning facilities |
Air- and liquid-coupled ultrasound; linear and nonlinear techniques; multi-axis scanning (3–6 axes); high-frequency inspection and advanced data processing |
Internal inspection of composite wind turbine blades and bonded structures, including detection and characterisation of delamination, impact damage, disbonds and manufacturing defects |
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3D Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometry (SLDV) |
Non-contact, full-field 3D vibration measurements; modal analysis, guided-wave imaging and local defect resonance; picometre-scale sensitivity; frequencies up to 25 MHz |
Detection and localisation of damage in composite blade components and bonded connections, including defects that may not be visible during conventional visual inspection |
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Acoustic emission monitoring |
Passive monitoring with 16 channels; high-frequency detection of transient elastic waves (50–900 kHz) |
Monitoring damage initiation and progression in composite structures during mechanical and fatigue loading |
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Active vibrational SHM |
Active vibration-based monitoring with 32 multiplexed channels; guided-wave techniques and sparse sensor networks; frequencies up to 500 kHz |
Development and validation of sensor-based damage detection and condition-monitoring approaches for wind turbine blades and structural components |
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Active infrared thermography |
Full-field, non-contact thermal imaging; cooled infrared camera (640 × 512 pixels, sensitivity below 15 mK); optical, vibrational and induction-based thermal stimulation |
Rapid detection and visualisation of subsurface defects, delamination, impact damage and bonding imperfections in composite blade materials and structural components |
The combination of complementary non-destructive testing techniques allows inspection and monitoring approaches to be tailored to specific materials, damage mechanisms and industrial applications. Together with the Soete Lab's expertise in fatigue, fracture mechanics and structural lifetime assessment, the NDT & SHM Lab contributes to an integrated approach to structural integrity and reliability of offshore wind components.