NDE of a 3-D surface crack using magnetic field induced by DC current flow

A method is proposed for nondestructive evaluation of a 3-D surface crack by means of measurement of a magnetic field induced in the air by DC current flow in a material. A semielliptical crack is considered. The crack length is assumed to be known in advance and the crack depth is to be found. The current is applied between two close points on both sides of the crack and the change in magnetic: flux density in the air due to the crack is measured in non-contact with the surface of the material. An approximate equation relating the magnetic flux density to the depth and length of the crack is derived numerically and some experimental results show that the evaluated crack depth is in good agreement with the actual one.