Unit information: Data Analysis and Imaging (Bristol University) in 2020/21

Unit name	Data Analysis and Imaging (Bristol University)
Unit code	MENGM0035
Credit points	10
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
Unit director	Professor. Drinkwater
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering
Faculty	Faculty of Engineering

Description including Unit Aims

The primary aim of this unit is to teach students how to extract knowledge from the significant quantities of data that modern NDE practitioners are presented with.

This unit provides students with exposure to fundamental data from the simple Ultrasonic A-scan to x-ray images and Ultrasonic array images. The unit explores how information about defects such as their presence and their size and type is extracted from NDE data. This process will be placed in a general context with details about the specifics relating to the major NDE modalities.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the unit students are expected to be able to:

1. Understand the desire from industry for images
2. A general understanding of how defect detection is performed on NDE data
3. An understanding of the basic approaches for generating images in each of the major NDE modalities
4. Ability to explain the general framework used to extract defect information from a range of NDE images, Ultrasonic, X-ray and Eddy Current.

Teaching Information

This unit will be made up of a combination of taught lectures and Q&A sessions.

Assessment Information

The units summative assessment consists of a 5000 word essay on the industrial need for imaging and how it is carried out. This will consider how a specific inspection may be designed to address a specific NDE need. Essentially setting a specific inspection problem and instructing the students to explain and demonstrate how this inspection could be designed, the industrial context and the strengths and weaknesses of the designed inspection. This will address all of the ILO’s for the unit. There will be a formative assessment based on a lecture given by an industrial practitioner, whereby students are talked through a similar exercise to the summative assessment and given feedback on their answers.

Reading and References

Reading and references will be provided in the lectures.