Ailidh McGilp

Our interviewee for this instalment of People in NDE is Ailidh McGilp, a Research Engineer in NDE at Doosan Babcock and the University of Strathclyde. She was the winner of the William Gardner Award at the NDT 2014 conference.

Briefly describe your current role in NDE.
I am currently a Research Engineer in the final year of an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) in NDE. The EngD is managed through the UK Research Centre in NDE (RCNDE). I am sponsored by Doosan Babcock and am conducting my research at the University of Strathclyde. My research is focused on practical and efficient ultrasonic inspection of complex components, mainly in the nuclear industry.

What does your typical work day involve, or is there no typical day?
Due to the EngD, my time is split between university and industry. My research involves using 2D ultrasonic arrays and post-processing algorithms such as the total focusing method (TFM) to inspect components that have non-planar surfaces. At university I am typically found in the lab, either collecting data or writing code to analyse it. At Doosan Babcock, I am involved in numerous projects that range from designing new ultrasonic inspection techniques to applying well evolved techniques. In both cases, my work is relatively evenly split between experiments and simulation of ultrasonic inspections. I am also working on writing up my research for my thesis now.

Why did you choose NDE?
I completed a three-month industrial placement with the NDE Group at Doosan Babcock in the third year of my applied physics honours degree. I enjoyed the development work I was involved in and the EngD scheme seemed a good opportunity to move forward with.

What education/training route did you follow?
I graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Applied Physics in 2011 and joined the EngD scheme in October 2011. The EngD is a four-year-long research degree similar to a PhD, only it is industrially motivated.

What would you consider to be your biggest challenges and achievements to date?
I think conducting research to a stage where it is ready to be presented to the NDE community has been my biggest challenge. I found presenting my results rather daunting to start with, but it is coming more naturally now. I was awarded the William Gardner Award at the BINDT conference in September for my EngD research, and I consider this my biggest achievement to date.

What changes, if any, do you foresee for NDE in the future?
I hope that advanced techniques will be taken up by industry in the near future. It is obvious from attending conferences on NDE that there is a lot of research being conducted to develop new techniques. For a variety of reasons, these new techniques are not widely used in industry so far, and I would like to see that change.

NDE is rarely considered a ‘hot topic’ and does not receive much media attention. Do you think this is a problem?
It is a shame that NDE is not widely known. I’ve yet to hear someone say they grew up dreaming of being an NDE engineer. However, I have found the people who work in NDE are passionate about it. Maybe we can use their passion along with the advances in social media and the like to make NDE more of a hot topic.

How would you describe NDE/NDT to someone who knows nothing or little about it?
As I mainly use ultrasound I usually describe it as similar to performing a sonogram on a pipe to check for cracks. Generally, people miss out the ‘non’ of NDE and are disappointed we don’t get to destroy things!

What is your favourite NDE technique and why?
Ultrasonic testing – I’ve had most exposure to it and find it a very diverse technique. I think there is still a lot of potential to be gained through 2D arrays and imaging algorithms.

And, finally, if you could inspect any structure/component, what would it be?
The Eiffel Tower – it is an amazing structure.

Please get in touch if you have any recommendations for future interviewees or would like to be interviewed yourself. Contact the editor at ndtnews@bindt.org or email Maria Felice direct at mvfelice@gmail.com

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