On determination off focal laws for linear phased array probes as to the active and passive element size


On determination off focal laws for linear phased array probes as to the active and passive element size

Gommlich, A.; Schubert, F.

Ultrasonic linear phased array probes consist of several single transducer elements. By exciting each single element at a particular time wave fronts can be tilted, focused or both combined. The required set of time delays is called ''focal law''. Hence, the shape of the resulting wave front depends significantly on focal law calculation. The typical single transducer element in linear phased array probes has a rectangle shape with a width-to-length-ratio of approximately 0.1 to 0.5. The width of the short side is called ''active aperture size'', the larger one is called ''passive aperture size''. In state of the art calculations of the focal laws only the pitch between the single elements is considered and the elements are approximated by a point source in the centre of their aperture. Therefore, the real dimensions of the elements - both the active and the passive dimension - have no further influence. Moreover the wave propagation process itself is modelled by geometrical acoustics.
The numerical CEFIT (Cylindrical Elastodynamic Finite Integration Technique) in combination with transient PSS (Point Source Synthesis) enables flexible and fast simulation of 4-D spatio-temporal sound fields in homogeneous and layered half spaces, espectively. Thereby all wave physical effects like diffraction, scattering and mode conversion will be considered. The calculations with different geometrical parameters for the probes show that both the active as well as the passive aperture size influence the time and frequency characteristic of the signal in the focal point. Based on the focal laws calculated with and without respect to the aperture size, sound fields were simulated for selected focal points. The results were qualitatively and quantitatively compared whereby the differences between both methods are distinguishable. It becomes evident that geometrical focus and acoustical focus are different. The feasibility of corrections for the focal laws with respect to time and frequency characteristics in the focal point as well as the improvement of resolution will be discussed. The results further allow an estimation of the optimal width-tolength-ratio for single transducer elements of linear phased arrays.

Keywords: focal law; phased array; sound field simulation; cefit; pss

  • Open Access Logo Contribution to proceedings
    19th World Conference on Non-Destructive Testing 2016, 13.-17.06.2016, München, Deutschland

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Publ.-Id: 23872