Ultrasonic Field Modeling in Non-Planar and Inhomogeneous Structures Using Distributed Point Source Method

Abstract

Ultrasonic wave field is modeled inside non-planar and inhomogeneous structures using a newly developed mesh-free semi-analytical technique called Distributed Point Source Method (DPSM). Wave field inside a corrugated plate which is a non-planar structure is modeled using DPSM when the structure is excited by a bounded acoustic beam generated by a finite-size transducer. The ultrasonic field is computed both inside the plate and in the surrounding fluid medium. It is observed that the reflected beam strength is weaker for the corrugated plate in comparison to that of the flat plate, as expected. Whereas the backward scattering is found to be stronger for the corrugated plate. DPSM generated results in the surrounding fluid medium are compared with the experimental results.Ultrasonic wave field is also modeled inside inhomogeneous structures. Two types of inhomogeneity are considered - a circular hole and a damaged layered half-space. Elastic wave scattering inside a half-space containing a circular hole is first modeled using DPSM when the structure is excited with a bounded acoustic beam. Then the ultrasonic wave field is computed in presence and absence of a defect in a layered half-space. For the layered problem geometry it is shown how the layer material influences the amount of energy that propagates through the layer and that penetrates into the solid half-space when the solid structure is struck by a bounded acoustic beam. It is also shown how the presence of a crack and the material properties of the layer material affect the ultrasonic fields inside the solid and fluid media.After solving the above problems in the frequency domain the DPSM technique is extended to produce the time domain results by the Fast Fourier Transform technique. Time histories are obtained for a bounded beam striking an elastic half-space. Numerical results are generated for normal and inclined incidences, for defect-free and cracked half-spaces. A number of useful information that is hidden in the steady state response can be obtained from the transient results.