ABSTRACT

Ultrasonic testing is based on time-varying deformations or vibrations in materials, which is generally referred to as acoustics. All material substances are comprised of atoms, which may be forced into vibrational motion about their equilibrium positions. Many different patterns of vibrational motion exist at the atomic level, however, most are irrelevant to acoustics and ultrasonic testing. Acoustics is focused on particles that contain many atoms that move in unison to produce a mechanical wave. When a material is not stressed in tension or compression beyond its elastic limit, its individual particles perform elastic oscillations. When the particles of a medium are displaced from their equilibrium positions, internal (electrostatic) restoration forces arise. It is these elastic restoring forces between particles, combined with inertia of the particles, that leads to the oscillatory motions of the medium. In solids, sound waves can propagate in four principle modes that are based on the way the particles oscillate. Sound can propagate as longitudinal waves, shear waves, surface waves, and in thin materials as plate waves. Longitudinal and shear waves are the two modes of propagation most widely used in ultrasonic testing. The particle movement responsible for the propagation of longitudinal and shear waves is illustrated below.

In longitudinal waves, the oscillations occur in the longitudinal direction or the direction of wave propagation. Since compressional and dilational forces are active in these waves, they are also called pressure or compressional waves. They are also sometimes called density waves because their particle density fluctuates as they move. Compression waves can be generated in liquids, as well as solids because the energy travels through the atomic structure by a series of compressions and expansion (rarefaction) movements. In the transverse or shear wave, the particles oscillate at a right angle or transverse to the direction of propagation. Shear waves require an acoustically solid material for effective propagation, and therefore, are not effectively propagated in materials such as liquids or gasses. Shear waves are relatively weak when compared to longitudinal waves. In fact, shear waves are usually generated in materials using some of the energy from longitudinal waves.

SPACE WAVE PROPOGATION

The radio waves having high frequencies are basically called as space waves. These waves have the ability to propagate through atmosphere, from transmitter antenna to receiver antenna. These waves can travel directly or can travel after reflecting from earths surface to the troposphere surface of earth. So, it is also called as Tropospherical Propagation. Basically the technique of space wave propagation is used in bands having very high frequencies. E.g. V.H.F. band, U.H.F band etc. At such higher frequencies the other wave propagation techniques like sky wave propagation, ground wave propagation cant work. Only space wave propagation is left which can handle frequency waves of higher frequencies. The other name of space wave propagation is line of sight propagation.

SKY WAVE PROPOGATION

In radio communication, skywave or "skip" is the propagation of radio waves bent (reflected) back to the Earth's surface by the ionosphere. Skywave propagation is used at shortwave frequencies to communicate at transcontinental distances, around the curvature of the Earth. As a result of skywave propagation, a broadcastsignal from a distant AM broadcasting station at night, a shortwave radio station or (during sporadic E season) a low band TV station can sometimes be heard as clearly as local stations. This is distinct from groundwave propagation, where the radio wave travels horizontally directly from the transmitter to the receiver, which is the dominant propagation mode at lower frequencies.

GROUND WAVE PROPOGATION

Ground Waves are radio waves that follow the curvature of the earth. Ground waves are always vertically polarized, because a horizontally polarized ground wave would be shorted out by the conductivity of the ground. Because ground waves are actually in contact with the ground, they are greatly affected by the grounds properties. Because ground is not a perfect electrical conductor, ground waves are attenuated as they follow the earths surface. This effect is more pronounced at higher frequencies, limiting the usefulness of ground wave propagation to frequencies below 2 MHz. Ground waves will propagate long distances over sea water, due to its high conductivity.

TROPOSPHERIC SCATTER PROPOGATION

At VHF and higher frequencies, small variations in the density of the atmosphere at a height of around 6 miles (10 km) can scatter some of the normally line-of-sight beam of radio frequency energy back toward the ground. In this it provides only the UHF frequencies, the wave which goes beyond the line of sight that wave is affected by this propogation. Frequency range is above 300 Mhz. This mode uses the properties of troposphere so it is known as tropospheric scatter propogation.