Theoretical modelling of ultrasonic non-destructive testing

Anders Bostr6m

Division of Mechanics, Chalmers University of Technology, S-412 96 G6teborg, Sweden Received 1 March 1994; accepted 7 March 1994
The benefits of theoretical modelling of ultrasonic non-destructive testing is discussed and some examples from a recently developed model are given. This includes level plots of the field radiated by a piezoelectric probe and also some examples of signal responses from testing for cracks. Keywords: non-destructive testing; ultrasonic techniques; piezoelectric probe

Methods of non-destructive testing (NDT) are playing an increasingly important role for the reliability requirements of materials and components. In this connection it is appropriate to talk about quantitative non-destructive evaluation (QNDE), this being an emerging engineering discipline which includes quantitative measurement techniques, mathematical modelling, statistical considerations etc. QNDE has connections with other engineering disciplines such as materials science, reliability analysis, and design and maintenance procedures. Ultrasonic techniques are among the more popular NDT methods and are widely used, for instance, in the nuclear power and aerospace industries. Ultrasound can be used for various applications, a typical example being the search for defects (e.g. cracks) in nuclear power components. To date, ultrasonic techniques have been based mostly on empirical and simple theoretical considerations. As discussed below, however, a more complete mathematical modelling of the ultrasonic NDT procedure has many benefits. As the ultimate goal of a model is to predict a measurement system's response to specific anomalies in a material, a fundamental approach to QNDE must be based on a more or less complete description of the measurement process. This includes the probe, pertinent details of the geometry of the probe scan and the tested component, the defect and the calibration. Also, damping, various noise mechanisms, signal processing, etc. could be included in a model. The most crucial part of the modelling, however, is the interaction of the ultrasound with the defect. The availability of a good model has many benefits. A model can be very helpful in the design and optimization of testing procedures and in the interpretation of experimental results. It is also much simpler to perform parametric studies with a good model than experimentally, and in this way the probability of detection of various types of defects can be assessed. A good model is also a prerequisite to any serious attempt at the inverse problem (the 'real' problem of determining the defect given the transmitted and received ultrasonic pulses). A large number of ultrasonic wave propagation and scattering problems have been considered in the literature, but usually they concentrate on only one aspect of the full QNDE problem. A few models have now reached the level where they may be of real help to the NDT engineer, and includes those of Chapman ~, Langenberg Correspondence to Anders Bostrrm
0261-3069/94/030164-05 1994 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd 164 Materials & Design Volume 15 Number 3 1 994

et al. 2 and Achenbach 3. In the following the type of results obtainable by another, presently developed, model is described 4. Probes To make a detailed model of an ultrasonic probe is a very difficult task. A piezoelectric contact probe includes a piezoelectric crystal, backing, a plastic wedge and some sort of couplant to the component. Instead of modelling this the usual approach is to postulate the action of the probe by giving its traction vector (most often only the pressure) on the component's surface. For an elastic halfspace the resulting radiation from the probe may be solved for by Fourier transform techniques (in both space and time). To give an indication of the fields radiated by a probe a few numerical examples are now given (Figures 1-3). At a few selected times the absolute value of the displacement field below the probe is then shown in level plots with increasing darkness to illustrate increasing displacements. The levels are in dB with 0 dB at the maximum in each series of figures, and decreasing down to - 2 5 dB. The probes are square with a side of 10 mm and the plots are for a plane through the middle of the probe parallel to one side. The plotted area is 40 mm by 40 mm and for each probe the three times 2/~s, 4/ts and 6 gs are shown. The material is assumed to be steel with a compressional wave speed of 5940 m/s and a shear wave speed of 3230 m/s. In the first snapshot in each figure the shape of the contact pressure at the centre of the probe is inserted. This should closely correspond to the incident electric signal to the probe. In the first snapshot in each figure the location of the probe is also indicated. The same probe symbol is used irrespective of the angle of the probe. Figures 1 and 2 show the field below a 2 MHz unangled compressional probe with a bandwidth of 2 MHz and 1 MHz, respectively. The dominating wave in both figures is a compressional wave (the wave farthest from the probe). The larger bandwidth in Figure 1 gives a sharper pulse in time but it also gives a somewhat broader pulse sideways. Two more wave types can be seen in the figures. The circular arcs emanating from the edges of the probe are shear waves and the waves along the surface of the half-space are Rayleigh surface waves travelling a little slower than the shear waves. Both of these waves are stronger for the probe with larger bandwidth in Figure 2. Another example is given in Figure 3, which shows a

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45 shear wave probe with centre frequency 1.5 MHz and bandwidth 1.5 MHz. This gives a sharp shear wave in the expected direction as well as a rather strong Rayleigh wave along the surface. No compressional waves can be seen and the main reason for this is that the angle of the probe is beyond the critical angle for compressional waves. Other examples with varying size, frequency, angle, wave type, etc. could, of course, be given, but the main use of this type of computations should now be clear. The figures give a good physical 'feeling' for the fields as well as information on the size in both space and time of the generated pulses. Perhaps most important, they give the strength of the various types of unwanted waves generated, a typical example being the Rayleigh waves in

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Defects and calibration The most important part in QNDE modelling is the treatment of the defect. It is also the part that has been most considered in the literature. Thus various types of cracks with different shapes and contact conditions have been considered, as have some types of volumetric defects. The most popular method of solution is probably some types of surface-integral equations, but other methods such as the null field approach, finite differences and FEM are also employed. The methods mentioned so far are all 'exact' and become more or less cumbersome or even impossible to use at higher frequencies, where, on the other hand, some asymptotic methods such as the Geometrical Theory of Diffraction I become applicable. In the present work an integral equation method is used to treat the ultrasonic scattering by circular cracks 4. The results of ultrasonic non-destructive testing are conventionally calibrated by the ultrasonic reflection from a side-drilled hole or a flat-bottomed one. In this work a side-drilled hole has been used for this purpose. When computing the calibration the action of the probe as a receiver is, of course, also needed, and this is accomplished by a simple reciprocity argument 4. It should be noted that this procedure essentially yields the electrical response of the probe, i.e. the quantity measured in practice. To illustrate the capabilities of the computer program a few examples of the ultrasonic scattering by a circular crack are now given. Due to computer requirements there is an upper limit on the size of the defect, o r - which is the same thing - how high the frequency may be. At present the largest defects that can be accommodated have a diameter of about nine ultrasonic shear wavelengths (about five compressional wavelengths). In steel, for instance, this means a largest diameter of about 7 mm at a frequency of a 4 MHz and 14 mm at 2 MHz. The defect should be located well inside the inspected component or close to a planar back surface that is parallel to the planar scanning surface. The probe is assumed to operate in a pulse-echo mode, i.e. the same probe is used as both transmitter and receiver. The probe is scanning along a straight line along the x-axis which is situated in the surface of the component with the crack right beneath x = 0. For simplicity, the probe is also assumed to operate at a single frequency, i.e. it is assumed to be narrowband. The calibration is performed with a side-drilled

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hole at the same depth and of the same diameter as the defect. Figure 4 shows the results when an unangled compressional probe scans above four different defects at a depth of 40 mm. The probe is circular with a diameter of 10 mm and it operates at 4 MHz. The four defects all have a diameter of 5 mm. The full-drawn curve is for a spherical cavity, the long-dashed one for a circular crack parallel to the scanning surface, the short-dashed one is for a 45 tilted circular crack and the dotted one is for an upright (crack normal parallel to scanning direction) circular crack. The various levels are as expected with the parallel crack giving the strongest response, followed by the cavity and with the upright crack giving a response 45 dB below the parallel crack. In practice, this means that the upright crack would be almost impossible to detect with this probe. It is seen that the rule of thumb that the 6 dB drop determines the size of the defect is well satisfied. Figure 5 investigates the effects of varying the crack tilt. The probe in this case is a 2 MHz 60 shear probe which is square with 10 mm side. The crack has a diameter of 10 mm and a depth of 20 mm and is upright for the full-drawn curve, tilted 10 to the right for the dashdotted line, tilted 20 for the short-dashed one, - l0 for the dotted one and - 2 0 for the long-dashed one. That the - 2 0 tilted crack gives the strongest response is natural, as it is close to perpendicular to the beam axis. The peak response is expected around x = 35 mm when the beam axis is striking the middle of the crack, but for the - 2 0 tilted crack the strongest response occurs around x = 50 mm instead. The reason for this is that although the beam axis misses the crack, the somewhat weaker part of the beam l0 of the beam axis strikes the crack normally, giving a very strong response. As a last example, a circular crack that is situated close to a free 'back' surface of the component is considered. The crack and probe are the same as in Figure 5, i.e. the crack has a diameter of l0 mm and a depth of 20 mm and the probe is a 2 MHz 60 shear probe with l0 mm side. Figure 6 shows the effect of introducing the back surface

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for an upright crack. The dashed curve gives the response without back surface, the dotted one when the distance to the back surface is 2.5 mm and the full-drawn one when the crack is touching the back surface. The effects of the back surface are seen to be significant. The peak around x = 27 mm, which is the echo from the upper crack edge, is not so much affected, whereas the part between 40 and 60 mm which originates from the lower crack edge and its interaction with the free surface is strongly affected.

Conclusions
In conclusion, it should be apparent that theoretical modelling in ultrasonic NDT has now reached the level where it can be of real value for the practising NDT engineer. As discussed and illustrated, the modelling gives a good physical 'feeling', it is helpful in the design

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and interpretation o f experimental results, and it is very efficient for conducting parametric studies. The modelling w o r k is continuing. At present the efforts are directed particularly towards the modelling o f surfaces-breaking cracks and cracks with r o u g h surfaces, both problems o f great practical interest.

References
1 Chapman, R. K. A system model for the ultrasonic inspection of smooth planar cracks. J. Nondestr. Eval, 1990, 9, 197-211 2 Langenberg, K. J., Fellinger, P., Marklein, R., Zanger, P., Mayer, K. and Kreuter, T. Inverse methods and imaging. In Evaluation o f Materials and Structures by Quantitative Ultrasonics Ed. Achenbach, J.D., Springer, Vienna, 1993, pp. 317-398 3 Achenbach, J. D. Measurement models for quantitative ultrasonics. J. Sound. Vibr. 1992, 159, 385-401 4 Bostr6m, A. Theoretical models for ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation by cracks: probe modelling and calibration by a sidedrilled hole. SKI Techn. Rep. 93:37 1993

Acknowledgements
The w o r k presented here has been sponsored in part by S K I (the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate).

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