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Phased Array Ultrasonic Transducers (PAUT) and Techniques for Nondestructive Inspection of Structures and Materials

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2021) | Viewed by 17687

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Hyunjo Jeong

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Wonkwang University, Iksan 54538, Jeonbuk, Republic of Korea
Interests: ultrasound NDE; signal processing; nonlinear ultrasound; time reversal; metamaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Phased array ultrasonic transducers (PAUT) and techniques are an effective approach to conduct inspections and form images in nondestructive inspection of structures and materials. They are now starting to see significant NDI applications in different industries, but many unique characteristics and issues need to be addressed.

This Special Issue of Sensors, entitled “Phased Array Ultrasonic Transducers (PAUT) and Techniques for Nondestructive Inspection of Structures and Materials”, will focus on all aspects of the research and development related to these areas.

Original research papers that focus on the design and experimental verification of new phased array sensors and imaging system operating in linear and nonlinear ultrasonics, as well as papers that address industrial NDI issues, are welcome.

The authors of papers to present at WCNDT2020 are also invited to submit extended versions of their work to this Special Issue for publication. The 20th World Conference on Nondestructive Testing (https://www.wcndt2020.com:8443) will be held in Seoul, Korea on 8–12 June 2020.

We look forward to, and welcome, your participation in this Special Issue.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Transducer design, beam fields modeling and simulation, fabrication
  • Phased array techniques
  • Full matrix capture, total focusing, and other focusing methods
  • Data, signal, and image processing for enhanced detection
  • 3D image reconstruction
  • Ultrasonic testing and inspection—bulk, surface, and Lamb waves
  • Defect detection, imaging, and characterization
  • Material property characterization
  • Welds, composite materials, components of complex geometry
  • Nonlinear ultrasonic applications
  • Applications in dissimilar metal welds
  • Product process monitoring and control
  • Applications in additively manufactured products
  • Applications in automotive, aerospace, transportation and power plants
  • Stress, strain, and mechanical property measurements

Prof. Dr. Hyunjo Jeong
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 7109 KiB  
Article
Towards an Alternative to Time of Flight Diffraction Using Instantaneous Phase Coherence Imaging for Characterization of Crack-Like Defects
by Baptiste Gauthier, Guillaume Painchaud-April, Alain Le Duff and Pierre Bélanger
Sensors 2021, 21(3), 730; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21030730 - 22 Jan 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4005
Abstract
Time of flight diffraction (TOFD) is considered a reliable non-destructive testing method for the inspection of welds using a pair of single-element probes. On the other hand, ultrasonic phased array imaging has been continuously developed over the last couple of decades, and now [...] Read more.
Time of flight diffraction (TOFD) is considered a reliable non-destructive testing method for the inspection of welds using a pair of single-element probes. On the other hand, ultrasonic phased array imaging has been continuously developed over the last couple of decades, and now features powerful algorithms, such as the total focusing method (TFM) and its multi-view approach to rendering detailed images of inspected parts. This article focuses on a different implementation of the TFM algorithm, relying on the coherent summation of the instantaneous signal phase. This approach presents a wide range of benefits, such as removing the need for calibration, and is highly sensitive to defect tips. This study compares the sizing and localization capabilities of the proposed method with the well-known TOFD. Both instantaneous phase algorithm and TOFD do not take advantage of the signal amplitude. Experimental tests were performed on a ¾″-thick steel sample with crack-like defects at different angles. Phase-based imaging techniques showed similar characterization capabilities as the standard TOFD method. However, the proposed method adds the benefit of generating an easy-to-interpret image that can help in localizing the defect. These results pave the way for a new characterization approach, especially in the field of automated ultrasonic testing (AUT). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phased Array Ultrasonic Transducers (PAUT) and Techniques for Nondestructive Inspection of Structures and Materials)
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16 pages, 10903 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Flaw Detection Sensitivity of Phased Array Ultrasonics in Austenitic Steel Welds According to Inspection Conditions
by YoungLae Kim, Sungjong Cho and Ik Keun Park
Sensors 2021, 21(1), 242; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21010242 - 1 Jan 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4451
Abstract
The anisotropy and inhomogeneity exhibited by austenitic steel in welds poses a challenge to nondestructive testing employing ultrasonic waves, which is predominantly utilized for the inspection of welds in power plants. In this study, we assess the reliability of phased array ultrasonic testing [...] Read more.
The anisotropy and inhomogeneity exhibited by austenitic steel in welds poses a challenge to nondestructive testing employing ultrasonic waves, which is predominantly utilized for the inspection of welds in power plants. In this study, we assess the reliability of phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) by analyzing the flaw detection sensitivity of ultrasonic beams in anisotropic welds, based on the inspection conditions. First, we simulated the sectorial scan technique, frequently employed for the inspection of actual welds, while taking into account the ultrasonic wave mode, frequency, and shape and position of a flaw. Subsequently, we analyzed the flaw sensitivity by comparing A-scan signals and S-scan results. The sensitivity analysis results confirmed the detection of all flaws by considering at least two inspection methods based on the shape and position of the flaw. Furthermore, we verified our model by performing an experiment under the same conditions as the simulation and found that the results were in agreement. Hence, we find that the simulation modeling technique proposed in this study can be utilized to develop suitable inspection conditions, according to the flaw characteristics or inspection environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phased Array Ultrasonic Transducers (PAUT) and Techniques for Nondestructive Inspection of Structures and Materials)
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11 pages, 4367 KiB  
Communication
Space Optimized Plane Wave Imaging for Fast Ultrasonic Inspection with Small Active Aperture: Simulation and Experiment
by Hao Sui, Pan Xu, Jinxing Huang and Hongna Zhu
Sensors 2021, 21(1), 55; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21010055 - 24 Dec 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2422
Abstract
Plane wave imaging (PWI) is attracting more attention in industrial nondestructive testing and evaluation (NDT&E). To further improve imaging quality and reduce reconstruction time in ultrasonic imaging with a limited active aperture, an optimized PWI algorithm was proposed for rapid ultrasonic inspection, with [...] Read more.
Plane wave imaging (PWI) is attracting more attention in industrial nondestructive testing and evaluation (NDT&E). To further improve imaging quality and reduce reconstruction time in ultrasonic imaging with a limited active aperture, an optimized PWI algorithm was proposed for rapid ultrasonic inspection, with the comparison of the total focusing method (TFM). The effective area of plane waves and the space weighting factor were defined in order to balance the amplitude of the imaging area. Experiments were carried out to contrast the image quality, with great agreement to the simulation results. Compared with TFM imaging, the space-optimized PWI algorithm demonstrated a wider dynamic detection range and a higher defects amplitude, where the maximum defect amplitude attenuation declined by 6.7 dB and average attenuation on 12 defects decreased by 3.1 dB. In addition, the effects of plane wave numbers on attenuation and reconstruction time were focused on, achieving more than 10 times reduction of reconstruction times over TFM. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phased Array Ultrasonic Transducers (PAUT) and Techniques for Nondestructive Inspection of Structures and Materials)
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23 pages, 918 KiB  
Article
Subsampling Approaches for Compressed Sensing with Ultrasound Arrays in Non-Destructive Testing
by Eduardo Pérez, Jan Kirchhof, Fabian Krieg and Florian Römer
Sensors 2020, 20(23), 6734; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20236734 - 25 Nov 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2472
Abstract
Full Matrix Capture is a multi-channel data acquisition method which enables flexible, high resolution imaging using ultrasound arrays. However, the measurement time and data volume are increased considerably. Both of these costs can be circumvented via compressed sensing, which exploits prior knowledge of [...] Read more.
Full Matrix Capture is a multi-channel data acquisition method which enables flexible, high resolution imaging using ultrasound arrays. However, the measurement time and data volume are increased considerably. Both of these costs can be circumvented via compressed sensing, which exploits prior knowledge of the underlying model and its sparsity to reduce the amount of data needed to produce a high resolution image. In order to design compression matrices that are physically realizable without sophisticated hardware constraints, structured subsampling patterns are designed and evaluated in this work. The design is based on the analysis of the Cramér–Rao Bound of a single scatterer in a homogeneous, isotropic medium. A numerical comparison of the point spread functions obtained with different compression matrices and the Fast Iterative Shrinkage/Thresholding Algorithm shows that the best performance is achieved when each transmit event can use a different subset of receiving elements and each receiving element uses a different section of the echo signal spectrum. Such a design has the advantage of outperforming other structured patterns to the extent that suboptimal selection matrices provide a good performance and can be efficiently computed with greedy approaches. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phased Array Ultrasonic Transducers (PAUT) and Techniques for Nondestructive Inspection of Structures and Materials)
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18 pages, 5578 KiB  
Article
Comparison of Time Domain and Frequency-Wavenumber Domain Ultrasonic Array Imaging Algorithms for Non-Destructive Evaluation
by Zeyu Zhuang, Jie Zhang, Guoxuan Lian and Bruce W. Drinkwater
Sensors 2020, 20(17), 4951; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20174951 - 1 Sep 2020
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3072
Abstract
Ultrasonic array imaging algorithms have been widely developed and used for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) in the last two decades. In this paper two widely used time domain algorithms are compared with two emerging frequency domain algorithms in terms of imaging performance and computational [...] Read more.
Ultrasonic array imaging algorithms have been widely developed and used for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) in the last two decades. In this paper two widely used time domain algorithms are compared with two emerging frequency domain algorithms in terms of imaging performance and computational speed. The time domain algorithms explored here are the total focusing method (TFM) and plane wave imaging (PWI) and the frequency domain algorithms are the wavenumber algorithm and Lu’s frequency-wavenumber domain implementation of PWI. In order to make a fair comparison, each algorithm was first investigated to choose imaging parameters leading to overall good imaging resolution and signal-to-noise-ratio. To reflect the diversity of samples encountered in NDE, the comparison is made using both a low noise material (aluminium) and a high noise material (copper). It is shown that whilst wavenumber and frequency domain PWI imaging algorithms can lead to fast imaging, they require careful selection of imaging parameters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phased Array Ultrasonic Transducers (PAUT) and Techniques for Nondestructive Inspection of Structures and Materials)
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