Ultrasonic synthetic aperture focusing using the root-mean-square velocity

Abstract

The synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT) can improve the image resolution of ultrasonic testing (UT) by applying a delay-and-sum (DAS) process to the received echoes. The drawback of using current SAFT to test a multi-layer medium is that the computation of delays is complicated and time-consuming. In this study, we propose a fast and simple method to calculate the approximated delays for using in SAFT to image flaws in multi-layer media without losing the resolution of the SAFT image. The approximated delays can be easily and quickly calculated by a hyperbolic time-distance relationship which is a function of the root-mean-square velocity (V rms ) of layers under circumstances of short lateral distance and horizontal layers. The error of approximated delays is very small when incorporating the amplitudes radiated from the transducer into the processing of SAFT. Two extreme experiments of immersion testing were carried out to test and evaluate the proposed method. The experimental results show that the proposed method is feasible. Thus, the approximated delays calculated by the V rms for using in SAFT to enhance the resolution of the scan image for testing the flaws in multi-layer medium are recommended. © 2013 The Author(s).