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- Air coupled ultrasound (5) (entfernen)
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Ultrasonic inspection, especially contact and immersion methods, have become established techniques for non-destructive testing in civil engineering (NDT-CE). However, the requirement for coupling agents renders these methods cumbersome in practice due to the potential for surface defacement and an arduous measurement process. Consequently, air-coupled ultrasonic transducers have been proposed as an alternative to address these concerns. These (alternatives), however, come with their own challenges, such as a significant impedance mismatch between the air and the specimen as well as the susceptibility of time of flight (TOF) measurements to ambient conditions. Recently, fluidic oscillators have been developed for in-air sound generation to alleviate impedance mismatch and improve the overall robustness, which is an important consideration of NDT-CE applications. The advantage of fluidic oscillators lies in their ability to generate an ultrasonic signal via oscillating air jet excited by a self-actuated fluctuation. Using air as the operating medium provides a supplementary benefit of lowering measurement durations in addition to a substantial drop in acoustic impedance losses with air acting both as an actuation as well as a coupling medium. Thus, TOF measurements using such fluidic transducers are expected to enable faster characterization of specimen parameters.
In that regard, material characterization of polyamide is carried out using ultrasound generated by fluidic devices. Additionally, the mass flow rate of the operating fluid is observed to have a significant effect on the frequency of the fluidic oscillator. Accordingly, the frequency of the oscillation is modulated by varying the supply pressure, leading to a varying flow rate, which in turn facilitates a robust and reliable assessment of the TOF through the material by the generated chirp signals. Furthermore, such frequency modulations effectively improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Along with a comprehensive study of these new fluidic transducers, preliminary measurement findings are presented, including the material characterization of polymers using air-coupled, frequency-modulated ultrasound.
The majority of ultrasonic devices used for non-destructive testing in civil engineering require contact with the surface of the concrete (specimen), which significantly increases the time required for the measurement. This makes it impractical for extensive investigation of large-scale structures such as bridge decks, foundations, or tunnels.
In a pioneering approach, fluidic oscillators are used as contact
free ultrasonic sources to overcome the aforementioned limitations. These robust and cost-effective actuators require only pressurised air and are ideally suited for harsh environments. At a constant supply pressure, they generate a continuous monofrequent actuation signal. Further, varying the supply pressure via a fast pressure regulator was found to generate a frequency modulated signal which enabled time-of-flight measurement with an added advantage of increased signal to noise ratio. To demonstrate the feasibility of this novel idea of non-contact ultrasound, the results of the initial tests are presented.
Nicht nur die Qualitätssicherung von Bauteilen wird immer wichtiger und muss immer höheren Anforderungen entsprechen, sondern auch die dafür verwendete Prüfeinrichtung und die Sensorik. Für die Qualitätssicherung von Ultraschall-Prüfköpfen mit Luftankopplung bestand die bisherige Lösung darin, baugleiche Wandler als Aktuatoren (Referenzsender) einzusetzen.
Für eine Weiterentwicklung der Wandler ist eine akustische Quelle wünschenswert, die eine weit größere Bandbreite mit flachem Frequenzgang aufweist, als die zu untersuchenden Prüfköpfe. Hier bieten sich thermoakustische Wandler an, die keine ausgeprägten Resonanzen haben und über eine hohe Bandbreite verfügen (min. 10 kHz bis 1 MHz). Diese wurden von der BAM in Berlin entwickelt und decken den Frequenzbereich von typischen Luftultraschall-Prüfköpfen vollständig ab.
Der Vortag beschreibt die Besonderheiten der Ansteuerung dieser Wandler, die einen Innenwiderstand von ca. 7 Ohm besitzen und eine Pulsleistung von etwa 10 kW benötigen.
Ferner werden erste Ergebnisse der Charakterisierung von unterschiedlichen piezokeramischen Prüfköpfen im Frequenzbereich von 50 kHz bis 500 kHz präsentiert.
Beispielhaft zeigte ein Prüfkopf mit mehreren Anpassschichten lokale Frequenzunterschiede im Schallfeld.