This dataset contains raw data acquired in ultrasound measurements on a reference specimen made of concrete at Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), Berlin (Germany). The internal specimen identifier is “Pk050”. The measurements were conducted using the pulse-echo method. The upper surface of the specimen was defined as measuring area. The aim of the measurements is to determine the geometrical dimensions (thickness) of the specimen “Pk050”. In addition to this, a dataset of a second specimen with identifier “Pk266” has been acquired. Pk266 has the same geometrical dimensions and concrete recipe as Pk050, but contains tendons [Reference: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/NUU0WZ].
The dataset presented contains ultrasonic data recorded in pulse echo mode. The investigated specimen is made of the isotropic homogeneous material polyamide and has a drill hole of constant diameter running parallel to the surface, which was scanned in a point grid using an automatic scanner system. At each measuring position, a pitch-catch measurement was performed using a sampling rate of 2 MHz. The probes used are arrays consisting of a spatially separated receiving and in-phase transmitting unit. The transmitting and receiving sides each consist of 12 point-shaped single probes. These dry-point contact (DPC) probes operate according to the piezoelectric principle at nominal frequencies of 55 kHz (shear waves) and 100 kHz (longitudinal waves), respectively, and do not require a coupling medium. The measurements are performed with longitudinal (100 kHz) and transverse (55 kHz) waves with different geometric orientations of the probe on the measurement surface. The data presented in the article provide a valid source for evaluating reconstruction algorithms for imaging in the low-frequency ultrasound range.
This dataset contains raw data acquired in ultrasound measurements on a reference specimen made of concrete at Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), Berlin (Germany). The internal specimen identifier is “Pk266”. The measurements were conducted using the pulse-echo method. The upper surface of the specimen was defined as measuring area. The aim of the measurements is to determine both the geometrical dimensions (thickness) and the position of tendons to the measuring area. In addition to this, a second dataset of a second specimen with identifier is existing named “Pk050” has been acquired. Pk050 has the same geometrical dimensions and concrete recipe as Pk266 recipe but does not contain tendons [Reference: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/9EID5D].
Entwicklung eines luftgekoppelten Ultraschall-Echo-Prüfverfahrens mittels fluidischer Anregung
(2019)
In vielen technischen Bereichen werden Ultraschallverfahren zur zer-störungsfreien Werkstoffprüfung eingesetzt. Dabei wird ein Schallpuls von einem Prüfkopf in ein Prüfobjekt eingebracht. Der Puls kann unter anderem durch Membra-nen oder Piezoelemente erzeugt werden und wird in der Regel durch direkten Kontakt oder über ein Koppelmittel an das Objekt übertragen. Luftgekoppelter Ultraschall spielt in kommerziellen Anwendungen bisher eine untergeordnete Rolle, da die Dif-ferenz der akustischen Impedanzen von Luft und Festkörpern immense Verluste beim Übergang des Schallsignals hervorruft.
In diesem Beitrag soll ein neuartiges Anregungsprinzip vorgestellt werden, mit dem ein Großteil dieser Verluste vermieden wird. Anstelle eines Festkörpers soll mit Hilfe einer fluidischen Düse Druckluft zur Signalerzeugung eingesetzt werden. In die-ser Düse wird eine selbsterhaltende Strömungsinstabilität erzeugt, die einen Schall-puls von bis zu 100 kHz hervorruft, sodass der Impedanzverlust in die Umgebungsluft entfällt. Da die charakteristische Frequenz eines fluidisch generierten Pulses maßgeb-lich von der Bauform der Düse und dem anliegenden Druck abhängt, lässt sich mittels einer geeigneten Strömungsregelung ein breiter Frequenzbereich zur Abtastung nut-zen. Die so emittierten Pulse werden auf das Prüfobjekt gerichtet und die reflektierten Signale mit einem Laservibrometer an der Oberfläche des Objekts im Echo-Verfahren abgetastet. Von drei signalmindernden Materialübergängen bei gewöhnlichem luftge-koppeltem Ultraschall bleibt in dem hier vorgeschlagenen Messystem lediglich die Grenzfläche von Luft zu Prüfkörper, sodass eine höhere Signalausbeute als bisher er-wartet werden kann.
Elastic wave propagation of ultrasound in bituminous road surfaces - simulations and measurements
(2015)
Maintenance costs of road infrastructure are increasing steadily. The main cause of this is the nearly exponential increase of traffic during the last decades. Adverse environmental impacts on infrastructure get more and more important as well. Therefore, it is important to determine how limited financial resources can be directed with an optimum pay-out. Often a decision has to be made whether existing structures have to be rebuilt or repaired based on the condition of the structures. The present study takes first steps towards the usage of low-frequency ultrasound as a tool to evaluate the road condition. The overall aim is to derive a prediction model for future road conditions. In order to better understand and interpret recorded wave fields simulations of elastic wave propagation in layered and scattering road models have been performed. The study combined investigations in the laboratory with field measurements. In a series of extensive laboratory tests with different asphalt mixtures characteristic wave properties have been derived. Travel time (resp. velocity) as important material parameter has been investigated for different wave types, different centre frequencies and at various temperatures. An investigation of the directivity of wave radiation in the heterogeneous asphalt bodies led to an estimate of the related disturbing influences. Based on the laboratory results field measurements were performed on a real road and the records were processed to identify layers, propagation speeds and attenuation. The results were verified by a series of simulations.
This data article presents characteristic acoustic and flow data of a fluidic ultrasonic transducer as well as acoustic data of a commercial piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer used in non-destructive testing for civil engineering. The flow data has been acquired using hot-wire anemometry and a Pitot tube. The three-dimensional acoustic data of both devices has been acquired using a calibrated microphone. The distribution of characteristic acoustic properties of both transducers are extracted and given in addition to the raw data. The data presented in the article will be a valuable source for reference and validation, both for developing fluidic and alternate ultrasound generation technologies. Furthermore, they will give additional insight into the acoustic-flow interaction phenomena of high speed switching devices. This article is accompanying the paper Experimental Analysis of the Acoustic Field of an Ultrasonic Pulse Induced by a Fluidic Switch (Bühling et al., 2021) published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, where the data is interpreted in detail and the rationale for characteristic sound properties of the fluidic transducer are given.
In ultrasonic testing, material and structural properties of a specimen can be derived from the time-of-flight (ToF). Using signal features, such as the first peak or envelope maximum, to calculate the ToF is error-prone in multipath arrangements or dispersive and attenuating materials, which is not the case for the signal onset. Borrowing from seismology, researchers used the Akaike information criterion (AIC) picker to automatically determine onset times. The most commonly used formulation, Maeda's AIC picker, is reassessed and found to be based on inappropriate assumptions for signals often used in ultrasonic testing and dependent on arbitrary parameters. Consequently, an onset picker for ultrasonic through-transmission measurements is proposed, based on a spectral entropy criterion (SEC) to model the signal using the AIC framework. This SEC picker takes into account the spectral properties of the ultrasonic signal and is virtually free of arbitrary parameters. Synthetic and experimental data are used to compare the performance of SEC and AIC pickers. It is shown that the accuracy of onset picking is improved for densely sampled data.
While contact and immersion ultrasonic testing are established methods in non-destructive testing (NDT), generating high power air-coupled ultrasound remains a challenging task. Solutions often involve setups that are restricted to lab environments. When field measurements are required, such as in NDT for civil engineering, a handy, robust and safe transducer is needed. For this purpose, an ultrasonic transducer based on a fluidic switch has been developed. A sonic air flow inside the device is switched rapidly so that an ultrasonic signal is generated. Both theory and previous flow simulations suggest that the control flow pressure ramp has only little influence on the switching time of the device. This publication gives an overview over the operating principle of the fluidic ultrasonic transducer and investigates the influence of control tube length and pulsing repetition rate on the ultrasonic pressure amplitude. High repetition rates are found to reduce the signal amplitude, whereas long tubing has only little negative influence on the amplitude while improving signal quality.