Space Optimized Plane Wave Imaging for Fast Ultrasonic Inspection with Small Active Aperture: Simulation and...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Engineering
• Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation (NDT&E)

Background:

• Plane wave imaging (PWI) is gaining traction in industrial NDT&E.
• Improving imaging quality and reducing reconstruction time in ultrasonic imaging with limited apertures remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose an optimized PWI algorithm for rapid ultrasonic inspection.
• To compare the performance of the optimized PWI algorithm against the total focusing method (TFM).

Main Methods:

• Defined effective area of plane waves and space weighting factor to balance imaging amplitude.
• Conducted experiments to validate simulation results on image quality.
• Analyzed the impact of plane wave numbers on attenuation and reconstruction time.

Main Results:

• The space-optimized PWI algorithm demonstrated a wider dynamic detection range and higher defect amplitude compared to TFM.
• Maximum defect amplitude attenuation decreased by 6.7 dB, and average attenuation on 12 defects decreased by 3.1 dB.
• Achieved over a 10-fold reduction in reconstruction times compared to TFM.

Conclusions:

• The optimized PWI algorithm significantly improves ultrasonic imaging quality and inspection speed.
• This method offers a superior alternative to TFM for rapid ultrasonic inspection in NDT&E applications.