The present article addresses the development at Centre for Non-destructive Evaluation, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, of three different numerical methods, namely finite element, ray tracing and finite-difference time-domain methods for investigating the propagation of ultrasonic waves through polycrystalline media. These methods are believed to aid in better understanding of ultrasonic wave interaction in materials exhibiting both simple and complex grain morphologies. The understanding is expected to provide an improved non-destructive assessment of material and defect characterisation. © 2019, The Indian Institute of Metals - IIM.

Krishnan Balasubramaniam

Department of Mechanical Engineering

C V Krishnamurthy

Department Of Physics

S. Shivaprasad

Abhishek Pandala

Anuraag Saini

Adithya Ramachandran

IIT Madras is a public technical and research university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Founded in 1959, it is recognised as an Institute of National Importance.

IIT Madras has been ranked as the top engineering institute in India for four years in a row by the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the MHRD

It currently offers undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees across 16 disciplines in Engineering, Sciences, Humanities and Management. About 596 faculty belonging to science and engineering departments and centres of the Institute are engaged in teaching, research and industrial consultancy.

IIT Madras

Transactions of the Indian Institute of Metals

Ultrasonic studies based on the first arrived signals are of utmost importance when dealing with heterogeneous material especially to seismology, biomedical imaging, as well as for nondestructive evaluation and structural health monitoring applications. Numerical modelling of elastic waves through polycrystalline features has been primarily held back by huge computational requirements. This article discusses the development of a robust and efficient numerical scheme based on finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) by introducing wave-localized approach to simulate elastic waves in polycrystalline media. The numerical scheme adopts a rotated staggered grid in velocity-stress configuration. The numerical efficiency is improved by adopting parallel computing using efficient graphical processors and by introducing wave-localized computations. It is demonstrated that the proposed tool, especially with the introduction of wave-localized approach, is computationally faster and can handle large-scale grains in comparison with the commercial finite element software, especially when dealing with first arrived signals. This article reports an optimal ratio of FDTD grids per grain to minimize the staircasing effects at the polycrystalline boundaries and was found to be valid over a range of grain sizes. The article also addresses the orientation averaging requirements achieving statistically significant first arrived signal and suggests optimal averaging trials for various grain size models. The developed two-dimensional model shows good agreement with the prediction across the Rayleigh and Stochastic scattering regimes for the chosen model material (Inconel 600) having a cubic symmetry. © 2018 Acoustical Society of America.

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

Wave localized finite-difference-time-domain modelling of scattering of elastic waves within a polycrystalline material

Ultrasonic assessment of materials and defects are affected by microstructural parameters like grain size and texture. When a beam of ultrasound propagates in a polycrystalline medium, it undergoes extensive scattering by grains, grain boundaries and other microstructural features such as dislocations, voids, micro cracks etc. To understand the role of anisotropy and grain size distribution on an ultrasonic beam, a model system is proposed for carrying out ultrasonic wave propagation in a model characterized by grain size distribution and grain orientation distribution. A 2D polycrystalline medium constructed using Voronoi tessellations with a specific grain size distribution is considered and orientational averaging studies are carried out. © 2016 AIP Publishing LLC.

Fulltext

AIP Conference Proceedings

Voronoi based microstructure modelling for elastic wave propagation

The determination of depth profile of vertical fatigue cracks generated in thick cruciform samples using an ultrasonic phased array is investigated in this paper. The cracks were formed by conducting fatigue fracture test on two mild steel cruciform specimens of 135 mm thickness: one under room temperature and the other under subzero temperature (-70°C). A semi-elliptical surface starter notch of 2 mm width and more than 400 mm length was initially created in the specimens. Alternating current potential drop technique and phased array ultrasonic technique were attempted in order to determine the depth profiles of the starter notch as well as that of the crack. Virtual experiments carried out with a finite-difference time domain based numerical model were found to be advantageous in reducing actual experimental trials, facilitate an understanding of the echo signatures, and help assess the crack depth. The profiles of the crack and the notch were verified through destructive assay of the samples and subsequent dye penetrant assisted physical measurements. Copyright © 2009 by ASME.

Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, Transactions of the ASME

Improved imaging of fatigue crack profile in thick cruciform samples using ultrasonic phased array models

The 2006 ultrasonic benchmark problem involves pulse-echo angle beam scanning of a notch located on an inclined planar back surface. The response from a side-drilled hole is to be used as a reference. The models are to simulate (a) the peak-to-peak B-scan P- and SV- responses of the slots normalized by the appropriate SDH response and (b) the maximum peak-to-peak corner response of the slots (either mode-converted or not). At CNDE, several simulation tools are being developed to assess/predict UT response for various geometries. The Finite-Difference-Time-Difference (FDTD) scheme is one such simulation tool that has been under development in 1D, 2D and 3D. The FDTD is an explicit time domain tool that can simulate pulse propagation characteristics in acoustic/elastic media. The computational domain is limited by implementing Perfectly Matched Layers (PMLs) at the domain boundaries. We present the results of calculations based on 2D FDTD to determine the response of rectangular shaped surface-breaking defects located on an inclined planar back surface. Comparisons will be made between predictions and measurements made available for the pulse-echo response. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.

The 2006 ultrasonic benchmark problem - FDTD simulations in 2D

A simulation program SIMULTSONIC is under development at CNDE to help determine and/or help optimize ultrasonic probe locations for inspection of complex components. SIMULTSONIC provides a ray-trace based assessment initially followed by a displacement or pressure field-based assessment for user-specified probe positions and user-selected component. Immersion and contact modes of inspection are available in SIMULTSONIC. The code written in Visual C++ operating in Microsoft Windows environment provides an interactive user interface. In this paper, the application of SIMULTSONIC to the inspection of very thin-walled pipes (with 450 um wall thickness) is described. Ray trace based assessment was done using SIMULTSONIC to determine the standoff distance and the angle of oblique incidence for an immersion mode focused transducer. A 3-cycle Hanning window pulse was chosen for simulations. Experiments were carried out to validate the simulations. The A-scans and the associated B-Scan images obtained through simulations show good correlation with experimental results, both with the arrival time of the signal as well as with the signal amplitudes. The scope of SIMULTSONIC to deal with parametrically represented surfaces will also be discussed. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Journal	Data powered by TypesetTransactions of the Indian Institute of Metals
Publisher	Data powered by TypesetSpringer
ISSN	09722815
Open Access	No