Characterization Of Transducer Performance And Narrowband Transient Ultrasonic Fields In Metals By Rayleigh-Sommerfeld Backpropagation Of Compression Acoustic Waves Measured With Double-Pulsed Tv Holography

This article presents a method aimed at the characterization of the narrowband transient acoustic field radiated by an ultrasonic plane transducer into a homogeneous, isotropic and optically opaque prismatic solid, and the assessment of the performance of the acoustic source. The method relies on a previous technique based on the full-field optical measurement of an acoustic wavepacket at the surface of a solid and its subsequent numerical backpropagation within the material. The experimental results show that quantitative transversal and axial profiles of the complex amplitude of the beam can be obtained at any plane between the measurement and excitation surfaces. The reconstruction of the acoustic field at the transducer face, carried out on a defective transducer model, shows that the method could also be suitable for the nondestructive testing of the performance of ultrasonic sources. In all cases, the measurements were performed with the transducer working under realistic loading conditions.