Modular, Physically Motivated Simulation Model of an Ultrasonic Testing System

The increasing complexity of material systems requires an extension of conventional non-destructive evaluation methods such as ultrasonic testing. Many publications have worked on extending simulation models to cover novel aspects of ultrasonic transducers, but they do not cover all components of the system. This paper presents a physically motivated, modular model that describes the complete signal flow with the aim of providing a platform for optimizing ultrasonic testing systems from individual components to the whole system level. For this purpose, the ultrasonic testing system is divided into modules, which are described by models. The modules are each parameterized by physical parameters, characteristics of real components as provided by datasheets, or by measurements. In order to validate the model, its performance is presented for three different configurations of a real test system, considering both classical sinusoidal excitation and a chirp signal. The paper demonstrates the modularity of the model, which can be adapted to the different configurations by simply adapting the modified component, thus drastically reducing the complexity of modeling a complex ultrasonic system compared to State-of-the-Art models. Based on this work, ultrasonic inspection systems can be optimized for complex applications, such as operation with coded excitation, which is a major challenge for the system components.