Acoustic Ideas (United States)

The availability of non-destructive testing hardware capable of controlling large numbers of elements has made possible forays into two-dimensional ultrasonic arrays. Here, we explore two such arrays. The first is a conical matrix array for three-dimensional imaging of fastener holes in aircraft wing structures, and the second is an annular-sectorial array with a compound radius of curvature for the inspection of aircraft engine grade billets. In both prototypes, significant departures of the true shape of the probe face from its ideal value are observed. Since the shape aberrations are many wavelengths in magnitude, it is impossible to arrive at the desired beam profile using the beamforming parameters for the ideal probe shape. We detail our approach for correcting the beamforming process. It is based on a combination of parametric representations of probe shape families and experimental measurements with specially designed targets. While exposing current limitations in the probe manufacturing process, our results demonstrate that complicated probe malformations of many wavelengths in magnitude can easily be corrected and that the spatially disjoint nature of two-dimensional arrays becomes an opportunity for such corrections.