Modelling of sound fields through austenitic welds

摘要

The propagation of ultrasonic waves through austenitic welds is disturbed by the anisotropic and inhomogeneous structure of the material. The effect is more or less severe depending upon the kind of wave which is used for the inspection. To optimize the performance of an inspection a software tool is needed to support the selection of suitable probes, insonification direction or scan paths. Therefore, a ray tracing algorithm "3D-CAD-Ray" has been implemented to follow in three dimensions longitudinal, and shear wave propagation from the base material through the cladding and the reflection at the border of a component or at implemented defects. The algorithm allows to model an experiment within a 3D-CAD environment. Defects of different sizes can be located into the weld region with arbitrary orientation. This gives an opportunity to peform a parametric study.