Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Correia PDF
Correia PDF
UltrasonicCalibrationDetails
CarlosCORREIA
carlosc@fii.org
carloscorreya@gmail.com
MPPCTFundacinInstitutodeIngenieraCentrodeTecnologadeMateriales
Caracas,Venezuela
Abstract
The present paper is a short explanation related to what happen in ultrasonic calibration process. The material
velocityandzerooffsetfunctionsarerelatedwiththetwoknowndistancepeaksclassicalrequirementforsetup.
The autocalibration function is also explored and explained. The aim is to help beginners to understand the
foundationsofultrasonicsetup.
1. Introduction
Ultrasonicequipmentsusedtodevelopweldormaterialflawdetectionandsizing,needtobecalibratedpriorto
theinspection,sooneofthemandatorycalibrationsisthewellknowntimebasecalibrationthatcanbedefinedas
theprocessdevelopedtoestablishacorrespondencebetweenthetimespendbythewavetogoandcome(time
offlight)fromaknownreflectorandthedistancetraveled.
PracticallyallthecommercialequipmentscanbecalibratedusingiterativelythefunctionsZeroOffset(ZO)and
MaterialVelocity(MatVel)appliedoverreferencesignalsusingareferenceblock.Anotherverypracticalwayto
developthetimebasecalibrationisusingtheAutocalibrationfunction.
Thepresentpaperisashortexplanationofthedetailsofthecalibrationprocessusingthementionedfunctions
andthealgorithmthatinanonconsciousformwedevelopinthecalibrationroutine.
2. TheUltrasonicVelocity(MaterialVelocity)
Ingeneralultrasonicvelocityisconsideredasaconstantvaluerelativetothematerial.Thisassumptionismade
supportedinasetofconditionsthatcanberesumedinthenexttips[1]:
Thematerialiselastic.
Thematerialisnondispersive.
Thefrequencyisenoughhightoproduceawavelengthverymuchlesserthatthetestpiecedimensions.
Atmosphericpressureandconstanttemperature.
Theultrasonicvelocityisalwaysatemperaturedependentvariable[2].
Ultrasonicvelocityisoneofthetimebasecalibrationvariablesthattheoperatorneedtosettoperformthe
calibration.Usually,theultrasonicvelocityisnamedMaterialVelocity(MatVel)intheequipmentpanel.
3. TheZeroOffset
TheZeroOffsetisthenumericvalueoftimespendsbythewavebeforeenteringthematerialofinterestasshown
bellowintheFigure1,thisisthetimeusedbythewavetotraveltroughthematchinglayerandthewedge
material,identifiedas (thematchinglayerisusuallylesserthan andisnotrepresentedintheFigure1).
(b)
(a)
nomenclatureispresented.
4. ClassicalDigitalCalibration
Thestandardcalibrationprocessrequirestheuseoftworeferencesignalscomingfromtwosimilarreflectorsat
differentdistances.Beforethecalibrationbegins,isaverygoodpracticetofixtheZeroOffsetandDelayvaluesto
cero.Itisalsorecommendedtoinputthematerialvelocityvalueascloseaspossibletotheactualvalue,using
ultrasonicvelocitytables.
Settingarangealittlebitmorethan intheFigure1,withtherightrefractedangleselectedintheequipment
panelandappropriategainvalue,thedisplayshouldshownapresentationsimilartoFigure2.
UT Display
100
90
80
S=12.32
d1
70
Amplitude
60
50
d2
40
30
20
10
0
10
15
distance
20
25
30
Whenthefirstpeakisselected,settingthegateasinFigure2,theultrasonicunitcomputethefollowingvalue:
(Eq.1)
(Eq.2)
UT Display
th
Figure3.Graphicrepresentationofthetimecountedfromthestartoftherecorduptothefirstpeak.
Where istheactualtimeofflightfromthetransducerexitpointatmaterialsurfacetothereflectorplacedatd1
inaccordancewithFigure1and3.
Atthispoint,ItisnecessarytousetheZeroOffsetfunctiontocorrecttheerrorintroducedbythetimeto,which
theequipmentalonecannotseparatefromthemeasuredtimeth.
WhentheoperatorintroducesaZeroOffsetvalue,thenewtimevaluewillbe:
(Eq.3)
istheZeroOffsetvalue.
Where isthetimeusedforthecalculationinEq.1(anewtimevalue)and
Ifthematerialvelocitymanuallyintroducedbytheoperatormatchwiththeactualmaterialvelocity,the
calibrationshouldbeperfectastheoperatorcanverifyenclosingthesecondpeakwiththegate,andcheekingthe
coincidencebetweenthedisplayedsoundpathandtheactualdistanced2.Nevertheless,itispossiblethatthe
soundpathshoweddifferfromtheactuald2distance.Thereasonisthatthematerialvelocityselectedoriginally
fromanultrasonictable,isnotexactlytheactualmaterialvelocityofthetestblock.ThisfactmaketheZeroOffset
value,previouslyadjusted,aninexactvaluesincethecalculationmadefortheequipmentbytheEq.1and
correctedwiththenewtimetn:
(Eq.4)
Isaffectedbythewrongvelocityvaluece.
Atthispointtherecommendationistocorrectthevalueofmaterialvelocityceandcomebacktothefirstpeak
andcheekthatthesoundpathshowedmatchwiththedistanced1adjustingtheZeroOffsetvalue(tOff)if
necessary.
Forthefirstpeakthesoundpathshowedwillbe:
(Eq.5)
TheconditionthatallowsthecorrectadjustmentofZeroOffset(tOff)is:
(Eq.6)
Forthesecondpeakthesoundpathshowedwillbe:
(Eq.7)
Theconditionthatallowsthecorrectadjustmentofmaterialvelocity(ce)is:
(Eq.8)
and
,where istheactualmaterialvelocityinthetestblocktheconditionexpressedinEq.
As
6andEq.8,gonebesatisfiedandthecalibrationdone.
5. Autocalibration
TheAutocalibrationfunctionisincludedbymostofthelastgenerationsofcommercialflawdetectionultrasonic
equipments[34]andtheideaissoeasythatisdifficulttounderstandwhywasnotincludedinthefirstdigital
versionsofmostcommonultrasonicflawdetectionunits(surelythehabitofalwaysdoingthingsthesameway).
IntheAutocalibrationmode,thefirststeprecommendedistoinputintheequipmentpaneltheexactvaluesd1
andd2,asshowedintheFigure1foranglebeamcase(thesameruleappliesforstraightbeam).Theequipment
candevelopthecalculation:
(Eq.8)
Thetimedifferencebetweenthetwoindications,asshownFigure4,iseasilymeasured,usingthefollowing
equation:
(Eq.9)
Wheret1histhetimemeasuredfromtheinstantwheretheexcitationpulsewasemittedtothearrivalofthefirst
indicationandt2histhesamebutreferredtothesecondindication.
UT Display
Figure4.Schematicrepresentationof
theUTdisplayshowingthefirsttwo
indications.
th1
th2
Atthispointisconvenienttoindicatethatthemeasuredvalueoftimet1handt2hdependsonwhatpointofthe
verticalpositionoftheindicationisselectedtomakethemeasurement.Thisisthereasonwhytheflawdetection
UThasthemodespeakandflank.Byexperience,abettercalibrationisobtainedintheflankmode,withthegate
placedat10%threshold.Itisrecommendedtomaintainthegateatthesamethresholduntilthecalibrationhas
finished.
4
Theactualmaterialvelocityiscalculatedandautomaticallyupdatedusingthefollowingexpression:
(Eq.10)
Knowingtheactualmaterialvelocity,thetimet1showedinFigure3,canbecalculated:
TheZeroOffsetvalueisfixedusing:
Thetimebasecalibrationisdone.w
(Eq.11)
(Eq.12)
6. Bibliography
[1] CheekeD.,FundamentalsandApplicationsofUltrasonicWaves,CRCPress2002.FL,USA
ISBN0849301300.
[2] GinzelE.A.,AutomatedUltrasonicTestingForPipelineGirthWelds,OlympusNDT,MA,
USA.ISBN0973593326.
[3] KrautkramerBransonUSN60OperatorManual
[4] OlympusEpoch4plusManual