Abstract

CIVA is a popular ultrasonic simulation tool, used across many industries to improve various aspects of transducer design, defect diagnosis and inspection planning. When planning a weld inspection, linear scanning phased arrays are fundamental in providing ultrasonic coverage across Time of Flight Diffraction (TOFD) back-wall and near-surface dead zones. Prior to generating ultrasound scans experimentally, a Time Corrected Gain (TCG) calibration has to be performed - in order that any detected defects can be characterized, sized and sentenced according to the associated standards. The calibration process ensures that identical defects at varying depths will produce the same amplitude response. CIVA simulations, however, will produce differing amplitude responses for identical reflectors at varying depths. Furthermore, CIVA currently does not have the ability to perform such a calibration and response amplitudes obtained from the simulation suite, cannot be readily compared with experimental data. This paper presents a methodology for performing a TCG calibration on a CIVA simulation using a custom processing script in MATLAB. The results will show equal response amplitudes from multiple identical shaped reflectors at varying depths. This work will allow linear scanning phased array CIVA simulations to be calibrated properly and to be compared with experimental work for validation.

How to Cite:

McInnes, M. ., O’Leary, R. ., Gachagan, A. . & Glover, A. ., (2019) “CIVA calibration for linear scanning phased array ultrasonic testing”, Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation .