Contribution of double scattering in diffuse ultrasonic backscatter measurements

Diffuse ultrasonic backscatter measurements are used to describe the effective grain scattering present during high frequency ultrasonic inspections. Accurate modeling of the backscatter is important for both flaw detection and microstructural characterization. Previous models have been derived under the assumption of single scattering for which the ultrasound is assumed to scatter only once in the time between excitation and detection. This assumption has been shown to be valid in many experiments for which the time scales are short or the frequency is sufficiently low. However, there are also many instances (e.g., for strongly scattering materials, unfocused beams, or long propagation paths) for which the single scattering assumption appears to break down. In this article, a model for the double scatter is developed within the previous formalism based on Wigner distribution functions. The final expression allows the effect of double scattering to be estimated for any combination of experimental parameters. The improved proposed model is anticipated to increase the capabilities of ultrasonic microstructural evaluation, especially in terms of probability of detection estimates. (C) 2015 Acoustical Society of America.