Determining the Speed of Longitudinal Waves in an Isotropic Homogeneous Welded Joint Using Echo Signals Measured by Two Antenna Arrays

A technique is proposed for measuring the speed of longitudinal ultrasonic waves in a homogeneous welded joint, based on comparing measured and computed echo signals reflected from the bottom of a test object when using two antenna arrays mounted on prisms and operating in the double scanning mode. The effect of errors in setting the values of such parameters as the distance between the antenna arrays, test-object thickness, and others on the accuracy of calculating the wave velocity in the weld has been analyzed. Results of numerical and model experiments on calculating the wave velocity in the welded joint are presented. In a model experiment, the technique has made it possible to measure the speed of longitudinal waves in the weld model with an error of less than 0.7%. The method can be used to find the initial approximation in a nonlinear inverse problem of tomographic inspection of welded joints in the wave approximation.