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Journal articleMroszczak M, Jones RE, Huthwaite P, et al., 2025,
Transfer learning in guided wave testing of pipes
, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, Vol: 224, ISSN: 0888-3270Guided wave testing (GWT) is a non-destructive testing (NDT) technique extensively used for in-service testing of pipes that allows the inspection of tens of metres of pipe in either direction from a single sensor position. The aims are to identify and locate all physical features found along the pipe in the axial direction, and in particular the presence of defects, such as cracks or corrosion patches. However, the signals output by GWT of pipes are complex to interpret, making the quality of inspection highly dependent on the operator skills. Due to such signal complexities, at present there is a lack of automated procedures that can help operators in this task. Some of the recently developed machine learning (ML) algorithms are expected to possess the modelling capabilities required to address such a classification task, though they would typically need hundreds if not thousands of labelled input data for their training. This amount of experimental data is seldom available in the NDT field, particularly with regards to the damage cases. The main purpose of this article is to investigate whether, and how, it is possible to augment an available set of labelled experimental data with a synthetic dataset having characteristics that are similar but still distinct from the real ones. This is studied by training three different ML models with various combinations of actual and simulated data pertaining to GWT of pipes, the goal being the automated detection of reflections from pipe features within the inspection traces. The results demonstrate that when there is scarce availability of experimental data, substantial detection improvements can be achieved by pre-training the chosen ML model with synthetic data, before fine-tuning it on actual inspection data. In particular, the ML algorithm that is found to perform best for this task is a VGG-Net model, which is shown to yield false positive rates in the order of ∼1.5 to 4 % at the fixed true positive rate of 99.7 %.
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Journal articleZuo P, Huthwaite P, 2024,
Guided wave tomography for quantitative thickness mapping using non-dispersive SH0 mode through geometrical full waveform inversion (GFWI)
, Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol: 480, ISSN: 1364-5021Guided wave tomography plays a significantly important role in quantitatively mapping thickness variations in plate-like structures and pipelines in the petrochemical industry for accurate measurement of corrosion, as guided waves enable rapid screening of large areas without needing direct access. Several inverse algorithms have been implemented in guided wave tomography; however, almost all of them use a primary assumption: the three-dimensional (3D) guided wave thickness reconstruction is simplified as a two-dimensional (2D) acoustic wave velocity inversion, which is then mapped to thickness variation using the dispersive nature of guided waves. Although this assumption simplifies the inverse procedure, it makes it impossible to use non-dispersive modes in reconstructions. Geometrical full waveform inversion (GFWI) is promising to overcome this limitation since it can reconstruct corrosion profiles through geometry optimization using a data-fitting procedure, where velocity-to-thickness mapping is not needed. In this work, GFWI-based guided wave tomography is developed in plate-like structures, and is applied to reconstruct thickness maps in a series of corrosion defects using the non-dispersive SH0 mode, demonstrating high performance and achieving an improved reconstruction resolution.
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Journal articleWest G, Haslinger S, Bamber J, et al., 2024,
Simulation of ultrasound backscatter coefficient measurement using the finite element method.
, Ultrasonics, Vol: 143Ultrasound backscatter coefficient (BSC) measurement is a method for assessing tissue morphology that can inform on pathologies such as cancer. The BSC measurement is, however, limited by the accuracy with which the investigator can normalise their results to account for frequency dependent effects of diffraction and attenuation whilst performing such measurements. We propose a simulation-based approach to investigate the potential sources of error in assessing the BSC. Presented is a tool for the 2D Finite Element (FE) simulation mimicking a BSC measurement using the planar reflector substitution method in reduced dimensionality. The results of this are verified against new derivations of BSC equations also in reduced dimensionality. These new derivations allow computation of BSC estimates based on the scattering from a 2D scattering area, a line reference reflector and a theoretical value for the BSC of a 2D distribution of scatterers. This 2D model was designed to generate lightweight simulations that allow rapid investigation of the factors associated with BSC measurement, allowing the investigator to generate large data sets in relatively short time scales. Under the conditions for an incoherent scattering medium, the simulations produced BSC estimates within 6% of the theoretical value calculated from the simulation domain, a result reproduced across a range of source f-numbers. This value of error compares well to both estimated errors from other simulation based approaches and to physical experiments. The mathematical and simulation models described here provide a theoretical and experimental framework for continued investigation into factors affecting the accuracy of BSC measurements.
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Journal articleSimillides Y, Huthwaite P, Kalkowski MK, et al., 2024,
A displacement-based finite element formulation for solving elastic wave problems in coupled fluid-solid media on a GPU
, Computers and Structures, Vol: 299, ISSN: 0045-7949Ultrasonic wave propagation and scattering involving both solids and fluids underpins many key configurations in non-destructive testing and underwater acoustics. The resulting interactions are highly dependent on both material parameters and geometries and are difficult and expensive to investigate experimentally. Modelling capabilities are often used to overcome this, but these are also complex and computationally expensive due to the complexity of the fluid-solid interactions. We introduce a novel explicit time-domain finite element method for simulating ultrasonic waves interacting with fluid-solid interfaces. The method is displacement-based, and relies on classical hourglassing control, in addition to a modified time-stepping scheme to damping out shear motion in an inviscid fluid. One of the key benefits of the displacement-based approach is that nodes in the fluid have the same number of degrees of freedom as those in the solid. Therefore defining a fluid-solid model is as easy as defining an all-fluid or all-solid model, avoiding the need for any special treatments at the interfaces. It is thus compatible with typical elastodynamic finite element formulations and ready for implementation on a graphical processing unit. We verified the method across a range of problems involving millions of degrees of freedom in fields such as non-destructive testing and underwater acoustics.
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Journal articleMroszczak M, Mariani S, Huthwaite P, 2024,
Improved limited view ultrasound tomography via machine learning
, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, ISSN: 0885-3010Tomographic reconstruction is used extensively in medicine, non-destructive testing and geology. In an ideal situation where measurements are taken at all angles around an object, known as full view configuration, a full reconstruction of the object can be produced. One of the major issues faced in tomographic imaging is when measurements cannot be taken freely around the object under inspection. This may be caused by the size and geometry of the object or difficulty accessing from particular directions. The resulting limited view transducer configuration leads to a large deterioration in image quality, thus it is very beneficial to employ a compensation algorithm. At present, the most effective compensation algorithms require a large amount of computing power or a bespoke case-by case approach, often with numerous arbitrary constants which must be tuned for a specific application. This work proposes a machine learning based approach to perform the limited view compensation. The model is based around an autoencoder architecture. It is trained on an artificial dataset, taking advantage of the ability to generate arbitrary limited view images given a full view input. The approach is evaluated on ten laser-scanned corrosion maps and the results compared to positivity regularisation - a limited view compensation algorithm similar in the speed of execution and generalisation potential. The algorithms are compared for root mean squared error (RMSE) across the image, and maximum absolute error (MAE). Furthermore, they are visually compared for subjective quality. Compared to the conventional algorithm, the ML-based approach improves on the MAE in eight out of the ten cases. The conventional approach performs better on mean RMSE, which is explained by the ML outputting inaccurate background level, which is not a critical ability. Most importantly, the visual inspection of outputs shows the ML approach reconstructs the images better, especially in the case of irregular corro
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Journal articleSarris G, Haslinger SG, Huthwaite P, et al., 2023,
Attenuation of Rayleigh waves due to three-dimensional surface roughness: a comprehensive numerical evaluation
, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol: 154, Pages: 808-818, ISSN: 0001-4966The phenomenon of Rayleigh wave attenuation due to surface roughness has been well studied theoretically in the literature. Three scattering regimes describing it have been identified-the Rayleigh (long wavelength), stochastic (medium wavelength), and geometric (short wavelength)-with the attenuation coefficient exhibiting a different behavior in each. Here, in an extension to our previous work, we gain further insight with regard to the existing theory, in three dimensions, using finite element (FE) modeling, under a unified approach, where the same FE modeling techniques are used regardless of the scattering regime. We demonstrate good agreement between our FE results and the theory in all scattering regimes. Additionally, following this demonstration, we extend the results to cases that lie outside the limits of validity of the theory.
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Journal articleBikos D, Samaras G, Cann P, et al., 2023,
Destructive and non-destructive mechanical characterisation of chocolate with different levels of porosity under various modes of deformation
, Journal of Materials Science, Vol: 58, Pages: 5104-5127, ISSN: 0022-2461Chocolate exhibits a complex material response under the varying mechanical loads present during oral processing. Mechanical properties such as Young’s modulus and fracture stress are linked to sensorial attributes such as hardness. Apart from this link with hardness perception, these mechanical properties are important input parameters towards developing a computational model to simulate the first bite. This study aims to determine the mechanical properties of chocolate with different levels of micro-aeration, 0–15%, under varying modes of deformation. Therefore, destructive mechanical experiments under tension, compression, and flexure loading are conducted to calculate the Young’s modulus, yield, and fracture stress of chocolate. The values of Young’s modulus are also confirmed by independent ultrasonic mechanical experiments. The results showed that differences up to 35% were observed amongst the Young’s modulus of chocolate for different mechanical experiments. This maximum difference was found to drop with increasing porosity and a negligible difference in the Young’s modulus measurements amongst the different mechanical experiments is observed for the 15% micro-aerated chocolate. This phenomenon is caused by micro-pores obstructing the microscopic inelastic movement occurring from the early stages of the material’s deformation. This work provides a deeper understanding of the mechanical behaviour of chocolate under different loading scenarios, which are relevant to the multiaxial loading during mastication, and the role of micro-aeration on the mechanical response of chocolate. This will further assist the food industry’s understanding of the design of chocolate products with controlled and/or improved sensory perception.
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Journal articleSarris G, Haslinger SG, Huthwaite P, et al., 2023,
Ultrasonic methods for the detection of near surface fatigue damage
, Independent Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation (NDT and E) International, Vol: 135, Pages: 1-13, ISSN: 0963-8695Fatigue zones in a material can be identified using ultrasonic waves, as it has been shown that their propagation speed will reduce when travelling through such a zone. However, as fatigue damage is usually concentrated in a thin near-surface layer, through-thickness measurements result in very small changes of the average propagation speed across the full thickness, which are potentially difficult to reliably correlate to specific fatigue states. In this study, we have completed fatigue state assessments using Rayleigh waves, which travel on the surface of a material, to maximise those changes. We found that the use of Rayleigh waves amplifies the changes in speed, after propagation in the damaged region, by a factor of up to ten. The monotonic nature of the reduction in wave speed was verified against the theory using dislocation density measurements. Finally, a stiffness-reducing finite-element modelling technique, able to capture the effects of fatigue on the time of flight of longitudinal bulk and Rayleigh waves, was also derived and verified against the experimental measurements.
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Journal articleSarris G, Haslinger SG, Huthwaite P, et al., 2023,
Fatigue state characterization of steel pipes using ultrasonic shear waves
, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control, Vol: 70, Pages: 72-80, ISSN: 0885-3010The phenomenon of the reduction in the propagation speed of an ultrasonic wave when it travels through a fatigue zone has been well-studied in the literature. In addition, it has been established that shear waves are more severely affected by the presence of such a zone, compared with longitudinal waves. Our study uses these phenomena to develop a method able to characterize the fatigue state of steel pipes. Initially, the existing theory regarding the increased sensitivity of shear waves to the presence of fatigue is validated through measuring and comparing the change in propagation speed of both longitudinal and bulk shear waves on flat geometries, at different fatigue states. The comparison is achieved with the aid of ultrasonic speed C-scans of both longitudinal and shear waves, with the latter now being obtainable through our implementation of advances in electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) technology. EMATs have not been traditionally used for producing C-scans, and their ability do to so with adequate repeatability is demonstrated here; we show that shear wave scanning with EMATs now provides a possibility for inspection of fatigue damage on the inner surface of pressure-containing components in the nuclear power industry. We find that the change in ultrasonic wave speed is amplified when shear waves are used, with the magnitude of this amplification agreeing well with the theory. Following the verification of the theory, the use of EMATs allowed us to tailor the shear wave scanning method to pipe geometries, where C-scans with conventional piezoelectric transducers would not have been possible, with the results successfully revealing the presence of fatigue zones.
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Journal articleGeorgiades E, Lowe MJS, Craster RV, 2022,
Leaky wave characterisation using spectral methods
, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol: 152, Pages: 1487-1497, ISSN: 0001-4966Leaky waves are an important class of waves, particularly for guiding waves along structures embedded within another medium; a mismatch in wavespeeds often leads to leakage of energy from the waveguide, or interface, into the medium, which consequently attenuates the guided wave. The accurate and efficient identification of theoretical solutions for leaky waves is a key requirement for the choices of modes and frequencies required for non-destructive evaluation inspection techniques. We choose a typical situation to study: an elastic waveguide with a fluid on either side. Historically, leaky waves are identified via root-finding methods that have issues with conditioning, or numerical methods that struggle with the exponential growth of solutions at infinity. By building upon a spectral collocation method, we show how it can be adjusted to find exponentially growing solutions, i.e., leaky waves, leading to an accurate, fast, and efficient identification of their dispersion properties. The key concept required is a mapping, in the fluid region, that allows for exponential growth of the physical solution at infinity, whilst the mapped numerical setting decays. We illustrate this by studying leaky Lamb waves in an elastic waveguide immersed between two different fluids and verify this using the commercially available software disperse.
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Journal articleSzlaszynski F, Lowe MJS, Huthwaite P, 2022,
Short range pipe guided wave testing using SH0 plane wave imaging for improved quantification accuracy
, Sensors, Vol: 22, Pages: 1-23, ISSN: 1424-8220Detection and criticality assessment of defects appearing in inaccessible locations in pipelines pose a great challenge for many industries. Inspection methods which allow for remote defect detection and accurate characterisation are needed. Guided wave testing (GWT) is capable of screening large lengths of pipes from a single device position, however it provides very limited individual feature characterisation. This paper adapts Plane Wave Imaging (PWI) to pipe GWT to improve defect characterization for inspection in nearby locations such as a few metres from the transducers. PWI performance is evaluated using finite element (FE) and experimental studies, and it is compared to other popular synthetic focusing imaging techniques. The study is concerned with part-circumferential part-depth planar cracks. It is shown that PWI achieves superior resolution compared to the common source method (CSM) and comparable resolution to the total focusing method (TFM). The techniques involving plane wave acquisition (PWI and CSM) are found to substantially outperform methods based on full matrix capture (FMC) in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Therefore, it is concluded that PWI which achieves good resolution and high SNR is a more attractive choice for pipe GWT, compared to other considered techniques. Subsequently, a novel PWI transduction setup is proposed, and it is shown to suppresses the transmission of unwanted S0 mode, which further improves SNR of PWI.
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Journal articleHuang M, Huthwaite P, Rokhlin S, et al., 2022,
Finite-element and semi-analytical study of elastic wave propagation in strongly scattering polycrystals
, Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol: 478, Pages: 1-22, ISSN: 1364-5021This work studies scattering-induced elastic wave attenuation and phase velocity variation in three-dimensional untextured cubic polycrystals with statistically equiaxed grains using the theoretical second-order approximation (SOA) and Born approximation models and the grain-scale finite-element (FE) model, pushing the boundary towards strongly scattering materials. The results for materials with Zener anisotropy indices A > 1 show a good agreement between the theoretical and FE models in the transition and stochastic regions. In the Rayleigh regime, the agreement is reasonable for common structural materials with 1 < A < 3.2 but it deteriorates as A increases. The wavefields and signals from FE modelling show the emergence of very strong scattering at low frequencies for strongly scattering materials that cannot be fully accounted for by the theoretical models. To account for such strong scattering at A > 1, a semi-analytical model is proposed by iterating the far-field Born approximation and optimizing the iterative coefficient. The proposed model agrees remarkably well with the FE model across all studied materials with greatly differing microstructures; the model validity also extends to the quasi-static velocity limit. For polycrystals with A < 1, it is found that the agreement between the SOA and FE results is excellent for all studied materials and the correction of the model is not needed.
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Journal articleZuo P, Huthwaite P, 2022,
Quantitative mapping of thickness variations along a ray path using geometrical full waveform inversion and guided wave mode conversion
, PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY A-MATHEMATICAL PHYSICAL AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES, Vol: 478, ISSN: 1364-5021 -
Journal articleSarris G, Haslinger SG, Huthwaite P, et al., 2021,
Attenuation of Rayleigh waves due to surface roughness
, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol: 149, Pages: 4298-4308, ISSN: 0001-4966Rayleigh waves are well known to attenuate due to scattering when they propagate over a rough surface. Theoretical investigations have derived analytical expressions linking the attenuation coefficient to statistical surface roughness parameters, namely, the surface's root mean squared height and correlation length and the Rayleigh wave's wavenumber. In the literature, three scattering regimes have been identified—the geometric (short wavelength), stochastic (short to medium wavelength), and Rayleigh (long wavelength) regimes. This study uses a high-fidelity two-dimensional finite element (FE) modelling scheme to validate existing predictions and provide a unified approach to studying the problem of Rayleigh wave scattering from rough surfaces as the same model can be used to obtain attenuation values regardless of the scattering regime. In the Rayleigh and stochastic regimes, very good agreement is found between the theory and FE results both in terms of the absolute attenuation values and for asymptotic power relationships. In the geometric regime, power relationships are obtained through a combination of dimensional analysis and FE simulations. The results here also provide useful insight into verifying the three-dimensional theory because the method used for its derivation is analogous.
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Journal articleAbel R, Behforootan S, Boughton O, et al.,
Ultrasound and Bone Disease: A Systematic Review
, World Journal of Surgery and Surgical Research -
Journal articleHuang M, Sha G, Huthwaite P, et al., 2021,
Longitudinal wave attenuation in polycrystals with elongated grains: 3D numerical and analytical modeling
, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol: 149, Pages: 2377-2394, ISSN: 0001-4966This work develops a second-order approximation (SOA) model and a three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) model to calculate scattering-induced attenuation for elastic wave propagation in polycrystals with elongated grains of arbitrary crystal symmetry. The SOA model accounts for some degree of multiple scattering, whereas the 3D FE model includes all scattering possibilities. The SOA model incorporates the accurate geometric two-point correlation function obtained from the FE material systems to enable comparative studies between the two models. Also, the analytical Rayleigh and stochastic asymptotes are presented to provide explicit insights into propagation behaviors. Quantitative agreement is found between the FE and analytical models for all evaluated cases. In particular, the FE simulations support the SOA model prediction that grain shape does not exert influence on attenuation in the Rayleigh regime and its effect emerges as frequency increases to the stochastic regime showing anisotropy in attenuation. This attenuation anisotropy intensifies with the increase in frequency, but it exhibits a complicated behavior as frequency transits into the geometric regime. Wavefield fluctuations captured from the FE simulations are provided to help observe these complex scattering behaviors. The proportionality of attenuation to elastic scattering factors is also quantitatively evaluated.
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Journal articleShipway NJ, Huthwaite P, Lowe MJS, et al., 2021,
Using ResNets to perform automated defect detection for Fluorescent Penetrant Inspection
, Independent Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation (NDT and E) International, Vol: 119, Pages: 102400-102400, ISSN: 0963-8695Fluorescent Penetrant Inspection (FPI) is a popular Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) method which is used extensively in the aerospace industry. However, the nature of FPI means results are susceptible to the effects of human factors and this can lead to variable results, making automation desirable. Previous work has investigated the use of established machine learning method Random Forest to perform automated defect detection for FPI. Whilst good results were obtained, there was still a significant number of false positives being identified as defective. This paper presents work done to investigate the potential of using deep learning methods to perform automated defect detection.A dataset was obtained from a set of 99 titanium alloy test pieces with cracks induced using thermal fatigue loading. These test pieces were repeatedly processed and using data augmentation a large dataset was obtained. This data was used to train a ResNet34 and ResNet50 architecture as well as a Random Forest. Two significant results were obtained. Firstly, the ResNet50 is able to create a network capable of detecting 95% of defects with a false call rate of 0.07. This result far exceeded that obtained using the Random Forest method despite both methods only having access to a small dataset. This demonstrated the strong capability of deep learning architectures. The second result was that increasing the amount of data obtained from non defective regions significantly increases performance. This result is encouraging as this data, obtained from non-cracked parts, can be quickly and cheaply obtained by reprocessing test pieces.
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Journal articleZimmermann A, Huthwaite P, Pavlakovic B, 2021,
High-resolution thickness maps of corrosion using SH1 guided wave tomography
, Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol: 477, ISSN: 1364-5021Quantifying corrosion damage is vital for the petrochemical industry, and guided wave tomography can provide thickness maps of such regions by transmitting guided waves through these areas and capturing the scattering information using arrays. The dispersive nature of the guided waves enables a reconstruction of wave velocity to be converted into thickness. However, existing approaches have been shown to be limited in in-plane resolution, significantly short of that required to accurately image a defect target of three times the wall thickness (i.e. 3 T) in each in-plane direction. This is largely due to the long wavelengths in the fundamental modes commonly used, being around 4 T for both A0 and S0 at the typical operation points. In this work, the suitability of the first-order shear-horizontal guided wave mode, SH1, has been investigated to improve the resolution limit. The wavelength at the desired operating point is significantly shorter, enabling an improvement in resolution of around 2.4 times. This is first verified by realistic finite-element simulations and then validated by experimental results, confirming the improved resolution limit can now allow defects of maximum extent 3T-by-3T to be reliably detected and sized, i.e. a long-pursued goal of guided wave tomography has been achieved.
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Journal articleHaslinger SG, Lowe MJS, Craster R, et al., 2021,
Prediction of reflection amplitudes for ultrasonic inspection of rough planar defects
, Insight, Vol: 63, Pages: 28-36, ISSN: 2156-485XThe characteristics of planar defects (no loss of material volume) that arise during industrial plant operation are difficult to predict in detail, yet these can affect the performance of non-destructive testing (NDT) used to manage plant structural integrity. Inspection modelling is increasingly used to design and assess ultrasonic inspections of such plant items. While modelling of smooth planar defects is relatively mature and validated, issues have remained in the treatment of rough planar defect species. The qualification of ultrasonic inspections for such defects is presently very conservative, owing to the uncertainty of the amplitudes of rough surface reflections. Pragmatic solutions include the addition of large sensitivity thresholds and more frequent inspection intervals, which require more plant downtime. In this article, an alternative approach has been developed by the authors to predict the expected surface reflection from a rough defect using a theoretical statistical model. Given only the frequency, angle of incidence and two statistical parameter values used to characterise the defects, the expected reflection amplitude is obtained rapidly for any scattering angle and size of defect, for both compression and shear waves. The method is applicable for inspections of isotropic media that feature surface reflections such as pulse-echo or pitch-catch, rather than for tip signal-dependent techniques such as time-of-flight diffraction. The potential impact for inspection qualification is significant, with the new model predicting increases of up to 20 dB in signal amplitude in comparison with models presently used in industry. All mode conversions are included and rigorous validations using numerical and experimental methods have been performed. The model has been instrumental in obtaining new statistically significant results related to the effect of tilt; the expected pulse-echo backscattered amplitude for very rough planar defects is independent of til
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Conference paperWest G, Harris E, Lowe M, et al., 2021,
Multi-band finite element simulation of ultrasound attenuation by soft tissue
, IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IEEE IUS), Publisher: IEEE, ISSN: 1948-5719
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