Abstract
A phased array transducer is a multi-element piezoelectric device which offers a method of dynamic ultrasonic beam focusing, in which both the focal length and the steering angle of the ultrasonic beam vary as the pulse propagates through the material. The phased array transducer provides an advanced ultrasonic testing such as fast scanning and evaluation for complex-shaped structures. There are various design parameters of the phased array transducer, playing a decisive role in the efficiency of the transducer, such as the number of elements, inter-element spacing, frequency bandwidth and element size etc. In this study, numerical simulation was conducted to investigate the influences of the design parameters of the linear phased array transducers on the beam focusing and the steering performance. The waves generated from piezoelectric elements are considered as simplified transient ultrasonic waves which are constructed with the cosine function enveloped with a Manning window. In this study, the design parameters were optimized for the performance of beam steering and focusing by a numerical simulation.
