Application of modeling techniques for ultrasonic austenitic weld inspection

Abstract After a brief discussion of the fundamental equations of elastic wave propagation in anisotropic (transversely isotropic) materials and their basic solutions in terms of plane waves and Green functions, we point out and demonstrate the usefulness of Huygens’ principle in conjunction with the results obtained by the numerical Elastodynamic Finite Integration Technique (EFIT)-code for an intuitive physical understanding of ultrasound propagation in austenitic steel. EFIT is briefly explained and then validated against a weld transmission experiment; applications to pulse echo simulations for various canonical and real-life geometries and structures with and without backwall entering notches are to follow. Further, we have been able to confirm the existence of the second qSV-wave, as predicted by plane wave theory, through EFIT-modeling as well as experiments.