Ultrasonic field modeling for immersed components using Gaussian beam superposition.

The Gaussian beam (GB) superposition approach can be applied to model ultrasound propagation in complex-structured materials and components. In this article, progress made in extending and applying the Gaussian beam superposition technique to model the beam fields generated by transducers with flat and focused rectangular apertures as well as with circular focused apertures is addressed. The refraction of transducer beam fields through curved surfaces is illustrated by calculation results for beam fields generated in curved components during immersion testing. In particular, the following developments are put forward: (i) the use of individually determined sets of GBs to model transducer beam fields with a number of less than ten beams; (ii) the application of the GB representation of rectangular transducers to focusing probes, as well as to the problem of transmission through interfaces; and (iii) computationally efficient transient modeling by superposition of 'temporally limited' GBs.