Modeling of transient deformation of piezoelectric ceramics (US NDE)

A method based on a finite-element analysis that permits the calculation and the visualization of deformations of ultrasonic transducers, in different configurations is presented. The method uses a Fourier series synthesis giving deformation of the free surface and electrical admittance for wide frequency bands by the use of finite-element procedures previously developed at Universite de Technologie de Compiegne (UTC). The method was originally developed for the monochromatic case. The authors report on the adaptation and validation of the method for the multifrequency excitation case, which is a more realistic approach used in the field of ultrasonic NDE. Several geometries were tested. In spite of the limitations of the method, due to the calculation requirements, the results show the role of the radial displacement behavior usually neglected in monodimensional analysis.<>