Statistical signal processing for ultrasonic particle characterization

An ultrasonic minimal intrusive reflection method for characterization of randomly moving particles in high concentrated suspensions is described. The statistical features of multiple consecutive scattered sound waves are used that represent the scattering amplitude and its decrease over time. Those parameters correlate with the particle size and concentration and deliver equivalent information like the attenuation calculated by conventional extinction measurements for particle characterization. For empirical validation the exponential decrease of the standard deviation was compared with the attenuation measured with a transmission-mode ultrasonic spectrometer. Especially the dependency for high particle concentration is shown.