New Ultrasonic Standard Design Criteria

The purpose of this effort was to identify, on solid theoretical grounds, an alternative approach, to the standardization and calibration of ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation NDEsystems, which would overcome the limitations of the commonly employed flat bottom hole standards, and to design and fabricate a laboratory prototype device to demonstrate the alternative approach to NDI standards. After establishment of the performance criteria to be met by the alternative standard, an approach based on a software programmable electronic standard simulator was selected for the design and construction of the prototype demonstration device. The resulting device has the capability of assisting the user in equipment checkout and calibration, set-up on reference standards and diagnosis of equipment malfunctions. The ultrasonic standard simulator may be used in either an automatic mode, to perform pre-programmed tests or in a manual mode to evaluate andor calibrate either the ultrasonic electronic equipment on the entire inspection system including both electronics and transducers.