Development of a flush ultrasonic probe for the measurement of the velocity and the angle of attack of an aircraft.

In this work, a flush ultrasonic probe has been developed for the measurement of the velocity and the angle of attack (AOA) of an aircraft. The probe is made of one emitting transducer located at the center of a rotating stage and several receiving transducers located downstream, all transducers radiating in a normal direction perpendicular to the airflow. The determination of speed and AOA are deduced from the time of flight measurement of an ultrasonic wave between the emitter and the receivers propagating in the boundary layer. Particular attention was paid to the instrumentation as well as to the signal processing to enhance the ultrasound transmission and reception and to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. Results are reported for airflow velocities up to 127 m/s (460 km/h) both as a function of the emitter-receiver distance and as a function of the wind incidence angle. These experimental results are compared to simulations that estimate the time of flight between a source and a receiver. It is shown that ultrasonic waves propagate in the boundary layer and that the simulation code can predict the time of flight as a function of the distance and the angle.

Modeling and numerical study of the electroacoustic behavior in integrated piezoelectric structures under external mechanical stress.

The purpose of this study is to model and understand the role of an applied mechanical stress in piezoelectric materials as far as electroacoustic parameters are concerned.In the field of thick or thin film technology, understanding and predicting the behavior of integrated structures when submitted to external or internal mechanical stress is of primary importance. Thus, we propose a modified KLM electroacoustic model of transducer that enables to take into account the effect of a mechanical pre-stress. Then, a numerical study of the electroacoustic parameters for lithium niobate piezoelectric material(coupling coefficient, velocities, associated polarizations,and electrical input impedance) is conducted with regard to the azimuthal and elevation angles, as well as initial pre-stress values. Finally, we study the pulse-echo response of a complete piezoelectric transducer consisting of a piezoelectric film laid down upon a backing material and matching layers, with and without an initial stress, to highlight some benefits of a prestress load.

Acoustic wave transmission through piezoelectric structured materials.

This paper deals with the transmission of acoustic waves through multilayered piezoelectric materials. It is modeled in an octet formalism via the hybrid matrix of the structure. The theoretical evolution with the angle and frequency of the transmission coefficients of ultrasonic plane waves propagating through a partially depoled PZT plate is compared to finite element calculations showing that both methods are in very good agreement. The model is then used to study a periodic stack of 0.65 PMN-0.35 PT/0.90 PMN-0.10 PT layers. The transmission spectra are interpreted in terms of a dispersive behavior of the critical angles of longitudinal and transverse waves, and band gap structures are analysed. Transmission measurements confirm the theoretical calculations and deliver an experimental validation of the model.

Modeling of a high frequency ultrasonic transducer using periodic structures.

Solidly mounted integrated transducers with a Bragg cell inserted between the piezoelectric film and the substrate are investigated for high frequency ultrasonic applications. A numerically stable recursive one dimensional transmission/reflection model was used to analyze the behavior of the periodic structure. This theoretical analysis includes the study of the influence of the acoustic properties of the constitutive layer, the effect of the number of cells and their arrangement. A 35 MHz integrated transducer consisting in a PZT ceramic laid down on a Au/PZT Bragg cell deposited on a porous substrate was fabricated and characterized. Both theoretical and experimental results highlight the interest of using a periodic structure for high frequency ultrasonic applications.

Theoretical and experimental study of the influence of the particle size distribution on acoustic wave properties of strongly inhomogeneous media.

The ultrasonic method is particularly suitable to characterize diffusive media, as acoustic properties (velocity and attenuation) are related to the properties and concentrations of the homogeneous phase and scatterers. Thus, ultrasonic characterization can be useful in the study of sedimentation or flocculation processes, in concentration measurements, and granulometry evaluation. Many models have been developed for media where particles are very small compared to the incident wavelength. When the diameter of the particles is close to the wavelength, multiple-scattering theories have to be used to describe the propagation of waves. In this paper, the case where the ratio of wavelength to scatterer size is around unity is studied. First, the particle size distribution is taken into account in two types of multiple-scattering theories based on the effective field approximation or on the quasicrystalline approximation and theoretical results are produced. The T-matrix formalism has been used to calculate the amplitude of the wave scattered by a single sphere. The calculation of the complex wave number in the effective medium has been implemented, using in particular the Percus-Yevick equation as a spatial pair-correlation function between scatterers, and a normal particle-size distribution. The influence of these parameters is discussed. Finally, attenuation and phase velocity measurements are performed in moving suspensions of acrylic spheres in ethylene glycol, at various concentrations and for different particle-size distributions. A good agreement between the theoretical results and the measurements is found for both velocity and attenuation. These results show that the size distribution is a critical parameter to understand velocity and attenuation behavior as function of frequency and volume fraction.

Mass sensitivity of acoustic plate mode in liquids.

In this paper, the concept of electrical effective permittivity function is used to calculate the eigen-frequencies and the particle displacements of piezoelectric acoustic plate modes (APM). These results allowed us to determine the mass sensitivities of the first order vibration modes using a first order perturbation theory. Theoretical results are discussed and compared to those of a variational method and isotropic two-layer composite analysis in the case of a shear horizontal APM sensor on a singly rotated cut quartz substrate. Experimental measurements by a copper electrodeposition are carried out and show that the perturbation method leads to a better understanding of the APM behavior.

Comparative performance of piezoceramic and crystal SAW filters.

Bulk elastic, piezoelectric, and dielectric constants of four lead zirconate titanate piezoceramics, Pz24, Pz26, Pz27, Pz28, and a modified lead titanate, PTS, are measured and used to theoretically compute the effective permittivity curve of each material from which the surface acoustic wave (SAW) properties are deduced. In parallel, experimental measurements of the SAW properties are carried out by using a curve fitting algorithm on the real and imaginary parts of the electrical input impedance of an unapodised single electrode SAW transducer. The SAW propagation losses are also measured using a SAW delay line. For these ceramics, the effects of a hot isostatic pressing (HIP) post sintering process on the performances of the device are also studied. All these results are discussed and show that ceramic materials, particularly PTS, have potential for SAW applications.