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UltrasonicCalibrationDetails
CarlosCORREIA
carlosc@fii.org
carloscorreya@gmail.com
MPPCTFundacinInstitutodeIngenieraCentrodeTecnologadeMateriales
Caracas,Venezuela

Abstract

The present paper is a short explanation related to what happen in ultrasonic calibration process. The material
velocityandzerooffsetfunctionsarerelatedwiththetwoknowndistancepeaksclassicalrequirementforsetup.
The autocalibration function is also explored and explained. The aim is to help beginners to understand the
foundationsofultrasonicsetup.

1. Introduction

Ultrasonicequipmentsusedtodevelopweldormaterialflawdetectionandsizing,needtobecalibratedpriorto
theinspection,sooneofthemandatorycalibrationsisthewellknowntimebasecalibrationthatcanbedefinedas
theprocessdevelopedtoestablishacorrespondencebetweenthetimespendbythewavetogoandcome(time
offlight)fromaknownreflectorandthedistancetraveled.

PracticallyallthecommercialequipmentscanbecalibratedusingiterativelythefunctionsZeroOffset(ZO)and
MaterialVelocity(MatVel)appliedoverreferencesignalsusingareferenceblock.Anotherverypracticalwayto
developthetimebasecalibrationisusingtheAutocalibrationfunction.

Thepresentpaperisashortexplanationofthedetailsofthecalibrationprocessusingthementionedfunctions
andthealgorithmthatinanonconsciousformwedevelopinthecalibrationroutine.

2. TheUltrasonicVelocity(MaterialVelocity)

Ingeneralultrasonicvelocityisconsideredasaconstantvaluerelativetothematerial.Thisassumptionismade
supportedinasetofconditionsthatcanberesumedinthenexttips[1]:

Thematerialiselastic.
Thematerialisnondispersive.
Thefrequencyisenoughhightoproduceawavelengthverymuchlesserthatthetestpiecedimensions.
Atmosphericpressureandconstanttemperature.

Theultrasonicvelocityisalwaysatemperaturedependentvariable[2].

Ultrasonicvelocityisoneofthetimebasecalibrationvariablesthattheoperatorneedtosettoperformthe
calibration.Usually,theultrasonicvelocityisnamedMaterialVelocity(MatVel)intheequipmentpanel.

 3. TheZeroOffset

TheZeroOffsetisthenumericvalueoftimespendsbythewavebeforeenteringthematerialofinterestasshown
bellowintheFigure1,thisisthetimeusedbythewavetotraveltroughthematchinglayerandthewedge
material,identifiedas (thematchinglayerisusuallylesserthan andisnotrepresentedintheFigure1).

(b)
(a)
Figure1. (a) Scheme representing the
time spends by the wave to travel
trough matching layer and wedge
material and the distances to two
different reflectors. In (b) the

nomenclatureispresented.

4. ClassicalDigitalCalibration

Thestandardcalibrationprocessrequirestheuseoftworeferencesignalscomingfromtwosimilarreflectorsat
differentdistances.Beforethecalibrationbegins,isaverygoodpracticetofixtheZeroOffsetandDelayvaluesto
cero.Itisalsorecommendedtoinputthematerialvelocityvalueascloseaspossibletotheactualvalue,using
ultrasonicvelocitytables.
Settingarangealittlebitmorethan intheFigure1,withtherightrefractedangleselectedintheequipment
panelandappropriategainvalue,thedisplayshouldshownapresentationsimilartoFigure2.

UT Display
100

90

S=12.32 Figure2. Representation of a generic

80
d1 equipment display showing two indications
70 comingfromreflectorsatd1andd2distances.
60
Amplitude

50

40 d2
30

20

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
distance

Whenthefirstpeakisselected,settingthegateasinFigure2,theultrasonicunitcomputethefollowingvalue:

(Eq.1)

Where isthesoundpathshowedinthedisplay, istheultrasonicvelocity(materialvelocity)manually

introducedbytheUToperator,andthisthetimemeasuredfromtheinstantwheretheexcitationpulsewas
emittedtothearrivalofthefirstpeakenclosedbythegateasshowninFigure2.Figure3isaschematic
explanationofthesituation.Thetimethisdecomposedintwoparts:

 (Eq.2)
UT Display

th

Figure3.Graphicrepresentationofthetimecountedfromthestartoftherecorduptothefirstpeak.

Where istheactualtimeofflightfromthetransducerexitpointatmaterialsurfacetothereflectorplacedatd1
inaccordancewithFigure1and3.

Atthispoint,ItisnecessarytousetheZeroOffsetfunctiontocorrecttheerrorintroducedbythetimeto,which
theequipmentalonecannotseparatefromthemeasuredtimeth.

WhentheoperatorintroducesaZeroOffsetvalue,thenewtimevaluewillbe:

(Eq.3)

Where isthetimeusedforthecalculationinEq.1(anewtimevalue)and istheZeroOffsetvalue.

Ifthematerialvelocitymanuallyintroducedbytheoperatormatchwiththeactualmaterialvelocity,the
calibrationshouldbeperfectastheoperatorcanverifyenclosingthesecondpeakwiththegate,andcheekingthe
coincidencebetweenthedisplayedsoundpathandtheactualdistanced2.Nevertheless,itispossiblethatthe
soundpathshoweddifferfromtheactuald2distance.Thereasonisthatthematerialvelocityselectedoriginally
fromanultrasonictable,isnotexactlytheactualmaterialvelocityofthetestblock.ThisfactmaketheZeroOffset
value,previouslyadjusted,aninexactvaluesincethecalculationmadefortheequipmentbytheEq.1and
correctedwiththenewtimetn:

(Eq.4)

Isaffectedbythewrongvelocityvaluece.

Atthispointtherecommendationistocorrectthevalueofmaterialvelocityceandcomebacktothefirstpeak
andcheekthatthesoundpathshowedmatchwiththedistanced1adjustingtheZeroOffsetvalue(tOff)if
necessary.

Forthefirstpeakthesoundpathshowedwillbe:

(Eq.5)

TheconditionthatallowsthecorrectadjustmentofZeroOffset(tOff)is:

(Eq.6)


Forthesecondpeakthesoundpathshowedwillbe:

(Eq.7)

Theconditionthatallowsthecorrectadjustmentofmaterialvelocity(ce)is:

(Eq.8)

As and ,where istheactualmaterialvelocityinthetestblocktheconditionexpressedinEq.

6andEq.8,gonebesatisfiedandthecalibrationdone.

5. Autocalibration

TheAutocalibrationfunctionisincludedbymostofthelastgenerationsofcommercialflawdetectionultrasonic
equipments[34]andtheideaissoeasythatisdifficulttounderstandwhywasnotincludedinthefirstdigital
versionsofmostcommonultrasonicflawdetectionunits(surelythehabitofalwaysdoingthingsthesameway).
IntheAutocalibrationmode,thefirststeprecommendedistoinputintheequipmentpaneltheexactvaluesd1
andd2,asshowedintheFigure1foranglebeamcase(thesameruleappliesforstraightbeam).Theequipment
candevelopthecalculation:

(Eq.8)

Thetimedifferencebetweenthetwoindications,asshownFigure4,iseasilymeasured,usingthefollowing
equation:

(Eq.9)

Wheret1histhetimemeasuredfromtheinstantwheretheexcitationpulsewasemittedtothearrivalofthefirst
indicationandt2histhesamebutreferredtothesecondindication.

UT Display

Figure4.Schematicrepresentationof
theUTdisplayshowingthefirsttwo
indications.

th1

th2

Atthispointisconvenienttoindicatethatthemeasuredvalueoftimet1handt2hdependsonwhatpointofthe
verticalpositionoftheindicationisselectedtomakethemeasurement.Thisisthereasonwhytheflawdetection
UThasthemodespeakandflank.Byexperience,abettercalibrationisobtainedintheflankmode,withthegate
placedat10%threshold.Itisrecommendedtomaintainthegateatthesamethresholduntilthecalibrationhas
finished.


Theactualmaterialvelocityiscalculatedandautomaticallyupdatedusingthefollowingexpression:

(Eq.10)

Knowingtheactualmaterialvelocity,thetimet1showedinFigure3,canbecalculated: (Eq.11)

TheZeroOffsetvalueisfixedusing: (Eq.12)

Thetimebasecalibrationisdone.w

6. Bibliography

[1] CheekeD.,FundamentalsandApplicationsofUltrasonicWaves,CRCPress2002.FL,USA
ISBN0849301300.
[2] GinzelE.A.,AutomatedUltrasonicTestingForPipelineGirthWelds,OlympusNDT,MA,
USA.ISBN0973593326.
[3] KrautkramerBransonUSN60OperatorManual
[4] OlympusEpoch4plusManual