1

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.

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2

3. TheZeroOffset

TheZeroOffsetisthenumericvalueoftimespendsbythewavebeforeenteringthematerialofinterestasshown
bellowintheFigure1,thisisthetimeusedbythewavetotraveltroughthematchinglayerandthewedge
material,identifiedas t
o
(thematchinglayerisusuallylesserthan
x
4
andisnotrepresentedintheFigure1).

4. ClassicalDigitalCalibration

Thestandardcalibrationprocessrequirestheuseoftworeferencesignalscomingfromtwosimilarreflectorsat
differentdistances.Beforethecalibrationbegins,isaverygoodpracticetofixtheZeroOffsetandDelayvaluesto
cero.Itisalsorecommendedtoinputthematerialvelocityvalueascloseaspossibletotheactualvalue,using
ultrasonicvelocitytables.
SettingarangealittlebitmorethanJ
2
intheFigure1,withtherightrefractedangleselectedintheequipment
panelandappropriategainvalue,thedisplayshouldshownapresentationsimilartoFigure2.

Whenthefirstpeakisselected,settingthegateasinFigure2,theultrasonicunitcomputethefollowingvalue:

s
c
= c
c
t
h
(Eq.1)

Wheres
c
isthesoundpathshowedinthedisplay,c
c
istheultrasonicvelocity(materialvelocity)manually
introducedbytheUToperator,andt
h
isthetimemeasuredfromtheinstantwheretheexcitationpulsewas
emittedtothearrivalofthefirstpeakenclosedbythegateasshowninFigure2.Figure3isaschematic
explanationofthesituation.Thetimet
h
isdecomposedintwoparts:

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
UT Display
distance
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e
(a) (b)
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.
Figure2. Representation of a generic
equipment display showing two indications
comingfromreflectorsatd
1
andd
2
distances.
S=12.32
d
1

d
2

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t
h
= t
o
+t
1
(Eq.2)

Figure3.Graphicrepresentationofthetimecountedfromthestartoftherecorduptothefirstpeak.

Wheret
1
istheactualtimeofflightfromthetransducerexitpointatmaterialsurfacetothereflectorplacedatd
1
inaccordancewithFigure1and3.

Atthispoint,ItisnecessarytousetheZeroOffsetfunctiontocorrecttheerrorintroducedbythetimet
o
,which
theequipmentalonecannotseparatefromthemeasuredtimet
h
.

WhentheoperatorintroducesaZeroOffsetvalue,thenewtimevaluewillbe:

t
n
= t
h
-t
0]]
(Eq.3)

Wheret
n
isthetimeusedforthecalculationinEq.1(anewtimevalue)andt
0]]
istheZeroOffsetvalue.

Ifthematerialvelocitymanuallyintroducedbytheoperatormatchwiththeactualmaterialvelocity,the
calibrationshouldbeperfectastheoperatorcanverifyenclosingthesecondpeakwiththegate,andcheekingthe
coincidencebetweenthedisplayedsoundpathandtheactualdistanced
2
.Nevertheless,itispossiblethatthe
soundpathshoweddifferfromtheactuald
2
distance.Thereasonisthatthematerialvelocityselectedoriginally
fromanultrasonictable,isnotexactlytheactualmaterialvelocityofthetestblock.ThisfactmaketheZeroOffset
value,previouslyadjusted,aninexactvaluesincethecalculationmadefortheequipmentbytheEq.1and
correctedwiththenewtimet
n
:

s
c
= c
c
t
n
(Eq.4)

Isaffectedbythewrongvelocityvaluec
e
.

Atthispointtherecommendationistocorrectthevalueofmaterialvelocityc
e
andcomebacktothefirstpeak
andcheekthatthesoundpathshowedmatchwiththedistanced
1
adjustingtheZeroOffsetvalue(t
Off
)if
necessary.

Forthefirstpeakthesoundpathshowedwillbe:

s
c1
= c
c
(t
o
-t
0]]
+t
1
) (Eq.5)

TheconditionthatallowsthecorrectadjustmentofZeroOffset(t
Off
)is:

s
c1
= J
1
(Eq.6)

UT Display
t
h
4

Forthesecondpeakthesoundpathshowedwillbe:

s
c2
= c
c
(t
2
+t
1
+t
o
-t
0]]
) (Eq.7)

Theconditionthatallowsthecorrectadjustmentofmaterialvelocity(c
e
)is:

s
c2
= J
2
(Eq.8)

Ast
0]]
- t
o
and c
c
- c
c
,wherec
c
istheactualmaterialvelocityinthetestblocktheconditionexpressedinEq.
6andEq.8,gonebesatisfiedandthecalibrationdone.

5. Autocalibration

TheAutocalibrationfunctionisincludedbymostofthelastgenerationsofcommercialflawdetectionultrasonic
equipments
[34]
andtheideaissoeasythatisdifficulttounderstandwhywasnotincludedinthefirstdigital
versionsofmostcommonultrasonicflawdetectionunits(surelythehabitofalwaysdoingthingsthesameway).
IntheAutocalibrationmode,thefirststeprecommendedistoinputintheequipmentpaneltheexactvaluesd
1

andd
2
,asshowedintheFigure1foranglebeamcase(thesameruleappliesforstraightbeam).Theequipment
candevelopthecalculation:

J
p
= J
2
-J
1
(Eq.8)

Thetimedifferencebetweenthetwoindications,asshownFigure4,iseasilymeasured,usingthefollowing
equation:

t
p
= t
1h
-t
2h
(Eq.9)

Wheret
1h
isthetimemeasuredfromtheinstantwheretheexcitationpulsewasemittedtothearrivalofthefirst
indicationandt
2h
isthesamebutreferredtothesecondindication.

Atthispointisconvenienttoindicatethatthemeasuredvalueoftimet
1h
andt
2h
dependsonwhatpointofthe
verticalpositionoftheindicationisselectedtomakethemeasurement.Thisisthereasonwhytheflawdetection
UThasthemodespeakandflank.Byexperience,abettercalibrationisobtainedintheflankmode,withthegate
placedat10%threshold.Itisrecommendedtomaintainthegateatthesamethresholduntilthecalibrationhas
finished.
UT Display
t
h1
t
h2
Figure4.Schematicrepresentationof
theUTdisplayshowingthefirsttwo
indications.
5

Theactualmaterialvelocityiscalculatedandautomaticallyupdatedusingthefollowingexpression:

c
c
=
d
p
t
p
(Eq.10)

Knowingtheactualmaterialvelocity,thetimet
1
showedinFigure3,canbecalculated:t
1
=
d
1
c
cr
(Eq.11)

TheZeroOffsetvalueisfixedusing: t
0]]
= t
1h
-t
1
(Eq.12)

Thetimebasecalibrationisdone.

6. Bibliography

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