3.4.

Curved Interfaces Acting as Concave Mirrors and Lenses 51

Figure 3.7 shows a practical test in which a sound beam of spherical waves from
the probe meets a cylindrical hole in a forging. The full calculation will be made in
Section 3.5.
In this case the surface is air backed and the rays incident at right angles are to-
tally reflected, as is also assumed in Eq. (3.5). According to Fig.2.7 the rays not
strictly normally incident, are not totally reflected but the deviations are only very
slight, and for longitudinal waves at 16° are only about 10 %. Since Eq. (3.4) is being
used, the calculation should in any case be limited to only a narrow beam around
the normally incident ray.
If the reflecting surface is not air-backed but for example by water, the reflec-
tion will be reduced. Formula (3.5) must then be supplemented by the coefficient
of reflection R according to Eq. (2.1). Naturally this does not change the shape of
the reflected wave, nor the position of the image point.
At such curved boundaries the transmitted waves can also be traced by consid-
ering single rays following the law of refraction (Chapter 2).
A solid/liquid boundary curved spherically or elliptically (Fig. 3.8) acts as a con-
centrating or dispersing lens, depending on the orientation of the curvature and the
ratio of the sound velocities C2 / c} .
In contrast to optics, in which calculations are made with the "refractive index"
n = c} / C2 > 1, with ultrasonics very different values may occur. For the refraction of
longitudinal waves at the water/steel boundary we have c} / C2 = 0.25 and at the
steel/water boundary we have C2/ C} = 4.
Figure 3.8 shows the four possibilities of a lens between water and steel (cf. the
following table).

Curvature C2/C)

Condensing lens a concave >1

Condensing lens b convex <1
Dispersing lens c concave >1
Dispersing lens d convex <1

»<
Water Steel

:
Steel Water
Cl<C2

a
Water Steel
c,<c2
b
~ 'b~·
Steel Water
Cl>C2

/
/
"-
"-
c " d

Fig. 3.8a-d. Lens effect of a curved interface (water/steel)