Application Cases

With the continuous development of the times, concrete materials are widely used in the fields of civil and hydraulic engineering. Detection methods based on concrete materials have always been widely concerned in the construction industry. Traditional non-destructive testing methods have many shortcomings and limitations in terms of instrument portability, operating procedures, detection accuracy, and damage location. Based on these situations, nonlinear ultrasonic mixing non-destructive testing has been proposed. Nonlinear ultrasonic mixing utilizes the resonance effect that occurs when linear sources meet during propagation, and uses harmonics to transmit defects and damage inside the material. This method has the characteristics of strong detection penetration, high precision, and non-contact. It also has obvious advantages in spatial and directional control.

The ATA-2000 series high voltage amplifiers from Aigtek Electronics are widely used in the field of ultrasonic non-destructive testing. With a maximum output voltage of 1600Vpp and a -3dB bandwidth of DC to 1MHz, they offer stable output voltage and good output waveform, and can drive most ultrasonic transducers.

Experiment Title: Nonlinear Acoustic Property Testing of Concrete Using Frequency Mixing

Experiment Principle:A power amplifier drives two sets of ultrasonic transducers with an angle between them. The ultrasonic transducers generate two incident ultrasonic waves, which propagate through the material. The interaction between the two incident waves and the internal structure of the material produces nonlinear harmonics. By analyzing these nonlinear harmonics, material property information can be extracted, and the presence of defects in the concrete material can be detected by comparing the results with theoretical data.

Experiment Block Diagram:

Experiment System Real Photo:

Experiment Process:The signal generator outputs two sets of sine wave fundamental frequencies at 40kHz and 48kHz, respectively. These signals are amplified by the power amplifier to produce an output voltage of 50-180Vpp. This voltage drives the ultrasonic transducers to emit ultrasonic signals, which propagate through the concrete material. The received signals are converted into voltage signals by the receiving transducers and displayed on an oscilloscope with a sampling rate of 5MSa/s. The presence of defects in the concrete material is determined by analyzing the received signals.

Experimental Results:By comparing the experimental results corresponding to different excitation amplitudes, it was found that as the excitation amplitude increased, the standard deviation of the nonlinear mixing coefficient first decreased and then increased. Therefore, the optimal excitation amplitude for the concrete sample under the current conditions was determined to be 100V. Comparing concrete samples with different crack lengths and angles, the nonlinear mixing method was found to be more sensitive to changes in crack length and angle than the higher harmonic method, with higher precision.

Function of the Power Amplifier:The power amplifier is the core component of the entire experiment. In this experiment, it provides a voltage signal of 50-180V to drive the ultrasonic transducers to generate ultrasonic waves.

Power Amplifier Recommendation: ATA-2000 Series

Figure: Specifications of the ATA-2000 Series High Voltage Amplifier

Application Fields:Bridges, Buildings, Civil Engineering

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