Wave generation and scattering by periodic baffle system in application to beam-forming analysis

Directional excitation and detection of sound in the periodic baffle system are analyzed using the method developed earlier in electrostatics. The phenomenon is exploited in phased array transducers applied in ultrasonography, nondestructive evaluation and testing. The nice feature of the applied method is that the matrices of the resulting system of the equations are relatively easy for computations and that the results satisfy exactly the energy conservation law. Illustrative numerical examples present the far-field wave-beam steering generated in a baffle system that may be considered as a model of a linear ultrasonic transducer array.

Research Highlights► Phased array transducers allow to realize the beam steering and focus. ► Desired beam shape is achieved by proper choice of the array elements excitations. ► Typical ultrasonic array is an alternate set of acoustically different materials. ► The Bragg scattering distorts the local acoustic pressure on the array elements. ► The case of alternate system of acoustically hard and soft media is studied.