Abstract
The temperature gradient in weldment changes the transit time and distorts the direction of the ultrasound beam to the higher temperature regions due to the lower sound speed in the hotter regions of the weldment. This paper describes a ray-tracing method for calculating the effects of temperature gradients on ultrasonic propagation in fillet arc weldig. In the method, weldment is conceptually devided into a number of layers and the refraction and sound speed at each layer is calculated using the temperature which calculated from analytical solution. Calculating the time and location of echoes arrived from various interfaces around a molten weld pool determines the optimum location of ultrasonic transducers and the correct position of flaws.