• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.457-466
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• 2014

This paper presents an analytic and numerical simulation of the generation and propagation of pico-second ultrasound with nano-scale wavelength, enabling the production of bulk waves in thin films. An analytic model of laser-matter interaction and elasto-dynamic wave propagation is introduced to calculate the elastic strain pulse in microstructures. The model includes the laser-pulse absorption on the material surface, heat transfer from a photon to the elastic energy of a phonon, and acoustic wave propagation to formulate the governing equations of ultra-short ultrasound. The excitation and propagation of acoustic pulses produced by ultra-short laser pulses are numerically simulated for an aluminum substrate using the finite-difference method and compared with the analytical solution. Furthermore, Fourier analysis was performed to investigate the frequency spectrum of the simulated elastic wave pulse. It is concluded that a pico-second bulk wave with a very high frequency of up to hundreds of gigahertz is successfully generated in metals using a 100-fs laser pulse and that it can be propagated in the direction of thickness for thickness less than 100 nm.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.419-424
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• 2020

Poroelasticity theory has been widely used for detecting cancellous bone deterioration because of the safe use for humans. The tortuosity itself is an important indicator for ultrasound detection for bone diseases. The transport properties of cancellous bone are also important in bone mechanotransduction. In this paper, two important factors, the wave velocity and attenuation are examined for permeability (or tortuosity). The theoretical calculation for the relationship between the wave velocity (and attenuation) and permeability (or tortuosity) for cancellous bone is shown in this study. It is found that the wave along the solid phase (trabecular struts) is influenced not by tortuosity, but the wave along the fluid wave (bone fluid phase) is affected by tortuosity significantly. However, the attenuation is different that the attenuation of a fast wave has less influence than that of a slow wave because the slow wave is observed by the relative motion between the solid and fluid phases.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.2322-2327
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• 2002

The corrosion degradation characteristics of the 12Cr alloy steel, which is widely used in fossil power plants as a turbine blade material, are evaluated nondestructively by use of the backward radiated Rayleigh surface wave. In order to evaluate corrosion degradation characteristics, we constructed automated system for the backward radiation, and the frequency dependency of the Rayleigh surface wave is investigated indirectly by measuring the angular dependency of the backward radiation of the incident ultrasonic wave in the specimens. The velocity of the surface wave decrease as the increase of the aging time in the backward radiation profile, which seems to result from the increase of the effective degrading layer thickness. And, amplitude of the surface wave increase as the aging time, which seems to result from the increase of the intergranular corrosion. The result observed in this study demonstrates high potential of the backward radiated ultrasound as a tool for the nondestructive evaluation of the corrosion degradation characteristics of the aged materials.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.321-330
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• 2001

In this paper, we propose a new synthetic aperture focusing scheme for improving the lateral resolution which is one of the most important factors determining the quality of ultrasound imaging. The proposed scheme enables full round-trip dynamic focusing with approximately limited property. This properties are obtained through transmitting plane waves of which the traveling angle varies with the receive subaperture position, as opposed to stepping the spherical wave source across an array in other synthetic aperture focusing schemes, and employing dynamic focusing in receive. In this paper, the properties of the proposed scheme is analyzed in which a hypothetical infinite line source is used to transmit the plane waves and verified through computer simulation results. Also, we show that the proposed scheme is realizable with an array transducer with a finite aperture size. In summary, it is shown through comparison between the field contours of the proposed scheme and the conventional scheme that the proposed scheme can improve greatly the lateral resolution of ultrasound imaging.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.399-409
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• 2012

In this paper we propose a method for measuring the shear modulus of an ultrasound soft tissue phantom using an acoustic radiation force. The proposed method quantitatively determines the shear modulus based on the rise time of a displacement induced by an acoustic radiation force at the focal point of a focused ultrasound beam. The shear wave speed and shear modulus obtained from the proposed method and a shear wave propagation method were compared to verify the validity of the proposed method. In the shear wave propagation method, the shear modulus is first computed by measuring the propagating speed of a shear wave induced in a phantom by a limited-diffraction transmit field, and then was compared to that obtained with the proposed method in an ultrasound data acquisition system calibrated based on the first computed shear modulus. The relative errors between the two methods were found to be 4% for shear wave speed and less than 9% for shear modulus, confirming the usefulness of the proposed method.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers D
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.68-71
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• 2006

Active thermography has been used for several years in the field of remote non-destructive testing. It provides thermal images for remote detection and imaging of damages. Also, it is based on propagation and reflection of thermal waves which are launched from the surface into the inspected component by absorption of modulated radiation. For energy deposition, it use external heat sources (e.g., halogen lamp or convective heating) or internal heat generation (e.g., microwaves, eddy current, or elastic wave). Among the external heat sources, the ultrasound is generally used for energy deposition because of defect selective heating up. The heat source generating a thermal wave is provided by the defect itself due to the attenuation of amplitude modulated ultrasound. A defect causes locally enhanced losses and consequently selective heating up. Therefore amplitude modulation of the injected ultrasonic wave turns a defect into a thermal wave transmitter whose signal is detected at the surface by thermal infrared camera. This way ultrasound thermography(UT) allows for selective defect detection which enhances the probability of defect detection in the presence of complicated intact structures. In this paper the applicability of UT for fast defect detection is described. Examples are presented showing the detection of defects in PCB material. Measurements are performed on various kinds of typical defects in PCB materials (both Cu metal and non-metal epoxy). The obtained thermal image reveals area of defect in row of thick epoxy material and PCB.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.501-518
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• 2013

Apart from thinning of cortical layers, the local bone curvature, varying along bone periphery, modulates ultrasound waves as well, which is however often underestimated or overlooked in clinical quantitative ultrasound (QUS). A dedicated three-dimensional finite element modelling technique for cortical bones was established, for quantitatively exploring and calibrating the effect of local curvature of cortical bone on ultrasound. Using a correlation-based mode extraction technique, high-velocity group (HVG) and low-velocity group (LVG) wave modes in a human radius were examined. Experimental verification using acrylic cylinders and in vitro testing using a porcine femur were accomplished. Results coherently unravelled the cortical curvature exerts evident influence on bone-guided ultrasound when RoC/${\lambda}$ <1 for HVG mode and RoC/${\lambda}$ <2 for LVG mode (RoC/${\lambda}$: the ratio of local bone curvature radius to wavelength); the sensitivity of LVG mode to bone curvature is higher than HVG mode. It has also been demonstrated the local group velocity of an HVG or LVG mode at a particular skeletal site is equivalent to the velocity when propagating in a uniform cylinder having an outer radius identical to the radius of curvature at that site. This study provides a rule of thumb to compensate for the effect of bone curvature in QUS.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.467-475
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• 2019

A high-intensity ultrasound wave generates acoustic streaming and acoustic radiation forces when propagating through a medium. An acoustic radiation force generated in a three-dimensional space can produce a solid tactile sensation, delivering spatial information directly to the human skin. We placed 154 ultrasound transmit elements with a frequency of 40 kHz on a concave circular dish, and generated an acoustic radiation force at the focal point by transmitting the ultrasound wave. To feel the tactile sensation better, the transmit elements were excited by sine waves whose amplitude was modulated by a 60 Hz square wave. As an application of ultrasonic tactile sensing, a region where tactile sense is formed in the air is used as an indicator for the position of the hand. We confirmed the utility of ultrasonic tactile feedback by implementing a system that provides the number of fingers to a machine by receiving the shape of the hand at the focal point where the tactile sense is detected.

• The Journal of Information Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2005

Quantitative analysis for distribution of penetrating ultrasound in vivo is very important to determine the treatment region and method. In this paper, we constructed a simplified 2-D femoral region model that consists of skin-fat-muscle-bone layered system, and simulated the pressure distribution in the model in case of applying ultrasound using Finite Element Method(FEM). The ultrasound used in the simulation was assumed to be pulse wave and the pressure distribution was analyzed during only one period of pulse wave. In order to find the penetration depth, amplitude of pressure and sphere that ultrasound reaches in the model, we performed the simulation with varying the applied frequency, transducer size and amplitude of transducer's output. The result showed that applied frequency is inversely proportional to the penetration depth and amplitude of pressure but the amplitude of transducer's output is proportional to the amplitude of pressure in the model. Also, the sphere that ultrasound reaches was widened and the amplitude of pressure became larger as the transducer size became larger. This results were similar to that obtained from the previous model consisting of fat-muscle-bone layered system, but we observed that the pressure of ultrasound is decreased due to the decrements of pressure by the absorption coefficient of skin and the interference that depends on the reflection of ultrasound caused by the difference of acoustic impedance of skin and fat. Finally, we can infer that the model proposed in this study is closer to the realistic model than the previous ones. It shows that the results obtained from this study can be useful in designing the ultrasound treatment instrument or in setting up the treatment plan.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.546-551
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• 2010

The objective of this research is to estimate the crack location and size of a carbon steel pipe by using a laser ultrasound guided wave for the wall thinning evaluation of an elbow. The wall thinning of the carbon steel pipe is one of the most serious problems in nuclear power plants, especially the wall thinning of the carbon steel elbow caused by Flow-Accelerated Corrosion (FAC). Therefore, a non-destructive inspection method of elbow is essential for the nuclear power plants to operate safely. The specimens used in this study were carbon steel elbows, which represented the main elements of real nuclear power plants. The shape of the wall thinning was an oval with a width of 120mm, a length of 80mm, and a depth of 5mm. The L(0,1) and L(0,2) modes variation of the ultrasound guided wave signal is obtained from the response of the laser generation/air-coupled detection ultrasonic hybrid system represent the characteristics of the defect. The trends of these characteristics and signal processing were used to estimate the size and location of wall thinning.